Okay, so this should have been Carbon Footprint, Part 9. But a lot of friends seem not to relish the idea of having the same title all over again, not to mention the same subject matter. I really ask for your indulgence because I really wish to finish what I have started for the issue of climate change, so let's just change the title for the meantime, shall we? But this is really Carbon Footprint, Part 9. As well as the next installments till we cover the entire discipline.
We have already discussed both the science and the apparent effects of climate change and global warming in the last two months. Let us not forget also that the occurrence of the last disaster which is Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), dubbed as the strongest storm to hit land in recorded history, is strongly linked to the effects of climate change. The questions I posed are; 1.) What shall the world do about this, and 2.) What shall we do about this?
We often hear the two words above in relation to climate change, especially in programs advanced by both governments and non-government organizations in combating climate change. But as in many current issues which saw trending in this century, we often go by buzzwords without really understanding the realities they represent. And so we hear climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation in TVs, the radio, read these in newspapers and, of course, the Internet. But what really are these in relation to all of us?
Luckily, unlike other scientific buzzwords in the past, mitigation and adaptation are self-explanatory, though we need to differentiate them sometimes, because people mistake one for the other, or lump them together as one. Mitigation is prevention, while adaptation is reaction to climate change. Both have their own separate realms of action points that are not actually connected easily, and are better taken separately.
If we define climate change as the result of global warming due to the undue increase in carbon (in the form of carbon dioxide) concentrations in the atmosphere, then it easily follows that the best way to prevent it is to decrease carbon (dioxide) emissions in whatever we are doing. Easily said than done, and numerous world-scale summits have been held exactly just to agree in doing that. But it seems the world is doomed to emitting more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere in the future because we continue increasing our use of electricity, and buying more cars. Have you ever heard of a country where both decreased?
Want to prevent (or even just slow down) climate change? Very simple - decrease your use of electricity and use your cars less often. One just has to check the total generating capacity of the power plants in the Philippines and see that it is increasing, and are being planned to be increased (to support economic growth, of course), and that majority of these plants are fired by coal, diesel, bunker, and other petroleum products) - all good emitters of carbon. There are geothermal plants of course, as well as the "hydro" plants, powered by water but these are in the minority. And much less are the wind mills and their kin.
We try to taper the carbon-hugging electricity generation by doing renewable energy projects and biofuels - fuels that don't come from the depths of the earth but produced by plants which are carbon sinks as they also need carbon dioxide. But the contributions of these are minuscule compared to the carbon belched by coal-fired plants. And we are continually building these behemoths because you and I want to use electric gadgets.
Just try to think about this: the less you use your air-conditioners at home (and even at work), the less carbon you emit. And even in the temperature that you set your A/C's, the lower you set it, the more carbon you emit. Setting A/C's at 25 deg. Celsius will have a much lesser emission than setting it at 20 deg. C. In fact, a few years back, the City Government of Kitakyushu in Japan, passed a law decreeing that all establishments in the city should set their A/C's not lower than 26 deg. C. And when we were invited to a conference there, they warned us not to bring coats and jackets. That was not in the winter of course...
The bottom line is; if you really wish to decrease your carbon emissions, you can! Remember, all of us emit carbon to varying extents. That's why I said, choose well! We'll discuss adaptation in the next issue. (to be continued)