Yes, we have the means to stop it.
Reducing greenhouse gases is the key to lowering the Earth’s thermostat, which is now turned higher than it has ever been since humans have inhabited the Earth. A variety of known practices and technologies can control greenhouse gases and eventually stop a global rise in temperatures.
The first and easiest part of the solution is to reduce present inefficiencies in burning fossil fuels. Avoiding fossil fuels by applying technologies to capture solar power, wind, hydro, geothermal, and related sources of energy, is second. Removing greenhouse gases is third—combining biofuels with emerging technologies for carbon capture and storage could eventually help scrub the twentieth century’s fossil carbon from the biosphere while producing perpetually renewable energy.
By the end of this century, the world needs to be totally converted to energy that does not release carbon dioxide. The natural systems of the Earth will then have a chance to absorb excess greenhouse gases, as they have done for ages, and finally bring the Earth’s thermostat back down.
Clarence Lehman
Adjunct faculty member
Ecology, Evolution and Behavior
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