Things for you!
This section provides background information and resources to help you understand the Transition Town movement and to enable you to contribute in Billinge and Orrell
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If you're interested in finding out more about the Transition Town Movement or sustainability more generally then the following books/links will help.
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Transition Town Dictionary
Sometimes it can be difficult to know what people mean when they use certain 'buzzwords' - here we try to simplify things with some commonly used phrases.
Feedback effects
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Higher average temperatures can have both negative and positive consequences. Some processes are triggered which release yet more greenhouse gases and speed further warming, whilst other processes counter it.
For example, if the permafrost were to melt it would release much more methane into the atmosphere than is already emitted from rice paddies and landfill sites, and add considerably to the greenhouse effect. Also, melting snow and ice cover decreases the reflective white surface area of the earth by exposing more dark, non-reflective land surface, which absorbs more heat and so speeds warming further.
But, in contrast, higher temperatures also increase the growth rate of plants so that they increase their intake of CO2, and so act as temporary carbon “sinks”, or stores. (This natural carbon storage is why it is so important to prevention deforestation).
The balance between negative and positive feedbacks is a major cause of uncertainty in climate predictions. But uncertainty about the specific effects of global warming does not imply uncertainty about global warming itself.
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
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The IPCC (established by the United Nations and the World Meteorological Organisation) is the world’s leading scientific body for the assessment of climate change. It has been reviewing worldwide research on climate change by thousands of mainstream scientists since 1988. The IPCC advises the United Nations and governments around the world, and its reports inform international negotiations about climate change agreements such as the Copenhagen Accord. The IPCC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.
In its latest report, the IPCC concluded that:-
Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level.
(IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (AR4), November 2007)
The IPCC also concludes that human activities which strengthen the greenhouse effect are the main cause of the warming observed over the last 100 years, particularly over the last 50 years. Over 30 billion tonnes of CO2 are emitted globally each year by burning fossil fuels, and another 7 billion tonnes by changes in land use, mainly deforestation. These gases are now concentrated in the atmosphere at levels not seen for at least the past 650,000 years.
The IPCC suggests that global temperatures are likely to rise between 1.1 and 6.4 degrees above 1990 levels by 2100, depending on our emissions. This could result in a rise in global sea levels of between 20 and 60cm, continued melting of ice caps, glaciers and sea ice, changes in precipitation patterns and the intensification of storms.