CLIMATE CHANGE: The Solution Is You!
Once upon a time, 65 millions of years ago, a giant asteroid from space crashed into the earth. There was a huge explosion; the enormous impact threw a giant, thick cloud of dust into the earth's atmosphere. The whole world was dark because the dust layer completely obscured the sun. Because the sun did not shine, plants died and animals had no food to eat. So, even the dinosaurs, died off.
15,000 years ago, most of Europe and North America was covered by ice, in a very cold period when the earth's temperature was about 5 oC lower than it is now. This is called an Ice Age. About 10,000 years ago, the ice age ended and the earth warmed up. But around 800 AD, a Little Ice Age struck Europe, causing famines and uprisings, because it was too cold for many plants to grow properly. Natives of Greenland and Iceland had to move south, to a warmer place.
These stories tell of huge shifts in climate. Climate is the average of the weather - the sunshine, how much it rains, the temperature, how windy it is. And 5 degrees may not sound like much, but if you think of the whole of Europe being covered by ice, you'll realize how freezing cold it was! Earth's climate changes naturally, and human beings adapt so that they can live. For example, people living in the Carribean are used to hot sunshine, but also a hurricane season every year. Eskimos living in Alaska are used to fishing through holes in ice sheets. We all live in different circumstances, and we adapt to fit our environment . . . . . .
Things started changing, though, about 200 years ago. Human's brains had been growing smarter and smarter as they evolved. We had learnt to keep animals and cultivate land for food. We also invented things, like tools to build houses. And suddenly, we invented industry. Newcomers invented the steam engine, and humans could do things they had never been able to do before. Simple tasks which had usually been carried out at home, were now performed by large machines in factories .
These early factories were powered by burning coal. This is also true of many power stations today that generate electricity. We need this energy to heat homes and buildings, to grow, transport and cook food. W e also need oil and petrol, so we can manufacture, use and transport products, drive cars and buses, and fly airplanes. Every aspect of human activity requires energy, and we get most of this from so-called 'fossil fuels' - coal, oil and natural gas . . . . .
'Fossil fuels' earn this name because they come from ancient forests or sea creatures. Millions of years ago, the earth was covered in enormous primitive trees. But the surface of the earth is constantly moving and shifting, (although very, very slowly) and eventually these trees became covered over with soil and rock. Over thousands and thousands of years of heat and pressure, they formed coal. Oil and natural gas were originally the bodies of small sea creatures, crushed in the same way. The energy within them was originally from the sun. In fact, the energy in EVERYTHING was originally from the Sun.
The problem with the factories and manufacturing of the 1700's - a time which was named 'The Industrial Revolution' - was that burning fossil fuels huge amounts of invisible gases into the air. Planting rice, keeping animals, making cement and chopping down trees also releases gases. These gases occur naturally in the air, but only in very tiny amounts. The air is made up mostly of nitrogen, and oxygen, which we need to breathe. The rest is made up of gases called 'greenhouse gases'. We can't see or smell them, but they are there. These gases are called carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.
Greenhouse gases are vital to our survival in small amounts. Imagine the sun shining on the earth. Some of this sunlight energy is reflected back to space by the clouds; the rest passes through the air and reaches the ground. Now, there is a law of nature that says: energy cannot be created or destroyed - it can only be changed into different types. So the earth has to send the sunlight energy back out. But the earth is much cooler than the sun. So it sends energy back out in a different form, called infrared.
Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere absorb infrared energy like a sponge. They act like a blanket round the earth that warms the air near the earth's surface, and the surface itself. This warming effect of greenhouse gases is called the Greenhouse Effect. The greenhouse effect is vital for the survival of humans. Without the greenhouse effect, temperatures on Earth could drop by about 33 degrees Celcius. However, if the greenhouse effect becomes stronger, it could make the Earth hotter than usual. This extra warming may cause climate change, which would be a great problem for humans, animals and plants.
But there is one BIG problem with greenhouse gases. Since the industrial revolution, and because of human demands for more energy, more powerful cars, better houses, and more space for building and farming, more greenhouse gases are being chucked into the air. Because there are ever-growing numbers of people in the world, we need more food; more rice, more animals - and so huge amounts of greenhouse gases are being released in to the air. What's more, this is happening so quickly that since the Industrial Revolution, the amounts in the atmosphere have nearly doubled. The earth's air is becoming thicker!
Making the air thicker, we make it warmer. We are altering the earth's climate, conditions which have been just right for humans for thousands of years. Before the Industrial Revolution, the climate changed humans. Now humans are changing the climate. Scientists predict the most direct result is 'Global Warming' of 1.5 to 4.5 oC over the next one hundred years.
What are the consequences? That is a hard question to answer, because the climate system is very complicated, and it's difficult to predict what might happen. It is hard enough to forecast the weather. But the changes in climate are likely to be severe. The most certain effect is more drought which means it may not rain in some places. People depend on rain for water and farming. Drought will lead to even greater poverty and hunger for the poorest people in the world. On the other hand, it could rain more in some places causing floods, which wash away homes and fields, and drown animals.
What else could happen? Climate change may also alter the world's habitats and ecosystems, which depend on a delicate balance of rainfall, temperature and soil type. A rapid change in climate would upset this balance and there would not be enough time for plants and animals to adapt and survive. Humans would be greatly affected by this, as humans depend very much on the animals and plants for food. If they die, humans would definitely die, too.
Global warming could cause ice sheets near the north and south poles to melt. The huge amount of extra water would run into the sea, making the sea-level rise. This could submerge some low lying islands and coasts. A sea-level rise of only 60 cm could flood the fertile land in Bangladesh and other countries on which huge numbers of people depend for food. Tropical storms which damage buildings, ruin crops and kill people could happen much more often. The greatest impacts will be on the poorer countries least able to protect themselves from rising sea levels, spread of disease and declines in agricultural production. The possibilities are endless, and they COULD HAPPEN IN OUR LIFETIMES! We humans might end up the same way as the dinosaurs!
Still, in the 1970's and 80's, some people began to realize what was happening to our beautiful planet earth. Since the Industrial Revolution, humans had been extracting minerals from the ground and throwing wastes into the seas, rivers, land and air so fast that the earth was in a danger of becoming a filthy rubbish tip. Not only that, but humans were directly affecting the climate in a very, very dangerous way.
Many countries agreed to take action and reduce emissions. As a result, all countries in the world came together in a big conference at Kyoto in Japan. The Kyoto Protocol set laws requiring countries to lower emissions. The Climate Change Convention recognises that in the past, it was the rich countries of the world that polluted the air. But everyone, especially the poorer countries, will suffer the effects. Now the poorer countries are creating their own industry. They have a right to provide food, jobs and schools for their people. The Convention agrees that the rich countries should pay most of the bill to set the problem right. It also realises that in the future, once the poorer countries have solved some of their problems, they will reduce amounts of greenhouse gases too. Latest conference in Copenhagen in December 2009 aimed to decide what the global targets and action will be after 2012, when the Kyoto targets expire.
Everyone knows that climate change is real and happening now. What many people don't know is that we have the solutions in our hands. We need an energy revolution, that lets us quit coal in favour of wind power and solar energy. We also need to protect our forests so they can continue to clean our atmosphere. Because it is not enough to leave governments with all the action, WE SHOULD ALL GET INVOLVED TOO. Every time we use a bus or a bicycle instead of a car, every time we plant a tree, we help to improve the air. There is plenty we can do. Remember to switch off lights when you leave a room, use less energy. Don't leave the hot tap running when you wash. Turn the TV off when you have finished watching it. Plant trees in your gardens and schools. Reuse bottles and recycle foil, plastics and paper. Take the bus or train instead of using a car. There are 48.000 TONNES of carbon dioxide being emitted by humans EVERY MINUTE! We can all help to lower this number. Because humans don't want to go the same way as the dinosaurs, we only have one chance, and one planet.
Panagiotis Giakis
