I was checking the results of the G8 meeting in L’Aquila – Italy (last July), and noted that the leaders of this select group declared, first, that “any increase in temperature caused by human action should not exceed 2 º C compared to temperatures above pre-industrial average.
It is interesting to find that, amid the continuing economic and financial crisis in which the world is (and despite the leaps of excitement and joy that today have German, French and Japanese to have experienced increases in their GDP not go beyond 0.9% and that makes them assume the exit of the recession … I would be less confident) the G-8 has devoted efforts to address this particular topic. So I found it interesting to make some considerations of why all of this and expose the need for “efforts” are real and not mere statements.
Concern over “global warming” had its origin in an article published in 1957 by Roger Revelle and Hans Suess, both of Scripps Institute of Oceanography in California (USA). In this article, the scientists warned that the agricultural and industrial activities were resulting in a dangerous increase in CO2 levels in the atmosphere, with unpredictable consequences for the Earth’s temperature.
In short, global warming is the result of the gradual accumulation in the atmosphere of gases that prevent heat from escaping the planet. In this process, the sun’s rays enter the Earth through the atmosphere, and when the sun’s rays strike the surface of the planet, these are transformed into heat and infrared energy. Heat rises and causes the molecules of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere vibration. Thus, the gas molecules act as reflectors of the heat and return to the surface, producing a heating effect.
Scientists have been able to determine that the increased carbon dioxide is responsible for 70% of global warming, while methane and nitrous oxide share the rest of the global warming effect by 24% and 6% respectively.
Some studies indicate that today’s atmosphere contains 31% more CO2 than that contained in 1,750, while the concentration of methane and nitrous oxide are respectively 151% and 17% higher than levels experienced in the year.
Almost 75% of the increase in CO2 concentrations over the past 20 years is attributable to burning fossil fuels, the increase in the concentration of methane is attributed to emissions from rice paddies, landfills and animal flatulence, whereas, nitrous oxide concentration is the product of extensive use of chemical fertilizers in agricultural soil, the chemical industry, among others.
Undoubtedly, the increase of emissions of harmful gases into the planet’s survival has arisen from the need to generate energy (electricity, gasoline, other fuels, fertilizers, etc..) That allow us to move, use and develop machinery to produce goods and services and thus do things our own life everyday.
This seems to make clear that in a world stuck and desperate to keep the lights on and our launch vehicles, many may seem that there is no other option but to use an increasing amount of fuel, and sacrifice “for now “The interests of our planet for the needs and generating economic gains in the short term.
Some data about the needs of energy consumption are interesting in this debate. For example, forecasts more “conservative” predict that cover the energy requirements of the population of the Earth constantly growing, require double the energy consumption between the years 2000 and 2040, will triple it by 2070 and quadruple by 2100.
This will imply tripling the annual emissions of carbon dioxide from the 6.000 million tons of carbon in 2000 to about 20,000 million tonnes in 2100.
Finally, in a report by scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on UN Climate Change (IPCC) states that the Earth’s average temperature rose from 0.6 + / – 0.2 ° C over the twentieth century , being the largest increase in average global temperature occurred in a century during the past 1,000 years. Furthermore, computer models and statistical IPCC predict that global average temperature increase of the surface between 1.4 and 5.8 degrees Celsius by the year 2100.
