The three gases and climate change

As Kenya hosts one of the world's most respected conferences, the UN Climate Change conference, I managed a number of dispatches that some of the so-called experienced reporters did.

I was flummoxed that none of them did get right the difference between "Greenhouse Gases," "Heat-Trapping gases" and "Ozone Depleting Gases". Since I was among the few nutcases swaggering with a bullshit UN gate pass, I decided to contact the Science Generals, and to the benefit of a many fruitcakes out there, this is what I did get. People go and read, something beyond "NO FEAST FOR KIUNDU" or "TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD"

-- greenhouse gases and heat-trapping gases are really the same thing. They are gases that trap the Sun's heat, instead of letting it radiate back into space. This creates the famous "greenhouse" effect

-- a rise in atmospheric temperature that then affects the climate system. Some of these gases come from natural sources, but lots (and more and more) come from burning oil, gas and coal. These fuels release carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas.

-- ozone-depleting gases are quite different. They are chemicals that, until they were phased out, were used in industry or in consumer products as aerosol propellants and refrigerants. They gobble up the ozone layer in the stratosphere. As a result, harmful ultraviolet radiation which otherwise is filtered out by the ozone layer reaches the Earth's surface. It can damage DNA (thus causing skin cancer and harming crops). Even though these gases have been barred, the effect they caused is long-term. It will be several decades before the "ozone hole" in the southern hemisphere is repaired.