Climate change MOOC - week one

First, a bit more about why I'm here and what I hope for from this course...  I'd like to think I'm very motivated, wanting to get to grips with all the issues around climate change - because unless we understand it, how are we going to know the best ways to cope with it.  And for me, that means us trying to persuade people and policy-makers to change their polluting ways and go for 'greener' alternatives - using technology that already exists, plus hopefully some that's yet to be developed - to allow us to live more planet-friendly lives.  Let's not wreck the only home we have -  Planet Earth.

But to do this we - I - need to understand some very complex issues and systems, if we're to develop and pick the best solutions, and bring even our friends, family and communities, let alone the rest of humanity, on board with us.  As a 20-year supporter of the Wales-based Centre for Alternative Technology I'd like to think I know some of the answers... but would like a better understanding of the whole issue facing us.

So, week one.  How was it for you?

So far so good, I think the first week probably summed up everything I already knew about climate change - the concept of the 'greenhouse' or as Prof Tim prefers, the 'blanket' which leads to the warming of the earth.  We learned about feedback, and specifically the albedo effect which is why loss of glaciers and polar ice cover means less reflection of heat back from the surface of the earth, hence warming, hence further meting of the ice.

We learned which are greenhouse/blanket gases - carbon dioxide, water vapour, methane, ozone and nitrous oxide.  And yes I did put ozone in, and got the first assessment question right, but only because I'd heard Prof Tim mention it - I certainly didn't know it before.... and as for nitrous oxide, I'd never even heard of it!

Some nice graphics, animations and weblinks - I realise that many years after my last encounter with University education, there are other and better way of conveying concepts than the written word and a bloke standing at a blackboard.  Times move on, and for the better!

But... from here on in, it's going to get harder, I reckon, especially for a non-scientist like me.