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Global Warming - Fact or Fiction
Though most scientists seem to acknowledge
that global warming is a 'clear and present danger', to coin a phrase from a movie, there are still some who
disagree that there is any connection between man's activities and global warming.
What is needed to scientifically prove without a doubt whether man's activities
are causing global warming, is simply to prove whether or not carbon dioxide actually causes heat to be trapped. If
scientists can all agree on this phenomenon, then the cause and effect relationship will be indisputable. So the
question is, "Does carbon dioxide trap heat from the sun, creating the greenhouse effect, as it is called? (For those
unfamiliar with the concept, it is the same thing that happens to the inside of your car in summer when you leave the windows
rolled up. The heat waves pass through the glass, but the heat cannot get out of the car. As a result, the
interior of the car is unbearably hot.) In other words, CO2 acts as a blanket, covering the earth, and trapping an ever
increasing amount of heat waves coming to earth from the sun.
If carbon dioxide (CO2) does in fact trap heat arriving to the
earth from the sun, then the more CO2 there is the more heat will be trapped. That being the case, it
should be relatively easy to estimate how many vehicles there are in the world, how much CO2 they produce, and to
factor in the emissions from businesses/factories, and power stations, most of which burn fossil fuels to produce electricity.
 Prediction
As the causal relationship between CO2 emissions worldwide, and global
warming becomes more evident, certain, I believe, predictable things will happen. As the summer of 2007 approaches,
I believe more and more severe floodings are going to take place in the northern and southern hemispheres, less so
I believe in equatorial regions. The reason for this is that with higher temperatures in summer, water from the oceans
will evaporate at even higher rates. It will condense less in equatorial regions, because in these places the evaporation
rate is greater than the rate of condenstion. However, in the higher latitudes both north and south of the equator,
cooler temperatures will cause the highly saturated air to release its moisture with devastating results, producing more and
more widespread flooding. (It is most likely that there will also be an increase in hurricanes, but rather than a prediction,
we see that this is already happening.) I should mention that these are my own predictions, as I have not seen any other predictions
of this sort, nor have I taken this information from anywhere but my own observations and study. We will soon know if
the predictions are true or false, however.
The Stark Reality
The harsh reality of the situation that confronts us is that we must urgently
address some of the most critical issues, which are that:
+ 35% of all trees that were on earth in the last 100 years have been destroyed directly by man's
activities, i.e. cutting or burning.
+ Thousands of hectares (10,000 square meters) of jungle are being destroyed each day across the
world!
+ As per National Geographic on April 19, 2007, vegetation across the world is being destroyed at
a rate 10 times faster than 100 years ago!
+ Trees have the potential to absorb the excess CO2 produced by man, but the situation
does not fare well if we are killing them AND increasing CO2 levels dramatically at the same time.
+ 40% of all oxygen coming from the land (as opposed to oxygen coming to us from sea plants) comes
from the Amazon Rain Forest of Brazil, which is undergoing perhaps the fastest disappearance of trees and other
vegetation in the world!
Solutions
There are solutions to the problem of global warming. They are as
follows:
+ We must have a massive worldwide replanting of native trees in the areas in which they were
destroyed.
+ We must phase in faster the widespread use of hybrid vehicles.
+ We must bring water to desert areas and assist the native people with basic farming techniques,
so that they will cease to follow a nomadic pattern in which they constantly move and kill trees for firewood, and let their
animals destroy undergrowth. (A new page will soon be added, explaining in detail how this can be done with a new concept
passive solar water desalination plant devloped by the author of enviroglimpses, Douglas Baker.)
More to follow...
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