illtema

Now’s the time to pay attention to what’s going on climatically on Planet Earth.

No doubt by now, most of the American population has been exposed to words like ‘Greenhouse Effect’, ‘Climate Change’, and of course the dreaded ‘Global Warming’. But it is important to associate these now commonly known words and phrases with the concepts and processes that they represent. Like any problem, it is only once we have understood it completely (or at least as best we can) that we can then begin to solve the problem at hand.

So, let’s talk about this problem. “What problem?”, you may ask. Well, clearly people have been asking “What’s been goin’ on with the weather?” The answer is actually quite complex, but when you look past all the political spin, it is not complicated, as our current Administration may have you believe.

Increased amounts of greenhouse gases are the cause of what has been commonly referred to as the Greenhouse Effect. The big greenhouse gases that we should be concerned with are water (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), and methane (CH4). These gases naturally exist in the earth’s atmosphere, and as far we can tell, have existed since the creation of the planet. The Greenhouse Effect, however, has only been a relatively recent occurrence.

Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the early 1800’s, humans have been rapidly burning fossil fuels to use as energy needed to fuel our newly created machinery. The burning of such fossil fuels and the process, or way in which we burn things like coal, or petroleum, etc., has increased even more exponentially since the mass production of oil-burning automobiles. As our population increased, and we spread out to settle and develop more towns (and in coastal areas, concentrate further into already congested urban centers) so did the need for faster transportation, i.e. cars. All of this has pumped high levels of CO2 and H2O into the atmosphere at a rate the Earth could not sustain the existing balance and stabile climate. Extensive land-use development and deforestation (mass cutting down of trees) have only further accelerated the rate and amounts of these greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

The amount of methane in the atmosphere (the other greenhouse gas to be concerned with) has rapidly increased since the mass domestication of cattle, and such things as “factory farms” where large numbers of cattle are squeezed into small factory-like buildings. These facilities produce large quantities of manure. Manure releases methane as it decomposes, as do all organic living things. When large quantities of methane are being released into a small area of land/air, the amounts become concentrated and thus take longer time to fully dissipate as the gases are distributed throughout the atmosphere.

The phrase “global is local”, has been passed around a lot in the last twenty years, for a reason, particularly related to this last comment (regarding what is called atmospheric distribution). All gases and natural chemicals (or man-made chemicals) when released into the atmosphere start to get distributed through the air above us and then, eventually above all towns and communities around the globe. The emissions from one car in the US, for instance, will take 1 month to fully distribute itself and make its way over to the air surrounding China (on the other side of the world). Vice versa, the extreme amounts of coal being burned in China release large quantities of CO2 and pollution into the atmosphere that will eventually make its way over to polluting the air surrounding the US. So, whatever pollution we create locally, or regionally or nationally, will soon become global pollution. As we have already seen.

So, because the amounts of these three greenhouse gases have increased rapidly, become concentrated in the atmosphere, and have not had enough time to dissipate to a balanced level as it distributes throughout the world’s atmosphere, these gases have become trapped at the ‘top” of the atmosphere by large dense clouds. The sunlight trying to come down to the earth then heats up the trapped water and carbon dioxide molecules inside these clouds. This is what is called the Greenhouse Effect.

Why is this bad?

(Because as we increase pollution), these clouds are created, multiplied, and become denser because of the large amount of air particles present in the atmosphere. [The increased amount of air particles in the atmosphere result from the increase in air pollution (the soot and CFC’s that are pumped into the air). Because there are so many more polluted air particles for the water and carbon dioxide molecules to attach them selves to, and because the amount of water and carbon dioxide molecules in the air are also greater (due to burning of fossil fuels, etc.), there are more greenhouse gases that can be heated and trapped into this area of the atmosphere.]The increase of these dense clouds causes two subsequent effects: Global Warming and Global Dimming.

The sun reflects down sunlight and heat (thru infrared and ultraviolet radiation). A portion of this heat is supposed to reach the earth and then some of that heat is then reflected back into the atmosphere by the earth (land, sea). As heat coming from the earth is released back into the atmosphere, the bottom of the clouds prevents the heat from returning back to the upper levels of the atmosphere where this heat would dissipate into a balanced climate. The clouds reflect this sunlight and heat back down to the earth so that it is trapped in the lower levels of the atmosphere (closest to the land). As we pump more pollution and greenhouse gases into the air, In turn the temperature of these levels of the atmosphere (air, land and sea) rise. Thus, Global Warming.

However, the top of the clouds reflect up the sunlight and heat trying to reach the earth. So basically these clouds prevent a good amount of sunlight from reaching the land and sea, and lower levels of the atmosphere. Thus Global Dimming.

So we have temperatures rising closest to us (Global Warming), and not enough “clean” air and natural sunlight to reach the land, sea and air in the lower levels of the atmosphere (Global dimming).

Well that’s good, right, because we don’t need any more heat? Wrong. We need the natural sunlight and heat to reach the earth, just as we need the amount of heat being reflected back into the atmosphere to reach the upper most levels, in order to maintain the natural climate balance, propelled by the atmospheric cycle between the air, land and sea.

In summation, these effects and processes, the Greenhouse Effect which leads to Global Warming and Global Dimming result in global Climate Change. Global Climate change can basically be described as an imbalance of this atmospheric cycle that is necessary to carry on life, as we now it, on earth.

We can see the negative effects of this climatological imbalance through increased number of hurricanes, tornadoes and tsunamis. But also in unusual weather phenomenon, such as El Nino and La Nina, unseasonable temperatures in different regions across the nation and globe, and the appearances of tornadoes, flooding, and draught in places where these didn’t occur before. These natural disasters and significant changes in temperature across the world mean less or no crops for many, non-drinkable(potable), water, dying off of trees, plants, and landscapes, and loss of human life. This also translates into worsening global economy affected by reduction in crop production, building destruction, loss of facilities, structural damage to water pipes, wells, sewers, and communications lines, amongst many other things.

So what can we do? Is it all too late to stop?

No, we still can steer the planet’s current climate towards stability and balance the atmospheric cycle again. The earth has an amazing natural global system that cleans itself, much like the waves washing onto a bloody beach clean it all away. But right now we have pushed the earth’s natural ability to clean itself beyond its natural threshold limit. It’s just too much right now for the Earth to handle. But if we can start to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases going into the atmosphere, and slow down the rate at which we burn fossil fuels, and the rate at which we cut down trees, we can give the earth a chance to breathe. Quite literally. It will be able to slowly start to clean-up after itself and regulate the balance to a maintainable point.

The Kyoto Protocol, an international piece of policy that would have united many of the world’s largest polluters to reducing their emissions, and implement more environmentally friendly technologies, was shot down by the United States’ federal administration (a.k.a. Bush and Rumsfeld). Despite this large setback, policy can still be drafted that can bring together discreet changes in our behavior across the world. But we can also do things right now on our own. There are plenty of small actions that can be made by every individual everyday that will help the environment get back on the right path.

Conserving energy by turning off lights when you leave a room, or using halogen bulbs that use less energy to light the room are just some ways you can help. If you live in an apartment building, having plants helps put more oxygen back into the air, takes out more carbon dioxide, and helps clean the air of some of the pollution. Placing plants on your fire escape, window boxes, or on top of the roof of your building, all will add to the relief your atmosphere will feel. Investing in or advocating for renewable energies are another direction. Installing solar powered panels on your roof or siding have become more economically and visually appealing to date.

Purchasing energy efficient home appliances, like Energy Star products (refrigerators, washers and dryers, etc.), and insulating your windows and walls with non-toxic materials made from recyclable fill are very enviro-friendly and reduce your energy bills dramatically. Be a socially-conscious consumer. Know where your stuff comes from. Buying local products means you are not only supporting your local economy but you are reducing the transportation costs and fuel burned to get those products to you. [Just think of how much fuel is burned to have bananas imported from South America, or how much energy is used to extract petroleum from the ground, then refine and ship it over air, land and sea. Ah, but if we bought from companies like BP (who invests most of their profits into renewable resources and research) instead of ExxonMobil, or our local farmer’s markets instead of Shop-Rite for our produce. We will not only be getting a better quality product but helping to reduce the amount of fossil fuels burned, and energy used, while boosting our economy.] Know your ecological footprint. An eco-footprint is rough estimate of a person’s impact on the planet. It projects how many planets it would take to support a global population of people who lived in the same manner, given our current technology.

Go to “Know your eco-footprint” at http://www.earthday.net/footprint/index.asp for a fun quiz.
And for more information go to:

http://www.bestfootforward.com/foot.html

Features