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
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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