Introduction
All over the world, the security of individuals, societies and states is increasingly threatened by environmental degradation. These threats are majorly man made arising from the way man misuses the natural resources. The threats are many and they are varied across the globe. The developing countries face severe problems for example drought, desertification, flooding among others. The industrialised countries on the other hand have been forced to do with acid rain.
Those nations geographically placed at the north and south poles are threatened by the continuous deposits of organic chemical pollutants. It is estimated that climate change will continue to affect humanity for the next 50 to 100 years. Sturges et al. (612) notes that the mechanics of climate change are rather simple; as the sun shines on the earths surface, it is reflected back in form of infrared heat into the space.
However, with climate change, the infrared heat is prevented from escaping into space by greenhouse emissions in the space (methane, carbon dioxide and trifluoromethyl sulfur pentafluoride). The IPCC (par 2) reports that the Greenhouse emissions are causing global warming at rates never seen before.
Environmental scientists use Radiative forcing in the comparison of human and natural factors that drive climate change. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC), carbon dioxide remains the leading anthropogenic greenhouse gas. Globally, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has grown from 280 ppm to 379 ppm cubed in 2005.
The past decade has witnessed the highest growth rate in carbon dioxide emissions averaging 1.9 ppm per year between 1995 and 2005(IPPC para.1). From the days of pre-industrial revolution, carbon dioxide is produced mainly from the use of fossil fuels; this is followed by the change in land use which also emits significant levels of carbon dioxide.
Human activities have given rise to emission of four major green house gases; nitrous oxide, methane, carbon dioxide and the halocarbons (fluorine, chlorine and bromine). The continuous emission of green house gases to the atmosphere through human activities has led to the accumulation of the gases in the atmosphere thereby increasing their concentration over time.
Greenhouse Gases
Muller (66) notes that the earth is warmed with the light from the sun. Such warming could be catastrophic if the earth lacked an internal system that absorbs the heat. He explains the name “green house gases”; in a green house, the sun light through the glass warms the soil which in turn emits infrared gas.
Because the green house is protected with glass, the infrared gas cannot escape into the atmosphere, as a result, the inside of the green house becomes warmer and warmer. The global carbon dioxide concentration is largely attributed to the over reliance on fossil fuels as a source of energy in transportation, house heating, cooling and in the manufacture of several goods. In addition, deforestation tendencies have promoted the release of carbon dioxide as there are no plants to use the carbon dioxide in photosynthesis.
Furthermore, Human activities related to agriculture, landfills and natural gas distribution have increased the emission of methane. Relative to carbon dioxide, methane rates have not been increasing over the past decade. Methane and carbon dioxide are not the only dangerous gases, through the burning of fossil fuels and fertilizer uses in farms, human beings expel Nitrous oxide into the atmosphere. Furthermore, the continuous prevalence of halocarbons in the atmosphere is also linked anthropogenic causes.
Available evidence indicates that for long, countries have been using chlorofluorocarbons as refrigeration agents in addition to other industrial processes that emit green house gases. Due to mounting pressure to protect the ozone layer; the use of chlorofluorocarbon gases has considerably declined.
Similarly, dangerous gases like ozone have been continuously produced and destroyed in the atmosphere through chemical reactions. Human activities have worsened the ozone problem through the release of gases like carbon, nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide.
Water remains the most abundant yet most useful greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. To a small extent, human activities determine amount of water vapour in the atmosphere. Changes in climate arising from human activities can affect water vapour significantly. For instance, through CH4 emissions, which undergo a chemical destruction in the stratosphere, a small percentage of water vapour is produced (Forster et al. 6).
Historical and current lows and highs in carbon dioxide emissions (source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) USA 2011)
Radiative Forcing
Radiative forcing is used to evaluate the factors that can cause climate change. It measures how the energy balance of the earths atmosphere system reacts with the factors affecting climate change. The radiactive forcing is measured by change in the rate of energy per unit area of the globe.
The unit of measurement is in watts per square meter. When the relative forcing from a factor or group of factors is evaluated as positive, the earths atmosphere energy system results in the warming of the system. On the other hand when the radiactive forcing is negative, the earths energy will decrease leading to the cooling of the system.
Radiative Forcing of Factors Affected by anthropogenic activities
Human activities significantly affect the long life gases like ozone, contrails, water vapour, aerosols and surface albedo. Positive forcings from all greenhouse gases have led to the warming of climate and these gases are arising mainly due to human activities.
As noted in the table above, among the gases, carbon dioxide increases in the resent past have generated the largest forcings in the history of mankind. While tropospheric increases in ozone have amplified global warming, the stratospheric decreases in ozone have resulted in global cooling.
Radiactive Forcing arising from Natural Changes
Generally, the natural forcings occur as a result of explosive volcanic eruptions and solar changes. During the age of industrialization, solar effect has gradually increased leading to a small but positive radiative forcing. In addition, the solar also experiences changes in its radiation cycle.
Because the solar energy directs warms the earths surface, it can influence the atmospheric presence of greenhouse gases for example stratospheric ozone. Volcanic eruptions can also create short term negative forcings that last between 2-3 years leading to a short term increase in the stratospheres sulphate aerosol. From the year 1991 when Mt. Pinatubo erupted, there has never been any major eruption and therefore the stratosphere is currently free of volcanic aerosol.
In summary, there is no major difference between the current forcing estimates and those that existed in the industrial era. Variations in volcanoes and solar irradiance are significantly small. However, the differences in radiactive estimates that have been as a result of human activities are astonishingly large. As a result, current and future climatic changes will largely be affected by human activities compared to the radiative forcings that are likely to occur from natural processes.
Sources of Energy Advantages and Disadvantages
Fossil fuels remain the single largest source of energy. It is projected that by the year 2030 oil, natural gas and coal will account for 87 percent of the total worlds energy demand compared to 85 percent in the year 2000.The U.S.s share of fossil fuels in 2000 stood at 86 percent (Loper et al. 24).
Various energy sources are demanded for various uses. These sources include fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas). Fossil fuels are available in large quantities, more safe relative to nuclear power and yields more energy relative to renewable sources. On the negative side, they are non-renewable and result in environmental degradation.
Nuclear energy; where matter is converted into energy. It has the advantage of producing more energy but on the negative side it is associated with radiactive materials. Biomass-here, the fuel is produced through biological processes; it is a good source of energy because it can be renewed. However, it lacks sufficient supply to meet the needs of the modern society. Solar energy; freely available from the sun during the day and is renewable. It can also be converted into electric power and is non-polluting.
Impact of Climate Change
The impacts of climate change are not only real but also growing both in the U.S. and across the globe. There is a common scientific consensus that climatic changes will significantly affect the earths future and the future of generations to come. Anthropogenic climate change has the potential to cause both weather changes and destroy natural and human systems among them, economies, ecosystems, human settlements not to mention the political institutions.
In the last 20 years, climate change has heavily dominated research subjects in science, which points as to how serious the problem is. Muller (125) attributes green house emissions to three gases: water, carbon dioxide and methane. Of the three, carbon dioxide is the most dangerous.
He notes that the warming of water causes more clouds in the sky. Muller (121) gives another example of climate change that occurred between 1940 and 1970. He calls this period the ice age when the weather was largely cold. To him this was not a result of global warming but rather an effect of the prevalent volcanoes at that time.
The IPPC reports that climate change significantly contributes to the global disease burden and premature deaths. Human beings are vulnerable to climactic changes through variations in weather and indirectly through in the economy, ecosystem, agriculture and human settlements.
The national health impact assessment of climate change reports that climate change has serious effects on human health. McMichael et al. (333) reports that in Austria climate changes have led to the rise in heat wave associated deaths, many people have died due to drowning caused by floodwaters, among the indigenous communities diarrheal incidence has increased and a high likelihood that the weather changes are going to create environmental refugees from the islands of pacific exists.
Other than health issues, humanity has also experienced major storm and flood disasters in the past twenty years. In 2003 for example, approximately 130 million Chinese were affected by floods (EM-DAT para 5), 30,000 people in Venezuela died from storm and flood landslides in 1999.
In addition, the IFRC (para 4) and Guha-Sapir et al. (188) show that in the year 2000/2001 in Mozambique, approximately 1,813 people died in floods. Though efforts have been made to drastically reduce weather related problems particularly through establishment of early warning systems, the social and health impacts of weather disasters on human beings are still significant.
The Polar Regions have not been spared either by the impact of climate change. Vinje (271) notes that the Arctic and the Antarctic have both been affected by climate change. The volume of the sea ice has declined in the Arctic by a whole 2.9 percent per decade between the period 1978 and 1976.
The thinning of the sea ice has brought to a halt the melt days that were experienced in every summer. In addition, the water flowing from the Atlantic to the Arctic has warmed with a very thin surface layer. Furthermore, regions within the permafrost have reduced in size and have experienced a rise in ground temperatures over many years.
The Antarctic region has also undergone various changes. The ice shells, which were a common feature in this area, have largely retreated and collapsed as a result of regional warming. It is projected that this warming will continue further in the southern part, resulting in the breaking of ice shelves that will cause serious effects to humans in the introduction of exotic animals and plant.
In the southern ocean, climate change has altered sea ice extent and is likely to impact on all levels of sea food chain beginning from the algae to the whales. Equally, the marine birds and mammals, which have a culture of breeding in particular sites, will largely be affected by the movements of heir foraging habitats and the migration of their prey. It is also projected that a significant loss of sea ice will occur in the Arctic Ocean because of the effects of carbon dioxide that will open new sea routes (Vinje 265).
Solutions Addressing the Bigger Picture
These solutions fall within six elements which include: (1) transportation; cutting the metropolitan vehicle distance travelled by every individual. This can be achieved through expanding the light rail lines, expanding public transport system, levying a certain amount of fees on those who drive, and making the streets friendly to those who ride bicycles and pedestrians.
In addition, the government should purchase vehicles, which are efficient to operate in cities for instance those that omit low or no carbon dioxide. (2) Promoting energy efficiency; more focus should be directed towards energy saving and reduced use of electricity, petroleum fuels and natural gas in homes, businesses and industry.
This will reduce carbon dioxide emissions. (3) Use of renewable energy and cogeneration, there is a great potential in using landfills’ methane and treatment of wastewater as a source of energy. Furthermore, renewable sources of energy like waste heat and solar heating should be tapped. (4) Recycling, paper waste products, which have less consumer waste content for example less than 25 percent can be recycled.
In addition, solid waste recycling needs to be step up to cover over 80 percent of the total waste stream.(5) tree planting, more emphasis needs to be placed on tree planting for example through initiatives that promote urban area tree planting and the maintenance of the already existing trees.
Muller (65) emphasizes the importance of tree planting by using Hawaii as an example. He notes that during summer levels of carbon dioxide are always low because they are consumed by the plants. In contrast, during winter, the levels of carbon dioxide are high. Lastly, (6) the government should take actions through policy to raise fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks in addition to increased taxation on fuel guzzlers and offer rebates to those who use fuel sparingly.
Major transformation has been witnessed among business leaders over the past decade as they become increasingly informed of the science of climate change. There are several case studies that indicate that firms are taken measures to tackle climate change. Dupont and BP in 2006 entered into a partnership to manufacture butanol a bio fuel with greater energy content than ethanol. Through this project, the companies project that in the next few decades Dupont will reduce its use of fossil fuels by up to 60 percent. In Japan, Toyota is leading in the manufacture of clean energy cars for example; fuel centric cars, electric cars, and compressed natural gas.
To properly address the challenge of carbon dioxide emissions there is need to adopt low carbon technology. A god example is in Asia. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has promoted clean energy programs in various parts of Asia by shifting towards lower carbon energy production. By the year 2013, it hopes to double its clean energy investments to $2 billion annually. Many of its programs are in China, Nepal, Philippines and Pakistan. In India, two wind energy projects have been set up through the help of ADB.
In the agricultural sector, IPPC (5) reports that if farmers in the United States undertook cost effective cuts in nitrous oxide, then the total green gas emissions could be reduced by 5 percent to 14 percent. Globally, almost a third of the total green house gas emissions come from agriculture.
Grazing land and hay land can also be better managed to reduce the impact of climate change. Conant et al. (343) give a summary of 115 studies of the effects of grassland management on soil carbon. He estimates that rates of soil carbon can increase within the range of 0.1 to 3 t/ha in one year under different management improvements.
Still on land, there is need to adopt land use changes to increase the amount of soil carbon. This can be achieved by converting agricultural lands into forests. This has the additional advantage of creating a woody biomass. Post and Kwon (321) found out that following afforestation, stocks of soil carbon increased by 0.35 t/ha in one year.
Reasons for Hope
Muller (70) notes that it is not clear as to whether the global warming is a result of human activities or natural causes. This is because over the years, the amount of carbon dioxide levels has only grown by one degree FH. He further notes that hurricanes are not a result of global warming as claimed by many.
There are many signs that indicate that the business community is up in arms against the climate challenges. It is estimated that more than 13,000 firms and other non-governmental organizations are engaged in climate related partnership programs. These companies have invested hugely in the supply of clean energy, energy efficiency and other initiatives aimed at reducing the impact of climate change.
Such efforts have not only benefited the environment and the people but also the companies themselves. A number of companies have indeed proved that from their efforts they reaped value in energy cost savings, increased their operating efficiencies, widened their market opportunities and enhanced both their brand and corporate reputation.
In the year 2003, carbon disclosure project was launched to allow institutional investors to collectively endorse a global request through which companies will disclose their green gas emissions to the public. In addition, the companies are required to report their climate strategies. This was a great step forward towards making companies accountable.
While tackling climate change, businesses are benefiting from the opportunities presented by climate friendly businesses. A case in point is the Goldman Sachs, which in the year 2005 acquired the largest wind power developer in the United States. After the acquisition, if financed a $ 60 million project to manufacture rooftop solar systems. Later in the same year it set aside an additional $ 1 billion to finance the development of renewable energy and projects that are energy efficient.
Companies in the energy and technology sectors are also playing a great role in combating climate change. For example, GE doubled its investments in environmental technologies in 2010 and it is estimated that BP will inject up to $ 8 billion in the generation of wind, hydrogen and solar power. Other firms like GTE Energy have set up massive recovery programs to reduce the impact o climate change.
GTE Energy initiated 29 landfills to recover greenhouse gases across the United States. Through this initiative, it will recover methane and use it to produce steam or electricity after converting it into pipeline quality gas.
Through GTE efforts, the amount of global warming reduced equates an estimated annual emission of four large coal power plants. The continuous emission of green house gases to the atmosphere through human activities has led to the accumulation of the gases in the atmosphere thereby increasing their concentration over time
Another example that points to the fact that the battle against climate change can be worn is the PG&E Corporation. From early 1990s, this company has successfully managed to save in excess of 138 million megawatts of electricity and prevented 80 million tons of carbon dioxide gas emissions into the atmosphere. Furthermore, its new climate protection program gives their customers an opportunity to fund carbon dioxide reduction projects by paying a premium over their monthly bills.
By significantly reducing the amount of electric energy required to produce a ton of aluminium, Alcoa has saved millions of dollars. It is estimated that in a span of two decades Alcoa uses 7.5 percent less energy to produce a ton of aluminium.
It has also diversified the aviation and automobile industries with strong but lightweight materials that reduce energy consumption in the latter two sectors. With the ever-increasing pressures for companies to cut greenhouse gases associated with transportation, Alcoa expects its sales volumes to grow significantly.
Conclusion
There is a Chinese proverb that says the next generation will only get a shade if the current generation plants a tree. The current generation cannot afford to use ignorance as a defence because we have the evidence and we can mobilise resources to reduce the future impacts of climate change. The most important reality of our time is the danger that climate change posses to us and the future generation if we do not act.
The danger is twofold; first, our own development as human beings is threatened. Though climate change affects all countries, the most affected are those with the least resources to cope. This catastrophe is already unfolding in our society today and if left unattended to it will lead to the reversal of human development gains in the 21st century.
Secondly, climate change is a great risk not just for the poor but the entire planet not to mention the future generations. Unless we act, the current path is a sure way to ecological disaster. Uncertainty exists as to the speed of warming and to the actual impacts, however the disappearance of the great ice shelves, ocean warming and the disappearance of rain forest systems are real outcomes we see today. As the current generation, we should take precautionary measures aimed at climate change mitigation.
We know that at the centre of the problem lies the earths capacity to properly absorb carbon dioxide and other greenhouse emissions. We the current generation already know enough about climate change. Therefore, it cannot be said that we lack the knowledge but rather the understanding of what we know and the drawing of conclusions. As Lindqvist (4) puts it, the current generation has less than a decade not to contemplate on whether to act but rather to start the shift to low carbon energy systems.
Businesses are already taking the lead in addressing climate change both within the company itself and in policy formulation and implementation. Most businesses now agree that regulations are necessary to control the effects of green house emissions and that if climate policies are properly designed, then all businesses will have no alternative other than being more responsible.
Long-term initiatives aimed at addressing climate change are costly but such action by both the political and business leaders and all society members will see better results that will both improve profitability for the businesses and a safer environment for the people.
Works Cited
Conant, R., Paustian, K. and Elliott, E. Grassland management and conversion into grassland: Effects on soil carbon. Ecological Application 11.2 (2001): 343-355.
EM-DAT. The OFDA/CRED international disaster database. OFDA/CRED. 2006. Web.
Forster, Piers, Ramaswamy, Venkatachalam, Artaxo, Paulo et al. Changes in atmospheric constituents and in radiative forcing. 2007. Web.
Guha-Sapir, D., Hargitt, D. and Hoyois, P. Thirty years of natural disasters 1974-2003: The numbers. Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters. 2004. Web.
IPCC. Climate change 2001: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II, and III to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. IPCC. 2001. Web.
Lindqvist, S. The 21st century climate challenge. Human Development Report 2007/2008. Web.
Loper, J., Ungar, L., Weitz, D. and Misuriello, H. From building on success, policies to reduce energy waste in buildings. Alliance to Save Energy. 2005. Web.
McMichael, A. Campbell-Lendrum, D., Corvalan, C. et al. Climate change and human health: Risk and responses. World Health Organization. 2003. Web.
Muller, R. Physics and technology for future presidents: An introduction to the essential physics every world leader needs to know. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2010. Print.
Post, W. and Kwon, C. Soil carbon sequestration and land-use change: processes and potential. Global Change Biology 6 (2000): 317-327.
Sturges, W. T., Wallington, T. J., Hurley, M.D., Shine, K. P. et al. A potent greenhouse gas identified in the atmosphere: SF5CF3. Science 289.5479 (2000): 611-613.
Vinje, Torgny. Anomalies and trends of sea ice extent and atmosphere circulation in the Nordic Seas during the period 1864-1998. Journal of Climate 14.3 (2001): 255-267.