Consequences of Carbon Emissions

The United Nation s report—prepared by over 1,000 scientists—predicts cultural and social disruptions, loss of wetlands, flooding of river deltas, bleaching of coral reefs, permafrost thawing, acidification of oceans, drop in crop output, widespread water shortage, and even starvation in parts of southern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Mexico, Southern Asia, and the American Southwest. Deforestation, soil erosion, storms, droughts, and devastation of agriculture are likely to result as temperatures exceed the heat tolerance of crops. These trends can combine to cause migration, ethnic strife, social destabilization, and wars. 

Post-Oil Energy Technology After the Age of Fossil Fuels 

Trends in atmospheric concentrations and anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide. (From Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, http //cdiac. 

In addition to these direct effects, there are also indirect consequences. One consequence is that, as the oceans warm, they absorb less C02 the other is that, as the Canadian, Siberian, and Alaskan permafrost melts, the rotting organic matter will release vast amounts of C02 and methane. The rising C02 concentration of the atmosphere also reduces the pH of the oceans. In addition, about 10 teratons of carbon (tera = 1012) are stored in the frozen methane hydrates of the Arctic regions, which will also be released if the ice melts. 

In February 2007, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate recommended banning the construction of all conventional coal-fired power plants. 

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I have devoted more space to explaining the dangers of nuclear power than to the consequences of using fossil fuels, because while the consequences of carbon emission are well understood, the inexhaustible nature of thermal power and the implications of terrorists using breeder reactor fuel for military purposes are largely unknown. 

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