Monday 28 July 2014

GLOBAL WARMING: A New Perspective

GLOBAL WARMING: A New Perspective
(Published in SUPREMACY Vol. 2 Issue 12 MAY 2008)
"The Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not for anybody’s greed."
Mahatma Gandhi
"We must look for that, which we have been trained not to see"
Ann Scales (Yule Law Journal, 1986)

Global Warming Worries 
All aspects of our environment and factors that support life on Earth are like parts of a jigsaw puzzle, which cannot be understood piece-meal; and are even less perceptible to those who do not lift their heads from the daily grind of making money. It is imperative to look at our environment with a fresh perspective, to stop the degradation due to the exploitation of natural resources.  Hence for sustainable development, we must get maximum value from the barest minimum resources.
       The changing weather patterns indicate that Global Warming is real, and has a big impact on our lives.  We now consider damage caused by weather as inevitable.  Presently, the various theories propagated on environmental issues for quick-fix solutions are bound to go against Nature’s Laws. The present generation is like a frog swimming in a pool that is gradually heating up, and ultimately dies.

Greenhouse Effect
Global warming is attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by carbon dioxide and humidity in air.  The structure of a greenhouse is actually responsible for trapping heat, and it is only incidental that carbon dioxide and humidity that benefit plants are also present.  We produce vast quantities of visible smoke from fossil fuels and low grade fires having measurable obscuration, yet ignore that dark objects absorb light and heat.  Clouds/ fog that look like cotton wool reflect sunlight and heat back into space. The scale of deforestation, along with increased consumption of fossil fuel indicates that we may be overdrawn from the hydrocarbon bank.  It may be of interest that Mumbai used to be clearer/ cooler a few years ago.
Effects of Human Activities
It is a known fact that primordial Earth was warmer and had considerably more carbon dioxide than today, which was gradually sequestrated into fossil fuels (storing prehistoric solar energy) that we use as chemical energy now. Transportation is a non-value-added activity; however since powerful auto-makers want to dispose of their current stocks, they resist progress on developing hydrogen/ hybrid/ electric cars.  The building industry is an indicator of the economic boom, but nobody notices that carbon dioxide, trapped millions of years ago in limestone, is released, when processed into cement. Economic policies giving tax sops need reconsideration, to reduce wasteful spending and environmental damage.
Garbage disposal is a big business that involves transportation and incinerators (both produce carbon dioxide), landfills or ocean dumps (not in my backyard syndrome).  Even if garbage is out of sight and out of mind, the problem remains. Composting garbage, locally, with aerobic methods is cost effective and also revitalizes farmlands.  We consider water to be unlimited, but only use the last rainwater stored in artificial lakes that are silting up. Our water bills are grossly subsidized with neither penalty for wastage, nor incentive for conservation. A total revamp of our plumbing/ drainage system can help segregate/ recycle waste water to optimize effluent treatment and reduce consumption.
Rise in Humidity/ Sea Level
Water exists on Earth in three forms, viz. ice, water and vapour, constantly converting from one form to the other with seasons, to give a balance we are used to. Water vapour (humidity) carries the latent heat of evaporation (540 cal/ gm), and melted ice carries a latent heat of freezing (80 cal/ gm).  So, the huge quantity of melted ice and humidity in air means Earth needs a strict calorific diet.  Heat Index (including the humidity component) and not just temperature would be an accurate measure of global warming.  This was seen while conducting a speed-march test for a commando unit (a 40 km walk in seven hours with a load of 25 kg), with summer day temperatures in the plains of North India crossing 42°C. A flash pre-monsoon shower brought down the temperature perceptibly, which it was felt, would prevent heat exhaustion in soldiers, but the heat index remained just the same due to increased humidity, and sweating did not help dissipate heat, but, on the contrary, caused dehydration.
The increase in sea level may not be perceptible yet, because equivalent melt-water from glaciers and polar ice-caps is simply converted into higher humidity in air. Glaciers that feed the flow of perennial rivers during the dry season are shrinking due to a combination of soot deposition that absorbs solar energy, and increased rain that melts ice, to cause floods. Increased relative humidity in air has the makings of the next great flood (remember Noah’s Ark came handy during the last one), and rainfall is likely to be very heavy in isolated pockets cooled by trees, night-time or winters.  One evening, personnel camping at the tree-belt grown to prevent sand-storms choking the water flow of Indira Gandhi Canal, experienced considerable rain over the camp, while the barren Thar Desert nearby did not get any. Trees prevent soil erosion and help recharge underground aquifers, so the long-term potential of damage due to deforestation must be considered.
Hazardous Technology
It is said that development in technology has led to our present problems, and that technology itself should give the solution.  Ironically, we are trapped by the inertia of current technologies, habits and lifestyles propagated in modern living, and actually resist change.  We first convert all forms of alternative energy into ‘conventional’ electricity or fuel, use electricity for heating, cooling, ventilation, running machinery, etc.  We use electric treadmills to workout, and then yet more electricity to pump water up overhead tanks; but surely, technology can help us workout to pump water, reuse waste heat from air-conditioners and refrigerators to preheat water, and use energy efficiently.  Dan Brown, author of ‘Angels and Demons’ says “we have lost faith in alternative energy, because we exploited it before ensuring the safety of nuclear and efficiency of solar energy”.
Oxygen Depletion
The term ‘Ozone Hole’ gives an impression that ozone blocks the passage of harmful ultra-violet rays through the atmosphere, whereas, actually, UV rays are absorbed when oxygen is converted into ozone.  The drop in atmospheric oxygen, along with increase of pollutants (CFC, etc.) hinders the absorption of UV rays, and it could more appropriately be called an ‘Oxygen Hole’.  Ironically, only UV rays can degrade plastic waste littering earth; (nylon ropes/ fabric weaken at places having prolonged exposure to sunlight).
A raised level of carbon dioxide is the first step for production of carbon monoxide, which can be fatal at very low levels.  Photosynthesis sequestrates not just carbon, but also hydrogen, as hydrocarbons, which give out carbon dioxide and water vapour, when burnt; so measuring only the increase in carbon dioxide does not indicate the actual depletion of oxygen.  To stop this downslide we must ensure compensatory forestation and ban indiscriminate burning/ incineration.  Some ‘authorities’ have questioned the capacity of forests to produce oxygen; and it may be worthwhile to study the factors like season, water/ nutrient availability, etc. that facilitate photosynthesis by plants, and rely on this efficient natural method for sequestrating carbon dioxide.

Change Required 
We can improve the way we exploit natural resources, by following the principles of Reduce (conspicuous consumption), Reuse (life-long Vs disposable) and Recycle (convert old material back to new goods), before it is too late.  The intelligentsia can use management techniques like Six Sigma that includes defect identification and elimination, cause and effect, root cause analysis, process prioritization (the 80-20 rule), counter-measures and benefit tracking, etc, to guide the ignorant masses.  This will be an uphill task as the film ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ says, “You can’t make somebody understand something, if their salary depends upon them not understanding it”.
We need to repair, renovate, use existing resources optimally and find innovative sources of renewable energy to save the goose that lays golden eggs, viz. Earth.  We should understand what is good for our collective well-being, and not just for individual profits/ luxury.  Thinkers and leaders, capable of organizing effort at the right time, place, scale and purpose, can still conserve our environment.  Life on Earth has revived anew after the Dinosaur Age; and this phase of warming may be just a slight fever for the planet, but we may not survive, if we don’t stop the damage now.  We must understand the structure, functioning and value of our environment that supports life on Earth, and respect it as God’s creation; for the sake of our own conservation.
Finally, to conclude-
Ø    "The world we have created is a product of our thinking; it cannot be changed without changing our thinking."
Albert Einstein
Ø    "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect, has intended us to forgo their use"
Galileo Galilee
Ø    “The question is not so much whether there is life on Mars as whether it will continue to be possible to live on Earth”
Jack Handy


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