By Wilfred Candler, Derek Paul, and Judy Lumb, in Quaker Eco-Bulletin Vol.13, No.2 (July-August 2014)
The Inescapable Reality
Earth receives slightly more radiant energy than it emits into space, which makes it slightly warmer year after year. This imbalance is caused by our use of fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, and oil) that add carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, thus blocking some of the far-infra-red radiation that would otherwise send energy back into space.
CO2 is part of the natural carbon cycle. When we breathe out, we emit CO2, returning carbon that was derived from the food we eat. The carbon in the food we eat was originally contained in plants, which got their carbon from the atmosphere by photosynthesis using energy from the sun. The carbon we breathe out is already in the carbon cycle. But we have been burning fossil fuels that have been sequestered in Earth for millions of years. Continue reading “Necessary Action to Address Climate Change”