The one thing which will change everybody’s attitude and alarm all people to the grave danger posed by Global Warming is a climate which is changing more rapidly than until the present. The best definition of how fast this change needs to be that  is the Berkeley Line. A temperature above this line will alarm everybody and allow global action to be taken to curb Global Warming. On the other hand until this line is exceeded it will be very difficult to persuade the world community to act effectively to combat the climate threat. The Berkeley line temperature is a temperature of 0.6 degrees Celsius above the global temperature until 1976 in 2006 or before and then the line increases at 0.15 degrees Celsius per decade from that time onwards. It has not been exceeded so far. It is dated from 1976 because it was from that year onwards that the most recent rise in global temperature began.

The Berkeley Line temperature for any year can be measured simply. Thus the Berkeley Line temperature for 2011 is 0.68 degrees Celsius above the 1976 level. Since the 1961 – 90 global average is 0.1 degrees Celsius above the level until1976 exceeding the Berkeley Line in 2011 will mean a global temperature of 0.58 degrees Celsius above the 1961 – 90 global average. The Berkeley line is measured over a three year period so the global temperature for 2011 will be the average of the global temperature for 2010, 2011 and 2012. Alternatively if the Berkeley Line temperature for a particular year were to be exceeded by a significant amount, say 0.05 degrees Celsius or more, that will have the same effect as exceeding the figure for a three year period.  Massive warmth for a few months ie exceeding the line by a large amount , will have the same effect. Exceeding the Berkeley line will be obvious when it happens but being aware of this line will allow campaigners to react more quickly to obtain agreements to cut greenhouse gas emissions when this becomes possible. The alarming fact is that if it were exceeded, say as an example, in the 2011 period, 2010 – 2012, reaching 0.58 degrees Celsius above this average implies a jump in global temperature of 0.12 degrees Celsius almost immediately. This may not lead to the deaths of many people but the local climatic effects would be obvious to almost everybody in the world, more than even say the flooding of New York or a devastating drought in South India.

The simple fact of changing everyones life to some extent will mean that the pressure on governments to react will lead to an agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions very sharply with almost immediate effect.