GLOBAL WARMING: IT’S ALL MAN’S FAULT!!! (and things we can do to slow it down)

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Written by Tess Superioriad Baluyos

Wednesday, 10 February 2010 20:35

The past three years saw the overwhelming natural calamities that we never imagined would happen. The wild fires that swept California, USA some part of Australia caused lives and destroyed properties. The flooding in China claimed many lives and properties.

If we saw that in other countries, we also have our own share of those calamities. Who would ever forget the damages caused by typhoon Ondoy that left many Filipino families in Metro Manila homeless?

At the local level, Cagayan de Oro City and Misamis Oriental and the neighboring cities and provinces were not spared. The heavy flooding in the first quarter of 2009 was something Cagayanons and Misamisnons never expected. It was the first time that the city experienced a heavy flooding like that.

Flooding, wildfires… and the many other natural calamities that happened the past months are mostly attributed to global warming. What is global warming? Why has it become a byword, not only in schools, in offices, in businesses and in the political arena? It is an issue not limited to scientists to study, rather, it is concern that needs the cooperation of everyone… because everyone is affected… and the world suffers.

Global warming is a result of set of changes to the earth’s climate. The change varies from country to country, from place to place. In the process, the effects also change the rhythm of climate that human beings and all living things depend on.

What causes global warming? Scientists have spent decades figuring out what is causing global warming. They've looked at the natural cycles and events that are known to influence climate. But the amount and pattern of warming that's been measured can't be explained by these factors alone. The only way to explain the pattern is to include the effect of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted by humans.

Scientists tasked to study the causes and effects of global warming have learned that there are several greenhouse gases responsible for warming, and humans emit them in a variety of ways. Most come from the combustion of fossil fuels in cars, factories and electricity production. The gas responsible for the most warming is carbon dioxide, also called CO2. Other contributors include methane released from landfills and agriculture (especially from the digestive systems of grazing animals), nitrous oxide from fertilizers, gases used for refrigeration and industrial processes, and the loss of forests that would otherwise store CO2.

Indeed, signs are everywhere…and we could not afford to just ignore them. Glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising, cloud forests are drying, and wildlife is scrambling to keep pace. It's becoming clear that humans have caused most of the past century's warming by releasing heat-trapping gases as we power our modern lives. Called greenhouse gases, their levels are higher now than in the last 650,000 years.

Effects of global warming are glaring and one of these is acid rain. Acid rain is caused by rotting vegetation and some chemicals released by erupting volcanoes. Most of all, acid rain are caused by human activities. The biggest culprit is the burning of fossil fuels by coal-burning power plants, factories, and automobiles

Acid rain is described as a form of precipitation with high levels of nitric and sulfuric acids. It can also occur in the form of snow, fog, and tiny bits of dry material that settle to Earth.

When humans burn fossil fuels, sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) are released into the atmosphere. These chemical gases react with water, oxygen, and other substances to form mild solutions of sulfuric and nitric acid. Winds may spread these acidic solutions across the atmosphere and over hundreds of miles. When acid rain reaches Earth, it flows across the surface in runoff water, enters water systems, and sinks into the soil.

Another effect of global warming is the depletion of ozone layer. The ozone layer is a belt of naturally occurring ozone gas that sits 9.3 to 18.6 miles (15 to 30 kilometers) above Earth and serves as a shield from the harmful ultraviolet B radiation emitted by the sun.

Today, there is widespread concern that the ozone layer is deteriorating due to the release of pollution containing the chemicals chlorine and bromine. Such deterioration allows large amounts of ultraviolet B rays to reach Earth, which can cause skin cancer and cataracts in humans and harm animals as well.

Toxic wastes are another effect of global warming. These wastes are poisonous byproducts of manufacturing, farming, city septic systems, construction, automotive garages, laboratories, hospitals, and other industries. The waste may be liquid, solid, or sludge and contain chemicals, heavy metals, radiation, dangerous pathogens, or other toxins. Even households generate hazardous waste from items such as batteries, used computer equipment, and leftover paints or pesticides.

Hazardous wastes are poisonous byproducts of manufacturing, farming, city septic systems, construction, automotive garages, laboratories, hospitals, and other industries. The waste may be liquid, solid, or sludge and contain chemicals, heavy metals, radiation, dangerous pathogens, or other toxins. Even households generate hazardous waste from items such as batteries, used computer equipment, and leftover paints or pesticides.

The wastes can harm humans, animals, and plants if they encounter these toxins buried in the ground, in stream runoff, in groundwater that supplies drinking water, or in floodwaters, as happened after Hurricane Katrina. Some toxins, such as mercury, persist in the environment and accumulate. Humans or animals often absorb them when they eat fish.

Deforestation is another effect of global warming. Deforestation is clearing Earth's forests on a massive scale, often resulting in damage to the quality of the land. Forests still cover about 30 percent of the world’s land area, but the massive wild fires that hit some parts of the earth have depleted the vast forests. And when something is not done, the world’s rain forests could completely vanish in a hundred years at the current rate of deforestation.

Forests are cut down for many reasons, but most of them are related to money or to people’s need to provide for their families. The biggest driver of deforestation is agriculture. Farmers cut forests to provide more room for planting crops or grazing livestock. Often many small farmers will each clear a few acres to feed their families by cutting down trees and burning them in a process known as “slash and burn” agriculture.

Air pollution is another effect of global warming. It causes smog hanging over cities. Baguio City is one classic example where in the morning and in the evening, what one can see is smog enveloping the whole city and its surroundings. But there are different kinds of pollution—some visible, some invisible—that contribute to global warming. Generally any substance that people introduce into the atmosphere that has damaging effects on living things and the environment is considered air pollution.

Carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, is the main pollutant that is warming Earth. Though living things emit carbon dioxide when they breathe, carbon dioxide is widely considered to be a pollutant when associated with cars, planes, power plants, and other human activities that involve the burning of fossil fuels such as gasoline and natural gas. In the past 150 years, such activities have pumped enough carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to raise its levels higher than they have been for hundreds of thousands of years.

Other greenhouse gases include methane—which comes from such sources as swamps and gas emitted by livestock—and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which were used in refrigerants and aerosol propellants until they were banned because of their deteriorating effect on Earth's ozone layer.

What will we do to slow this warming? How will we cope with the changes we've already set into motion? While we struggle to figure it all out, the face of the Earth as we know it—coasts, forests, farms and snow-capped mountains—hangs in the balance.

There are so many things which we can do to slow down global warming, and these include:

- Buy fuel-efficient vehicles. More than a third of the world's carbon dioxide emissions come from cars, trucks, and buses.

- Drive less. Walk to your destination if it's not that far. Try a bicycle, or use public transportation. Or you can organize a car pool among your relatives, colleagues at work, or neighbors.

- Drive smart. Avoid sudden starts and stops as these consume more fuel and which, in turn, cause more emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Bring your car in for regular tune-ups too as it improves fuel efficiency by half.

- Use energy-efficient light bulbs. Conventional incandescent bulbs generate only 10 percent of illumination from the energy they use, while the other 90 percent are lost in the form of heat. Switch to compact fluorescent lights which are more energy efficient. They cost more than the conventional bulbs, but you get to save some of those crisp bills in your household budget because they last longer.

- Unplug your appliances that are not in use to reduce wastage of standby power. Unknown to some people, many appliances that are plugged in still consume energy even when they are not in use or turned off. For instance, 25 percent of a television's energy is consumed even when it's not turned on. A cellphone charger that is still plugged in consumes about 5 watts. A good alternative to this is to use power strips which you can switch off. Power strips still consume some amount of energy but far less than the appliances that are left plugged in.

- When replacing appliances, choose the most energy-efficient models and keep them well maintained. A refrigerator, for instance, uses 10 to 15 percent of the total electricity consumption each month. Older refrigerator models consume more. When you're away, turn the thermostat low (ideally, set it at 4 degrees celsius) for huge energy savings.

- Weatherproof your house with added insulation and weather stripping to cut fuel use.

- Use your computer smartly. If you need to keep your computer on, enable its power management feature to save 70% of energy. Laptop computers are 90% more energy efficient than desktops; inkjets are more energy efficient than laser printers; and black-and-white printing is more energy efficient than color printing.

- Practice recycling. Fewer products; reuse what you can. When you do the groceries, use canvas totes instead of taking your groceries home in plastic bags. This way, manufacturers of these plastic bags won’t have to use more energy to make brand new ones.

- Conserve water. Use only enough water that’s necessary. Organize your garden or potted plants in such a way that they don’t have to use so much water. Choose hardier plants or put mulch (sawdust, compost, or paper) on top of the soil to keep the moisture in. Water waved means the water companies do not have to spend more energy generating water for your household needs.

- Plant trees. They absorb carbon dioxide.

- Reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Find out how much carbon dioxide your activities are releasing into the atmosphere and how you can reduce them. For example, look for ways to use solar energy.

- Volunteer your skills to such organizations like Greenpeace. Make others aware of the real dangers that global warming can bring to our lives.

Global warming is everyone’s concern, and everyone can also contribute to the solution. We don’t have to wait for that time when there is little, or worse, when there’s nothing more than we can do to save Planet Earth. The time to act is NOW!!!

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