Global Dimming
It appears that pollution over the last 50 years has been steadily reducing the sun's light as it hits the Earth. This has apparently balanced the greenhouse effect. The total warming has been 0.6 degrees C. Increased controls on particulate pollution are poised to "undim" the Earth, which will probably cause a spike in global warming:
As things stand, CO2 levels are projected to rise strongly over coming decades, whereas there are encouraging signs that particle pollution is at last being brought under control.
"We're going to be in a situation unless we act where the cooling pollutant is dropping off while the warming pollutant is going up.
"That means we'll get reducing cooling and increased heating at the same time and that's a problem for us," says Dr Cox.
Even the most pessimistic forecasts of global warming may now have to be drastically revised upwards.
That means a temperature rise of 10 degrees Celsius by 2100 could be on the cards, giving the UK a climate like that of North Africa, and rendering many parts of the world uninhabitable.
