Climate Change – “Why, How and Things you can do to save the planet”

Hello!

Climate Change is real and has widely been talked about these days. Millions of people gathered on worldwide streets recently to  protest against the global governments inaction against climate change. Yet, the steps to reduce the global emission are still only being thought about but not widely executed.

Today, I am going to talk about why it happens, how it happens and things we all can do to save the planet.

Most of you must have watched the movie “2012“. In case you haven’t, here’s a quick sneak peek for you:

In reality, the year 2012 was alleged to be the year of the end of human race and the world as we know it. A lot of it also got the hype because of conspiracy theories surrounding predictions of Mayan civilization whose calendar ended a complete cycle in the year 2012 itself. The plot of the movie talked about how the earth’s core has been found out to be hotter than ever followed up by a sequence where all countries start to prepare to save the human race before the D-day.

2012 may not be the year of apocalypse but the worldwide debate it started off about the possibilities of a similar kind of an event on our planet was for all the right reasons. It’s important to note that “end never happens in a day, yet we keep on aggravating things that leads to the doom.” 

It would be correct to say that 2012 may not have resulted in an end, but it gave us the courage to talk about the beginning of the end.

It’s important to note how does Climate Change happens and what accelerates its effects. Earth’s climate has changed naturally over the past 650,000 years, moving in and out of ice ages and warm periods. But, the process accelerated unnaturally during industrial revolution era.

 

The Industrial Revolution began in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in Great Britain when manual labor began to be replaced by machinery fueled by new sources of energy. Firstly, the England’s textile mills were mechanized followed by the development of iron making techniques and the increasing use of coal rather than wood and water power for heating, industry, and transportation. Around 1850, steam power was invented as a way to use coal energy more efficiently, and soon steam engines were used to power trains, ships, and industrial machinery of all sorts. These inventions spread throughout Europe, the United States, and other regions, bringing enormous changes in society and commerce. Later in the nineteenth century, scientists learned how to generate electricity, and the discovery of oil led to the invention of the internal combustion engine, both technological developments that further changed the way humans lived and worked around the globe.

By the end of 20th century, the world became completely dependent on rapidly depleting Fossil fuels. The concentration of carbon dioxide have constantly been increasing in the atmosphere and especially after industrial revolution, it gained momentum multiple folds. To gain a better perspective, it’s better to look at some figures. In 1750, there were 280 ppm of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, but by 2005, the levels of carbon dioxide had risen to 380 ppm, an increase of over one-third. And much of this increase has occurred in recent years, since 1959, as world energy usage has expanded dramatically.

 

The United States is responsible for almost a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, and China is the second-largest emitter. Other countries with high emissions include members of the European Union, while the lowest emissions come from various nations in Africa.

The major source of human-produced Greenhouse emissions— accounting for approximately 65 percent—is the use of fossil fuels to power industry, transportation, home heating, electricity generation, and cooking. However, carbon emissions are also increased when carbon-absorbing forests are cut down to make way for human developments and woodlands, grasslands, and prairies are converted into farmland for agriculture.

In fact, this revolution has already given rise to events what most Biologists refer to as an indication of “Mass Extinction”.¹ Our planet has already seen 5 big disasters like these and we are in an age of ongoing sixth Mass Extinction which is also called Holocene or Anthropocene Extinction.²

1. Click here to read about “The Big Five Mass Extinctions”.
2. Click here to read about 12 signs we’re in the middle of a 6th mass extinction,

The other big contributor for Mass Extinction which eventually leads to Climate Change is the consumption of meat. Over a period of decades, the meat consumption have sky rocketed which had eventually given rise & boost to dairy industry. Commercials across mediums kept on raking in moolah by spreading fake importance of cow/buffalo milk during that time and continue until today. As a result, the demand for milk and milk based products increased shockingly and the dairy industry took full advantage by artificially inseminating the female animals to make them pregnant and capitalize on the milk that an animal (usually cow/buffalo) mother produces. On the other hand, they used the offspring as fresh meat by killing them. Today, it all takes place commercially in big dairy plants. Even a simple google search about “Abuse on animals in dairy industry” will yield you results which may be enough to face the harsh truth.

 

I will cover a more detailed article on it in the upcoming days.

 

So, now you already know that the Climate Change is real and it is happening even at the moment when you are reading this article. Even though it gets difficult to understand how can one person contribute in saving our only home but it’s good that people continue to search ways to contribute as much as they can.

So, I have created a quick guideline for you which you can implement right now and start to contribute today itself. Please read below:

 

› Choose the right air conditioners/refrigerators with better refrigerants

The temperatures have risen big time in all these years making the usage of air conditioners inevitable. But, they have contributed to harming our planet more. But, the modern times have given us technology through we can continue to use ACs without harming the environment. One of the major components of AC is a refrigerant that gives you cool air.

A refrigerant is a fluid that is used in air conditioners and refrigerators, to take heat from the contents of a refrigerator or the room (in the case of ACs) and throw the heat out in the atmosphere. In the past, the most popular refrigerant was CFC (ChloroFluoroCarbons), most commonly called Freon. Freon was a brand name for a refrigerant “R-12” by DuPont. In the 1990s and 2000s, the CFCs were replaced with HCFCs (hydrochlorofluorocarbon) and the most common HCFC is “R-22”. 50-60% of Air Conditioners in India still (in 2016) use HCFCs. However, HCFCs are just marginally better than CFCs as they contain chlorine, which is harmful for the environment. As per Indian Government’s plan, HCFCs will be phased out from India by the year 2030.

To remove chlorine, manufactures created HFC (Hydro Fluro Carbons) but they couldn’t eliminate the potential risk but HFC was better than HCFC. Most commons ones are R-410A and R-32 with the latter being the better one.

The most environment-friendly refrigerants that are available in Indian market currently are “R-290” and “R-600A”. They are HC or Hydrocarbons and completely halogen free with no ozone depletion potential and lowest in global warming potential.

Refrigerant	Global Warming Potential	Ozone Depletion Potential
R-22	1810	Medium
R-410A	2088	Zero
R-32	675	Zero
R-134A	1430	Zero
R-290	3	Zero
R-600A	3	Zero

Source: Bijli Bachao

To have a detailed information on the refrigerants and there potential risks on Ozone Depletion and Global Warming, please click on the link below:

Data for Global Warming Potential of various refrigerants

And, most importantly please try & switch to the more cleaner machines. In India, Godrej is manufacturing R290 refrigerant ACs.

Click here to see Godrej’s environment friendly AC series. And the best part is that they are easily available on Amazon and Flipkart.

 

› Use public transport/cycles/battery operated vehicles more or stay home if not necessary

Irrespective of the location of the world you are in, you must have used vehicles which are fuel dependent be it on Petrol or Diesel.The carbon footprint has increased multiple folds and continue to increase giving rise to more pollution. Therefore, it is important to change our daily habits which may result in a bigger loss for the entire world.

Although we may not completely cut down the usage of these vehicles at this point due to unavailability of the cost efficient battery operated vehicles and well connected public transportation at most places, but still if we can mend our ways, it would be beneficial for all. If you have a decent public transport network, kindly try to put it to good use. If it’s not so good, try carpooling, cycling, shuttle sharing so as resources can be used efficiently. 

Most of the daily commuters are either working professionals or students. In the emerging economies and better technologies, companies around the globe are coming up with better work alternatives to boost employee production and reduce the waste of time while a commute. Try opting for work from home whenever possible. On the same hand, virtual classes are a viable option these days. Try to switch whenever possible.

 

› Plant more trees and save the grown ones

Gone are the days when planting more trees used to be the sole requirement. Today, its equally important to save the already grown trees and green habitats. Plant trees according to the local environmental conditions. Not all trees & plants can survive under a specific condition. Whenever there is a deforestation drive going to take place in your vicinity, check with the authorities about the need and the proposal. More often, the general public gets mocked in the name of development. Recently, local Mumbaikars came forward to save the ‘Aarey’ Forest in Mumbai. A similar event happened in the capital of the country a few months ago when the municipal corporation had to withdraw its order of cutting down of 16,000 trees.

A human breathes about 9.5 tonnes of air in a year, but oxygen only makes up about 23 percent of that air, by mass, and we only extract a little over a third of the oxygen from each breath. That works out to a total of about 740 kg of oxygen per year. Which is, very roughly, seven or eight trees’ worth. So, plant as many as you can with a limit of a minimum of 10 trees. But while you do that, it is also important to understand that not every tree grows everywhere. A tree should support a local ecosystem as well in order to grow and sustain. You may consult with a gardener when you go on a plantation drive.

 

Source – Science Focus

 

The grown trees are assets and must be preserved.

 

› Reduce Plastic usage as much as possible

It’s not a hidden fact that Plastic Pollution has made our planet and especially our river bodies a giant dump yard. Its not only killing the marine life but also pose a threat to the world. Plastics simply doesn’t breakdown and do not completely decay & stay in the environment forever. In the process, it results in chemical reactions which are not good for the environment and climate. The only way to get rid off these non-biodegradable plastic waste is to recycle/up-cycle/down-cycle it on a big scale.

Source – Hakaim Magazine

Undeniably, use & throw materials have made all of our lives easier. And the discovery of Celluloid in 1869 by John Wesley Hyatt was indeed revolutionary. Without plastics, a lot of modern day technologies would be far fetched including computers, mobile phones and a lot of life changing gadgets. Lately, in 1907 Leo Baekeland invented Bakelite, the first fully synthetic plastic, meaning it contained no molecules found in nature. 

Plastics only have the history of around 150 years and have already become a major threat to all of us. Thankfully, researches are being done to change the raw material with which its specially made so as we can convert it into a biodegradable material. And, we shall get to the discoveries soon.

Meanwhile, please reduce its usage as much as you can. Get a cloth bag to procure materials from market which used to be done in the plastic bags, avoid straws and any plastic made containers, dump your plastic waste properly and don’t throw it in open, run cleaning drives in your vicinity to get rid off the already thrown waste, use reusable water bottles whenever you can, run awareness programs for the unaware people.

A lot of people and companies have already started adopting various measures to reduce plastic waste. There are companies who are using the decomposed waste to create roads, segregated waste to build homes, even Sony India has also come forward to collecting waste from you and decomposing it properly. Click here to read about Sony India’s policy on e-waste management and help our world to retain the beauty it always had.

 

› Use water efficiently and don’t waste a drop

One of the drawbacks of growing Climate Change due to excessive deforestation is the depletion of ground water level.  Forests & Green covers are being cut at an unprecedented rate for agriculture to feed more & more livestock to support the global dairy and meat consumption for growing population. Not only that, more & more land is being made fertile to cultivate crops to support the growing population hunger.

One may question that ‘does the earth have the same amount of water it had in the beginning?’ Yes, the water always gets recycled naturally.  That’s why there is never a scarcity of a sea water, however, there is a scarcity of fresh water. 

Source – Toppr

 

Half of the largest cities in the world experience a scarcity of water. Although a mere 0.014% of all water on Earth is both fresh and easily accessible (of the remaining water, 97% is saline and a little less than 3% is hard to access).

Deforestation  has an adverse effect on the water table. Forests transport large quantities of water into the atmosphere via plant transpiration. As the deforestation occurs, there is no rain in that area, flowing away as river water and causing permanent drying.

What you can do?

Save as much as you can, whenever you can and wherever you can. 

1. If you happen to stay in a complex where rainwater harvesting techniques can be implemented, please take the lead and get it implemented. During the rains, we lose a good amount of water without sending it back to the ground. And, ground water recharging is need more than ever today.
2. Do not use submersible water pumps and encourage people to avoid its installation. The drilling for it goes way down in the earth and suck water from the ground. People in metro cities often tend to get a submersible water pump installed even after a good MCD water supply.
3. Do not pollute water bodies by throwing away your waste in it. Spread awareness and form local groups to guide people to stop throwing waste in them. 
4. Use water flow restrictors for taps for domestic and commercial usage. There’s a lot of wastage that happens on a daily basis every time we use the tap water. If we can restrict its flow, we would still be able to save a lot of water.

› Adopt a lifestyle that doesn’t harm animals in any form

Once the demand for meat & dairy goes down, you’d see that a lot of things will start improving automatically. The rate of conversion of forests into agricultural lands will reduce heavily. The global greenhouse emissions will start reducing based on the reduction in artificial population of livestock. According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, livestock — including cows, pigs, sheep and other animals — are responsible for about 14.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Cows are the primary offenders, and each animal releases 30 to 50 gallons a day on average. And with an estimated 1.3 to 1.5 billion cows on the planet, that’s a whole lot of methane​. While there are other sources of methane in the atmosphere like farming, decay in landfills, leakage from the oil and gas industry​ but we can change our daily lifestyle at the earliest. The rest of the factors involves the interference of local, national and international government bodies and most importantly people. If all of us can come together, we can shape a better future for sure.

 

These are couple of solutions that all of us can implement and contribute in saving the planet. For more solutions, keep checking this space. Or else, you may reach out to me anytime.