Crutzen, Paul Josef. THE EFFECTS OF INDUSTRIAL AND AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES ON ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY AND CLIMATE FORCING DURING THE ANTHROPOCENE
Max-Planck-Institute for Chemistry, P.O. Box 3060, Joh. J.-Becher-Weg 27, 55128 Mainz, Germany (air@mpch-mainz.mpg.de)
The environmental effects of human activities gave grown so much that there are good reasons to denominate the past 2-3 and coming centuries as the Anthropocene. This is clearly discernible in rising concentrations of several radiatively and chemically important gases and particulate matter, leading to stratospheric ozone depletion, acid precipitation, photochemical smog and radiative climate forcing. Here I will especially discuss the great impact caused by rapidly growing human activities in Asia, where coal burning will add to the strong effects caused by extensive biomass burning. During the 4-5 month dry season, large emissions of black carbon particles cause both severe health effects and large regional climate forcings, much larger than that caused by the greenhouse gases. Better utilisation of fossil fuel and biomass energy can significantly alleviate these problems.