Can Global Warming be Prevented?
If global warming is largely caused by human greenhouse gas emissions, the only plausible strategies for mitigating its effects are measures that reduce greenhouse gas emissions or else remove greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. Suggested countermeasures fall into four main categories: 1) Abandoning carbon-based fossil fuels in favour of alternative energy sources, such as nuclear power or ‘renewables’. 2) Energy conservation measures to reduce overall use of fossil fuels 3) Removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by hugely increasing the earth’s plant cover, for example by massive reforestation. 4) Artificial carbon ‘sequestration’, for example by liquefying carbon dioxide and pumping it into deep disused oil-wells. The most significant political initiative to combat global warming so far is the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, an amendment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) [10]. All countries that ratify this protocol commit themselves to reducing their
