Global Dimming

Since measurements began in the 1950s, scientists have discovered that there has been a decline of sunlight reaching the Earth; they call it global dimming. This film explores the evidence that pollution is shielding the Earth from the full power of the Sun and disrupting the pattern of the world’s rainfall.

There is evidence that dimming caused the droughts in sub-Saharan Africa which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in the 1970s and 1980s. It reveals that we may have grossly underestimated the speed at which our climate is changing. At its heart is a deadly new phenomenon; one that until very recently scientists did not recognize existed. Alarmingly, the dimming continues today, and Asia, home to half the world’s population is currently under threat.