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Where is David Attenborough's very convincing graph on climate change?


David Attenborough showed a very convicing graph on the telly that looked a bit like this
I was in the UK a week ago and happened to catch the first part of a terrific series by David Attenborough (my ultimate hero) about climate change. I began watching it at first with the assumption that i would already know most of what he was going to say but I was shocked and saddened to see some of the effects that climate change has already brought upon our planet. I didn't know that polar bears are already suffering quite seriously from the changes. There were many other things I can't seem to remember now but I hope my good friend Lamna nasus can elaborate from his notes (if and when he finds them).

There was one section I remember very well and that was when Sir David was walking along this graph with some bloke from the Met Office (yes walking - it was a very big graph!) and they showed how recent climate change was correlated with human activity rather than natural events. I've been looking for this very same graph online but haven't found it. I re-drew the graph as I remember it but ideally I would love to know where this is shown online so that next time anyone has doubts about human induced climate change I can tell them to put this in their pipe and smoke it!


Sir David wrote in the Independent:

" I do not have any doubt at all. I think climate change is the major challenge facing the world. I have waited until the proof was conclusive that it was humanity changing the climate. The thing that really convinced me was the graphs connecting the increase of carbon dioxide in the environment and the rise in temperature, with the growth of human population and industrialisation. The coincidence of the curves made it perfectly clear we have left the period of natural climatic oscillation behind and have begun on a steep curve, in terms of temperature rise, beyond anything in terms of increases that we have seen over many thousands of years."

I think it would be incredibly helpful to have a link to this graph so that we can tell the ignorant nay sayers that the debate IS over and start talking about solutions. I will send a Makin Waves T-shirt to the first person who can find this graph online.

I didn't manage to see the second part of the series but am pleased to find that the BBC has put some short videos on climate change on their website.

Lisa.

Posted by wavemaker on June 5, 2006 04:36 PM |

Comments

Hi Lisa,

This is not T-shirt qualifying data but I think you will find the graphs at this site interesting -

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5012266.stm#

Scan down the right hand side margin notes until you get to the 'Background' section then click on the 'Warming: The evidence' button and check out:
The 'warming world' graph
The 'long-term high' graph
The 'growing emissions' graph

These sites about CO2 emissions were also interesting:

http://www.radix.net/~bobg/faqs/scq.CO2rise.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4803460.stm

Posted by: Lamna nasus | June 5, 2006 08:15 PM

Hi Lisa,

There is an awful lot of science out there! :o)
I have been hunting the web for approx 7 hours in total and each time I think I have got it cracked..........

The graph you need may (and I am currently only saying may) be contained in this article -

'Natural and anthropogenic climate change: incorporating historical land cover change, vegetation dynamics and the global carbon cycle'

H.D Matthews, A. J. Weaver, K. J. Meissner, N. P. Gillett and M. Eby
School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, Victoria BC, Canada

The article was published in -

Climate Dynamics
Publisher: Springer Berlin / Heidelberg
Issue: Volume 22, Number 5
Date: May 2004
Pages: 461 - 479

Abstract -
This study explores natural and anthropogenic influences on the climate system....Transient model runs from the year 1700 to 2000 are presented for each forcing individually as well as for combinations of forcings.


I am having trouble finding a free online published version of the article.
Will have another look tomorrow.

Posted by: Lamna nasus | June 5, 2006 09:29 PM

Hi Lisa,

Think I may have cracked it.

If you go to the Hadley Centre's web site, brochure section -

http://www.metoffice.com/research/hadleycentre/pubs/brochures/

then download (3.8mb PDF) -

'Climate change and the greenhouse effect- a briefing from the Hadley Centre.'

Open the pdf and go to pages 29 and 30. I think they combined the two graphs for DA's documentary.

Posted by: Lamna nasus | June 5, 2006 10:52 PM

Lamna - thanks for your hard work! These graphs do look similar to the one on the documentary and are certainly worthy of a T-shirt!

What would you like?

Please .mail me your preferences and postal address.

I am going to write to the Hadley center and the BBC and ask them if they will put the actual graph from the telly in a location online that is easy to link to.

I think it's a great tool for convicing the nay sayers in the blog and discussion forum world and it's such a shame that visual tools like this are hidden away like inside a pdf document - 30 pages down!

Thanks again Lamna.

Lisa.

Posted by: Wavemaker | June 6, 2006 02:57 PM

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