by Gerrit Lansing
Colby College ’s Science, Technology, and Society (STS) department seeks to “[examine] the social and cultural implications of discoveries, theories, and inventions ‘of natural knowledge and material culture’ both in America and globally. The field has deep intellectual roots in the history, philosophy, and sociology of science and technology.”1 The STS course, “STS215: Weather, Climate, and Society”, seeks to examine the history of climate as an occurrence, a science, and a social problem. The course material included the readings in Richard Anthes’ Meteorology, H. H. Lamb’s Climate, History and the Modern World, and Richard Somerville’s The Forgiving Air: Understanding Environmental Change.
Climate change is perhaps one of the key issues that we will face in our lifetimes. The current warming trend is significant – disruptions are already occurring from increased storm activity to the shrinking of the polar ice caps. If we are unable to curtail the increasing global mean temperature we could push ourselves into a super-interglacial. In a super-interglacial, the temperature would rise; the sea levels would increase, threatening coastal habitats and fresh water reservoirs, the thermohaline cycle would slow potentially causing severe weather disruptions, CO2 that had once been sequestered by the deep ocean waters would be released into the atmosphere, oceans would become less saline, and there would be a general decrease in nutrients and the level of biological productivity.2 Many doomsday scenarios caused by human pollution and indifference towards the environment have been produced in recent years.
However, significant progress has been made in the field of climate change – from understanding how increases in greenhouse gasses affect the environment to policy measures to reduce or eliminate emissions. However, climate change remains one of the most important problems facing the human race today. At present the causes of climate change appear to be mostly anthropogenic, thus, we have the capability to reduce the effect of these gasses and thereby reduce the occurrence of harmful climate change.
Policy measures like the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Kyoto Protocol, the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer, and the founding of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) all offer a breath of hope. The UNFCCC sought to establish a non-specific commitment to reduce green house gasses, out of that effort sprang the Kyoto Protocol which, after surviving a near death experience, is being implemented in many countries around the world. The Kyoto Protocol seeks to reduce CO2 levels to the level they were in 1990; this is to be accomplished by 2012.
The Montreal Protocol of 1988 sought to eliminate substances that potentially depleted the ozone layer. Of particular focus were chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). CFCs were invented in 1928 and served many purposes; the most common CFC was CFC-12 or Freon. However, when released into the atmosphere the chlorine element would bond with an ozone molecule and effectively destroy it.
The success of environmentalists in recent years is very important. However, there is still much to do. The mean global temperature is continuing to rise and emissions of CO2 and other green house gasses continue to rise. It is clear that the governments of the world need a governing force to direct policy on climate change. It is very important that the human race as a whole accepts that climate change is an important issue and that we begin to work to alleviate the problem. There is great potential for extreme disruption in our way of life, even our ability to exist on this planet. Short term consequences of a changing climate can be devastating to a regions culture, economy, and populace.
The students of the fall 2004 Weather, Climate, and Society class have focused for the semester on the following countries and regions around the world: Auckland, New Zealand; Baghdad, Iraq; Beijing, China; Cairo, Egypt; Cape Town, South Africa; Cochin, India; Florence, Italy; Geneva, Switzerland; Havana, Cuba; the Marshall Islands; Libreville, Gabon; Lillehammer, Norway; Manaus, Brazil; Mawson Station, Antarctica; Melbourne, Australia; Moscow, Russia; Nuuk, Greenland; Quito, Ecuador; San Jose, Costa Rica; and Singapore, Singapore. Each group of three students has tracked the weather of their region over a 10 week period and has produced writings on various aspects of how climate change affects their region’s society, economy, and people. I have compiled these writings into this website; it is with great pleasure that I present them to you. Please take a look around and we hope you enjoy!
Gerrit Lansing
Class of 2007
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