global dimming

watched a documentary on channel newsasia just now on how pollution has actually lowered the temperature of the earth. The documentary is here, you could read it.

before you wander off as to what i just said, yes the earth is still facing global warming, the greenhouse gases that traps heat in the climate but on the other hand, there are some pollutions causing the earth surface to receive less sunlight by a bout 25% compared to 1950s, according to a israeli scientist who did a study on sunlight in 1950s and 1980s.

So how does this occurs? its due to the aerosol particles which we polute to the environment that reflects the sunlight back to space, reducing the amount of light going to the earth surface, thus reducing the temperature. Although this might be a good thing, a study done by a american scientist 3 days after the september 11 attack which saw american airspace closed to commercial airplanes, the temperature range of the highest temperature in the day and the lowest recorded across america, rise about a degree celcius which was the highest recorded change in 3 decades, that means you will have to pollute the environment to sustain the temperature. The bad news about this is that if we were to keep up with the pollutions, it will still lead to global warming eventually so the only solution is to cut back on greenhouse gases emissions to sustainable levels.

Here is the link on global dimming including a research done on the climate in the maldives.