Carole Wilkinson - Atmospheric

We cant survive without Earths atmosphere, yet most of the time we ignore it. We treat our atmosphere as a rubbish dump for our greenhouse gas emissions. Slowly but surely, what we are doing is changing Earths climate.

Atmospheric cuts through the many voices raised around climate change to tell the story of our atmosphere, what is putting our climate at risk and what we can do about it.

This could be the most important book you read in your life.

Its a crisp winter morning. The Sun is warming my face as I watch it slowly rise through a blue sky and a thin band of white clouds mottled with grey. What Im looking at is part of our atmosphere.

The Earths atmosphere is like a protective blanket holding in the Suns warmth. Without it, the Earth would lose all the heat from the Sun and the Earth would be a very cold place. Our atmosphere provides exactly the right level of oxygen for us to breathe. It holds water that we need to live. It makes life on Earth possible.

We cant survive without it. And yet most of the time we dont even notice it. We treat our precious atmosphere as if it were a great big rubbish dump for the emissions we produce every day when we use electricity and drive in our cars.

The weather is the way our atmosphere interacts with the Earths surface. We experience these atmospheric conditions in the short-term today, or last week in the place where we live. Climate is the pattern of weather in a larger region or across the entire planet, and over a longer period of time the average weather over decades, centuries, even millennia.

Changes in atmospheric pressure cause the air above us to move around, creating winds and cyclones. The atmosphere contains water vapour that forms clouds. The water in clouds falls onto the Earth sometimes as a gentle shower of rain, other times as flooding rain. When the atmosphere gets very cold, it falls as hail or snow.

Talking about the weather was once something we did when we couldnt think of anything else to say. It was considered boring conversation small talk. Nowadays extreme weather cyclones, floods, heatwaves is big news. It makes world headlines. And more than ever, the weather has become life-threatening.

Over the past few decades, weather has become the most important topic in the world.

The atmosphere is warming. Scientific evidence shows that the average temperature on Earth is now hotter than at any time in human civilisation. The temperature rise is causing longer, hotter heatwaves; more intense cyclones; and more frequent floods affecting people all over the world.

Climate scientists have proved that we, human beings, are responsible for the rising temperatures. Not everyone agrees with them. Some people continue to think there is no danger.

The weather has started a global debate. On one side are those who dont accept the science a few scientists, business people in industries that rely on fossil fuels and people who are not convinced by the scientific arguments. On the other side are the majority of scientists who work in the field of climate science (97% of them), and those who trust them.

Im one of the people greatly concerned about our climate and what we are doing to our atmosphere. Thats why I have written this book.

21 September 2014

Melbourne, Australia

Mum was driving me to the State Library. I had an appointment to play chess with Vasily, but when we got to the city, the streets were blocked by police barricades.

Is there a bomb threat? I asked.

Mum pointed to people with banners. No, theres some sort of rally. Youll have to walk the rest of the way.

I jumped out of the car, but the crowds grew as I got closer to the library. There were people with signs and banners, someone in a polar bear suit. There was an enormous puppet of the prime minister looking like a gangster. About 50 people tried to get me to take flyers and sign petitions. I elbowed my way through the crowd towards the steps of the library. And wouldnt you know it - thats where the rally was being held.

I found Vasily leaning on one of the columns out the front of the library. The middle four columns had been covered with grey crepe paper with something fluffy at the top, so that they looked like chimneys at a power station. How did they even do that?

Whats going on? I asked, squeezing in alongside Vasily.

Climate change rally, he said.

Vasily is an old Russian guy. We play chess twice a week not in a quiet room, but outdoors, using the giant chess set on the library forecourt. We like to put on a performance for the people who watch us. Vasily swears in Russian when I take one of his pieces. I do a few dance moves when I win (not very often).

No chance of a game today with all these crazy people here, I said. I was annoyed.

Vasily shrugged his shoulders. Come, he said. I will buy you a drink.

We went to the cafe inside the library. Vasily ordered a thick black coffee. I got an energy drink.

His phone beeped. It was ancient, at least ten years old. He was trying to find the text message. I cant stand watching old people who dont know how to use technology.

Let me do it. He handed me the phone. Someone called Sofia is looking for you. Shall I tell her where you are?

He nodded. About ten seconds later, someone flopped down next to us. It was a girl about my age. She looked nice. Vasily did the introductions. Shes his granddaughter.

Do you want something to eat? he asked.

I was hungry. I scanned the menu. It was all avocado baguettes and zucchini frittata.

Nah, Ill have a burger later. When I get my new runners.

Sofia looked down at my feet. Whats wrong with those?

Theyre old. I thought it was pretty obvious. Id had them for nearly two years.

She looked at my empty energy drink bottle. Next thing I know, shes giving me this lecture about clothing miles and waste and methane and Brazilian rainforests.

Its not even proven that climate change exists, I said.

She looked at me like Id spat in her herbal tea.

You need to be better informed. She shoved a pamphlet in my face and then stomped off.

Vasily and I finished our drinks and went outside. The crowd was even bigger. I was looking around trying to work out the best way to make an escape, but the crowd was blocking all the streets around the library.

There was the squeal of microphone feedback and then cheering as the first speaker was introduced. It was Sofia, and shed chained herself to one of the columns.

Whyd she do that? I asked Vasily.

To get media attention, Vasily said, as if it was a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

Sofia started going on about how climate change will, you know, end the world, how everyone should be doing something. I dont know what. How the atmosphere is full of greenhouse gases. I looked up at the blue sky. It looked all right to me. Vasily was listening to her, nodding.

Sofia finished and people cheered. Vasily clapped. Someone else stepped up to give a speech. Sofia was still chained to the column. Three policemen walked over to her with a pair of boltcutters. A news crew was making its way through the crowd.