Nobel Laureate Paul Crutzen characterized
the current epoch as the Anthropocene.
Our kind possesses the power to transform our planet on par with volcanoes,
earthquakes and glaciers.
Our unprecedented success and capacity to
dominate the planet, relative to other creatures, has been made possible
through centuries of cleaver manipulation of knowledge, energy and technology.
We harnessed fossil fuels to power the industrial revolution, the agrarian
revolution and more recently, the information revolution.
Take the newspaper or the electronic device
you have in front of you now. It is a testament of how our lives and economies
are dependent on energy – the heavy machinery that logged trees or excavated mineral
ore and shipped them to factories that turned trees into paper and mineral ore
into electronic devices, the trucks that distribute the newspaper and the
electricity that power your devices.
Nearly 80 percent of the energy that powers
our economies and enables hundreds of millions of activities that make our lives
possible – from entertainment to waging war to saving lives – is generated
from fossil fuels.
However, the enormous creature comforts of
the modern civilization and the breathtaking economic progress we have enjoyed
have not been without consequences. By burning fossil fuels, we have released huge
volumes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. About 150 years ago the
atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations were circa 270 parts per million.
Today, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations are estimated at over 400
parts per million.
High levels of carbon dioxide, along with
other gases such as methane and nitrous oxide are associated with a phenomenon known
as the greenhouse effect. Essentially these gases create a blanket thus absorbing
and preventing long wave radiation from the earth’s surface from escaping into
the upper layers of the atmosphere. The net effect is the earth’s atmospheric
temperature rises and it becomes a sort of hothouse.
The hothouse effect is called global
warming. Scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have
warned that average global temperatures could increase between 1.4 and 5.8
degrees Celcius by the year 2100. This may seem to far into the future to worry
about. The temperature rises might seem too trivial, but the consequences will
be catastrophic for all lifeforms on the planet.
Data from
NASA, which dates back to 1880 and confirmed by Japan Metrological Agency
suggests that July 2015 was the hotest month in atleast 4,000 years. The
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also predicts that a
strong El Nino id building up, one that could outscale the intensity of the
record 1997/98 event, which visted devasting havoc on our economy
infrastructure, health and livelihoods.
Science shows
that there is an unequivocal link between carbon dioxide emissions from utilization
of fossil fuels and dangerous global warming. But skeptics exist, including US
presidential hopeful Donald Trump or Nobel Laureate Ivar Giaever who believes
that global warming is a non problem, which will take care of itself if left
alone.
There are
also strong advocates for why we need to cut back on carbon pollution. Pope
Francis in his 2015 Encyclical warned that addiction to fossil fuels and
compulsive materialism was pushing the planet to a perilous breaking point.
According to the Pope, humanity faces ruin without a revolution in our hearts and
minds. According to US President Barak Obama, climate change is not some future
threat to our children or grandchildren, it is a reality we are experiencing
today. Hence the time to act is now. Obama argues that carbon dioxide, like chemical
wastes such as mercury, arsenc and sulphur must be regulated.
This
November, the world will converge in Paris at the 21st Conference of
Parties of the United Nations Framework
Convetion on Climate Change. I am not holding my breath for a global deal. But
I think we all have a moral obligation as citizens of the world to act
responsibly and preserve the planet for future generations. COP 21 must be
about what individual nations and communities can do curb carbon pollution. To
paraphrase Martin Luther King, we must undergo a radical revolution of values.
We must
shift from a society hypnotized by big business and profits built on profilgate
consumption of carbon to a people-centered society. Now is the time to begin to
end our dangerous addiction to fossil fuels and put our economies on solid path
of responsible growth powered by renewable clean energy.
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