Reduce your carbon footprint

By Anna Valmero Inquirer.net History saw the waning and waxing of the campaign for environmentalism. Today more than ever, green consciousness has grabbed the attention of different industries worldwide. Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” is one of the agents that called the attention of every citizen about the human impact on the environment. The film presented the doom that might happen to the Earth and those that live in it if global warming continues at an unabated rate. According to the film’s website, at least 279 species of plants and animals are already affected by global warming that has started moving closer to the poles. Moreover, the flow of ice from glaciers in Greenland has more than doubled over the past decade. Both scenarios can impact the environment in terms of displacing other populations of plants and animals in their natural home or habitats, which might cause extinction and break nature’s balance. This can be related to the so-called butterfly effect: “A butterfly flapping its wings in one place can, in principle, alter the subsequent weather pattern in a distant place.” Today, big industry players in every industry wants to take part in the issue and announced plans to lower carbon footprints and help curb the inconvenient effects of global warming. However, this fight to reduce carbon dioxide is a fight everyone is part of. To begin, knowing the essential about the issue is key. A feverish planet Carbon footprint measures the impact of human activities on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced, specifically the units of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is found in the air humans and other animals exhale, which is then used by plants in the process of manufacturing food. Carbon dioxide is one of the gases in the air that traps helpful sun radiation to help maintain the earth’s temperature and make it viable to life in the process called greenhouse effect. Source: IPCC Fourth Assessment Report Working Group I Report “The Physical Science Basis At present, however, the levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions exceed the normal rates, according to the Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Thus, the earth now traps more heat because the greenhouses become so thick that the sun’s radiation cannot escape the atmosphere. Source: IPCC Fourth Assessment Report Working Group I Report “The Physical Science Basis According to the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report Working Group I Report "The Physical Science Basis:”

While many factors continue to influence climate, scientists have determined that human activities have become a dominant force, and are responsible for most of the warming observed over the past 50 years. Human-caused climate change has resulted primarily from changes in the amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, but also from changes in small particles (aerosols), as well as from changes in land use, for example. As climate changes, the probabilities of certain types of weather events are affected. For example, as Earth’s average temperature has increased, some weather phenomena have become more frequent and intense (e.g., heat waves and heavy downpours), while others have become less frequent and intense (e.g., extreme cold events).

Source: IPCC Fourth Assessment Report Working Group I Report “The Physical Science Basis Green war Think about this. You can contribute to increasing the planet’s carbon footprint when you go to work and ride your car, when you buy new clothes, or when you leave the TV on even if someone is not watching it. Power consumption can directly affect global warming. Take the whole process involved to produce food -- from planting, harvesting, packaging and delivery, until the time you purchase it and throw the leftover. This involves carbon. Each process uses power, which primarily is derived from coal that emits huge chunks of greenhouse gases. As of now, there has been initiatives to use renewable energy sources (solar, wind, hydroelectric and geothermal) to replace the use of fossil fuels. Industries form groups that will enable them to help address Today, the earth’s temperature is increasing beyond normal levels as shown by Figure 3 from IPCC’s report. That shouldn’t make you wonder why we are having hotter temperatures and erratic weather, more so in the metro, where heavy smog usually floats above the commercials buildings. As an appointed steward of this planet, what can you do to help reduce your carbon footprint? Let’s voice our thoughts for a greener Earth! SOURCES: An Inconvenient Truth Web site. http://www.climatecrisis.net/thescience/ Le Treut, et al. IPCC Fourth Assessment Report Working Group I Report “The Physical Science Basis” Retrieved: September 25, 2008. http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg1/ar4-wg1-chapter1.pdf Bindoff, Nathaniel, et al. IPCC Fourth Assessment Report Working Group I Report “The Physical Science Basis” Retrieved: September 25, 2008. http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg1/ar4-wg1-chapter5.pdf