Global Dimming: As if we didn't already have enough to worry about [View All]

I just watched a Nova program on something I'd never heard of before: Global Dimming. It turns out that atmospheric pollution has been reducing the sunlight received on earth by 10 to 20%. This has not only caused serious ecological disasters like the Ethiopian famine, but it's also been masking the real effects of Global Warming for decades.

So now as we are actually successful in reducing air pollution, we are starting to see global warming accelerate. Climate readings taken during the grounding of air traffic after 9/11 showed a 1 degree Celsius increase in temperatures in just three days -- just by removing the jet contrails from the atmosphere. Further reductions in particulate emissions will likely lead to even more dramatic spikes in global temperatures.

What this means is that we've not only been warming the planet, we've been warming the planet under a kind of pressure cooker. The solar dimming from pollution damps down the warming effects of greenhouse gasses, allowing for much more buildup before any significant changes occur. Now those particles are like the cork in a shaken bottle of champagne. We can just barely hold things together as long as that cork's in place, but god help us if it ever goes away.

:scared:

More here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_dimming