Nexus - 0103 - New Times Magazine-pages

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Glass in Houses... ies. of the Environmental and Urban Studies Centre at Macquarie Univer- sity, says the sea level has already risen by about one millimetre a year over the past fifty years. The greenhouse effect Is caused by huge amounts of carbon dloxide (CO,) being injected into the atmos- phere, half of which Is due to coal and oil-fired power stations and cars (at- mospheric CO, has risen at an average of 2% every five years since the Industria! Revolution). The other half is caused by chlo- rofluorocarbons (CFCs, rising at 5% per year) from spray cans, polysty- rene and refrigerators; and large amounts of methane from millions of cattle, mass rice cultivation, defores- tation and slash and burn agriculture. These gases absorb radiation from sunlight reflected off the Earth’s surface and act asa blanket or greenhouse around the Earth to trap heat. The greenhouse effect was re- garded with skepticism by much of the scientific community, but Dr Pearman says new data hasconvinced most sclentists that climatic change is inevitable. “Put quite bluntly, people are going to have to decide if they are going to continue to burn fos- sil fuels and drown Melbourne and London, or if Greenhouse Biesphere Haif a Metre Already Professor Alistair Gilmour, Director Delays Ice Age? We are now at the end of a 10,000 Nexus New Times Three