Have just watched an excellent Four Corners documentary on global dimming. Turns out that pollution is causing clouds to reflect an increasing amount of sunlight back into space. This results in less sun hitting the ground, leading to a lowering effect on temperatures. So, in our efforts to cut pollution we are actually accelerating the rate of global warming. Talk about a catch-22.

I remember the smog over Dublin before the compulsory switch to smokeless coal and the fact that pollution causes a large increase in the rate of respiratory diseases, as well as acid rain, the bete noire of the 80s Green movement, so just upping pollution to slow global warming is not an option. The only way out of the mire is to make a concerted effort to also reduce greenhouse gas emissions in tandem with pollution.

As it turns out, the original programme was an Horizon episode by the BBC. That’s one of the main things I miss about home – quality science documentaries where you actually learn something. The BBC’s science and nature stuff is top notch, and I’d hazard a guess that it’s probably the only English-language broadcaster worldwide regularly making quality documentaries. It’s an excellent example of a public utility outperforming private enterprise, which inevitably caters for the lowest common denominator. I remember when I first got cable TV, thinking that Discovery and National Geographic looked promising, but now both invariably seem to be showing “When Animals Attack”-style sensationalist rubbish. Long live the Beeb!

Incidentally, another excellent BBC show is being aired here: Grumpy Old Men ;-)