This go round in the blog I wanted to tackle climate change.
Specifically, I want to explain why and how science has come to the point of
knowing that climate change is real.
First things first, global warming isn’t the same thing as
climate change. Global warming was the term used for several decades to address
the rising temperatures that were being recorded. It didn’t encompass the understanding that as
some areas get hotter, some will get colder.
Some will get drier and some will get wetter. In short, the term didn’t encompass the
totality of climate, which all things from rainfall, temperature, cloud cover,
and everything else you can imagine if it’s a weather event link up with. So, the most correct term is climate change. It relates that all things are linked and
changes in one aspect will have ramifications for other aspects in the system.
Next, lets understand what the major component of the
concerns of climate change centers around, carbon dioxide levels. Since the industrial revolution there has
been a sharp increase in global carbon dioxide levels that is showing now signs
of leveling out or falling. So why is
this a problem? Simply put, carbon dioxide is one of the “greenhouse gases.” In
the atmosphere it traps heat inside and doesn’t allow it to radiate back out
into space. Now in all fairness its only
one chemical in the greenhouse family.
Another very major greenhouse gas is actually a vapor, water vapor. Water vapor will allow heat to remain trapped
near the surface of the earth and prevent it from radiating out just as carbon
dioxide will. We can’t do much about
water vapor, but we can about carbon dioxide.
Carbon dioxide is a byproduct of combustion of hydrocarbons
in engines. The process of combustion yields
carbon dioxide which is exhausted out the tailpipe of the vehicle. Additionally, carbon dioxide is released in
the combustion of coal and natural gas in power plants. Depending on the type of coal and the efficiency
of the process 2,000 pounds of coal can yield upwards of 5,700 pounds of carbon
dioxide. Chemistry is a fickle mistress,
and in this case because of the various inefficiency in the process and the
material the combustion yields higher volumes of the pollutant in question. I’ll include a few links at the bottom to the
source material for more in depth reading.
So, knowing what we know now, how do we stop the process of loading
CO2 in the atmosphere to the point where it causes climate change? Well, sadly
we are past that point, what we can hope to do now is reduce the introduction
of CO2 into the environment to the point where natural processes can sequester
or trap more per day than we put into the system. In this fashion the earth will be able to
gradually pull the levels of CO2 back down and return to a more stable climate
system over millions of years. In most
environmental and climate scientist’s opinions, 400 parts per million (ppm) was
the magic number, so to speak. We passed
it a few years ago in 2015. It was
special because it’s the same level of CO2 the planet had on average over 3
million years ago. It represented a truly
historic level that mankind had never seen before. In the grand view, its not a terribly high number
and is probably in the “middle” of the concentrations the earth has seen over
the majority of its time. Doubtless there
are periods well above 1,000 ppm That
said, the environmental conditions were different then, as were the plants and
animals and even indeed the amount of water and ocean levels. We do not have a frame of reference for how
we, as a species, can fair in those conditions long term. What we do know is as
the level of CO2 goes up the planet is getting hotter and that is driving
climate change and sea level change.
Hopefully, at this point you are asking what can you do?
Well the good news is there are lots of things that individuals can do to help
reduce the amount of CO2 they release each day.
First, don’t waste electricity in the home or office. That power generally comes from coal or gas
fired plants. Next, don’t let your
vehicle rundown or operate in poor condition.
A well-tuned and maintained motor is more fuel efficient and produces
less CO2. Be mindful of plastics you
purchase. Plastics are made in a process
that uses considerable heat to produce them, and as such needs large amounts of
either electricity or fossil fuels to power those production systems. Finally, toss the bottled water. Bottled water uses fuel to get to you and is
likely in a plastic bottle that produced carbon dioxide in its creation. Use a refillable bottle for your daily
consumption needs instead of packaged water.
Until next time ~
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