Malcolm Crocker
What qualifications do I have to merit your attention to this web site?
I have no special qualifications. I am just the intelligent man in the street who wants some honest answers to the fears expressed in the media. I am retired and self sufficient so am not reliant on any organisation for funding. I have the time to study for about 20 hours per week and have done so for the last 2 years.
I am a grandfather who is concerned when I read that in the last 50 years my generation has caused problems that will make my grandchildren suffer. I cannot, as a result, do nothing and must do my utmost to remedy the situation.
The web site is designed to bring together people like me who are the voters in the democracies of the world and who hold the power and the responsibility to get this right.
There is no degree in Climate Change and most academics bring their specialised training to bear on one or more aspects of the giant problem. In the end it is the man in the street's judgement, translated into votes, which will decide our future. For this reason I make no apologies for leaving school after obtaining A levels in Maths, Physics and Chemistry to study and qualify as a Chartered Accountant. In selecting the research papers and reports on the web site I have tried to explore every sensible argument to a viewpoint which I find satisfactory at the time. As new facts emerge they will replace these viewpoints. The dates indicate when the information was posted.
My study started almost by accident as I was concerned about poverty in Kazkhstan where I have been interested in charitable work since 1990. The government was concerned about the advancing desert and most remedies seemed quite ineffective. I compared results with other countries who had similar problems but none seemed effective in reclaiming land from the advancing deserts. Out of the many reasons climate change seemed to be mentioned often and be worth more study.
I looked for a university course which might give me more understanding but found only the Open University course S199 on climate modelling. This was interesting but did not sufficiently explain what the model criteria were and how accurate the results were likely to be. In February 2006 the BBC started running its climate change experiment which was run on 200,000 laptops worldwide. I encourages others to join but it seemed to be only a very small piece of the jigsaw.
I studied every sceptic opinion I could find and compared them with the information on the Met Office Hadley Centre website, NASA, and any scientific studies I could find. One thing was absolutely certain. The carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and the oceans were at their highest levels for 600,000 years, the tonnages concerned equated to human fossil fuel burning and the results would be serious.
I joined the Yahoo Group called ClimateConcern and was pleased to find a group of people who were searching for the same scientific facts as I was and seeking examples of their application worldwide. I was sorry to see that there were only about 1000 members most of whom were silent. The Reuters email group Planet Ark is also excellent as are some groups on renewable energy.
While I was extracting and saving these articles on my website www.3as.org.uk/climate I realised there did not seem to be a place that was available for systematic study of each aspect of climate change from the facts as they emerged to the merits of the various remedies. I spoke to Tom Holloway of World U3A about this and we formed this site. University of the Third Age is a worldwide group of over 50's who believed in lifelong learning long before it became a cliché.
The web site enables all to contribute their findings and to make comments on the pages. At present only a few do, but we invite you to email your article or comments to malcolmcro@aol.com and we will post them to the web site. We can then release the password to you to make entries of your own. Only as more people take part can we keep up with the rapid developments.
I am now firmly convinced that this is the more important challenge facing mankind and that governments, the media, and the people do not yet have the measure of the problems or their remedies. Uncertainty regarding detail and timetable of disaster is not a valid reason for inaction. If your children are playing on the highway you do not calculate when they might be hit.
High cost is not an excuse. Saving money is not an option when millions of lives and millions of species are at risk.
Carbon dioxide is the problem and we must get rid of it.
The only question is what to do and how to do it.
My motivation
I am a christian, firstly because it has been the only answer in my private life, and secondly because the more I investigate the more sense it makes. The more man discovers of the natural world or the universe the greater is the wonder of it and the unliklihood of it happening by accident.
The sense of design is breathtaking so, when I find that my actions and the actions of those like me are responsible for upsetting the balance, I have to do what I can.
I do not believe in setting an example of frugal living to minimise my own emissions. I fear that minor savings by volunteers may lull governments into further inactivity. Rationing of our carbon emissions by law plus rapid expansion of renewables at any cost is my favoured solution and probably the only one acceptable to the man in the street.
I do think volunteers have a part to play to pioneer new technologies before they become cost competitive. Mini fluorescent lightbulbs are now available at 87p because pioneers paid £10 for the original ones and formed the market.
For this reason I am extending my house, Marchwood, and incorporating solar electricity generation and ground source heating. I will record the progress of the project and the difficulties so that others may be encouraged to do it better.
LED lightinng is even more efficient than mini fluorescent so I am experimenting with them in the domestic situation wherever possible. They have GU10 bases and can replace halogens but they produce about half the light for one twentieth of the cost. At present they are quite expensive but in B & Q for £4.25.
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