A DIET TO COOL THE PLANET
«If the current trend continues, this century could witness unprecedented climatic changes and unprecedented destruction of ecosystems with serious consequences for all of us»
This stern warning can be read on page 23 of the first encyclical of Pope Francis I, Laudato si!
«Global alert, unless the quantity of greenhouse effect gases going into the atmosphere can be stopped, there will be unknown and terrifying consequences of climate change »
This is the warning launched in the last report of the World Meteorological Organization, WMO, by it’s CEO, Michel Jarraud.
«The data is overwhelming: climate change endangers human health. There are solutions but we must act decisively to change this trajectory. Climate change is the greatest threat to global health of the XXI century.»
This alarming warning was from the General Director of the World Health Organization, Margaret Chan.
The year 2015 was declared the warmest in history since records began; all these warnings were made before the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in December of the same year.
National Geographic prepared a monograph on climate change in November before the summit, with more than 10 million copies distributed, advising emergency action to cool the planet…
With all these urgent warnings, and more as well, what happened in Paris in December? What is the agreement that was finally signed at the summit?
Unanimously, the 196 countries around the world, from the US to China to Saudi Arabia and other fossil powers, decided to try to accelerate the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, since climate change is a common concern of all humanity. The commitment is to limit the increase in temperature to 1.5 ° C, instead of the current 2° C in order to prevent the islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans going below sea level….
A very positive and unanimous statement, especially since everyone accepts for the first time that the cause of climate change is man, and no one denies that the origin is human activity, but at the same time they all recognize that with the proposed reduction of gas emissions offered by each country present at the summit, the planet’s temperature will rise between 2.7 and 3 C. Highly disturbing. In the agreement there is no binding commitment to replace fossil fuels with clean energy.
What is happening to the planet that is causing such concern?
As the planet has been melting rapidly during the last 30 years, the surface of the ice cap has shrunk by 70%. 30 years is an instant in the geological scale to undo this ancient ice. Without this white, icy surface, sunlight is directly heating the Arctic waters, further accelerating this process of thawing. If we reach the point of the polar ice cap disappearing completely, the Gulf Stream could be radically disturbed, and all other ocean currents.
Being a huge iceberg floating in the sea, when the polar ice cap melts it won’t increase sea level, but it will if Greenland melts, and the vast snowfield Zachariae from that frozen continent is receding faster than expected, all the glaciers of all mountain systems of the planet are melting, perennial snows of Kilimanjaro have disappeared. More alarmingly it will raise sea level affecting all coastal planet and cause flooding in many large coastal cities, if Antarctica melts, and at this moment the western plate of this continent, as big as Mexico, has begun to crumble … If this plate melts at the end of the century instead of one meter there would be a rise to two … causing large population movement…
It is estimated that if the global temperature increases to 2 ° C also the permafrost, the ground frost layer, that covers the great Siberian steppes and northern Canada will thaw, thus releasing large amounts of methane accumulated under it, very powerful greenhouse gas, starting a fateful accelerated warming spiral with disastrous consequences …
What has happened? What have we done to the planet to have such a state of global emergency?
In 1876 August Otto invented the internal combustion engine, the steam engine had already been invented, and these two inventions have allowed the use of vast amounts of fossil fuels, oil and coal, hitherto buried for millions of years, and in less than 150 years, an instant on a geological scale, we have massively burned them, releasing CO2 into the atmosphere at an exorbitant rate.
Every year the1000 million vehicles that are estimated to be on the planet, burn up 4,470 million tons of oil, maybe these macro figures don’t mean much, but if we convert this energy into its equivalent to the Nagasaki bomb, we explode each year 2,330 million bombs of Nagasaki, this means that we release into the atmosphere the heat of 6,338 of bombs a day.
It can be argued that this energy is used to move vehicles, which is true, but current vehicles only have a yield of 25%, this means that 75% of the fuel put into the car tank is used to heat the engine, chassis, the exhaust pipe, while they heat the surrounding atmosphere … but the worst part is that the CO2 of all fuel consumed prevents this heat from dissipating beyond the atmosphere….
And here we only do the calculation with the oil consumed daily, the amount of energy released into the atmosphere if we add coal and natural gas, would triple … Some 20,000 Nagasaki bombs a day! Of course, no radioactivity.
It is not surprising why the planet is melting … and must be cooled quickly.
There are some indications that this catastrophic trend is reversing. In 2014 the amount of fossil fuels has not increased, China is slowly leaving burning coal, and is changing to clean energy. Even Saudi Arabia has joined the bandwagon of solar energy. This past year more has been invested in renewable energy technology than fossil fuel technology. In the last 5 years solar technology costs have declined by 80%, the battery ones 60%.
There is growing awareness that it’s now a matter of urgency to change the economic model based on fossil fuels. Major international organizations, like Greenpeace, Avaaz, 350 org, courageously lobby the big oil corporations.
But are we in time? What can we do together?
Needless to say, the best clean energy is one that is not spent:
Why keep burning so much public lighting all night?
Why are roundabouts always lit at night? How much traffic is there at night? Don’t vehicles have there own lighting? Aren’t there reflective signs?
And all this light pollution, doesn’t it prevent us from enjoying the starry night skies?
There are many public places which are over heated in the winter, and excessively cooled in summer. A maximum temperature of 20 ° C in winter and no less than 25° C is recommended in summer. Shouldn’t we insist more on this?
Go on foot or by bike, or by public transport. When it is necessary to use a private car, don’t drive faster than 80 km / hour. And when it’s time to change your car then buy an electric one, they are perhaps more expensive, but the maintenance is much cheaper.
Those of you who have time and courage, participate in local municipal agendas to try to implement these strategies as soon as possible. Or join an organization that fights for them.
If you have any investment fund make sure they are not investing in fossil fuels..
Moreover you can have your electricity supplied by a company using clean energy.
But above all, we can all change the current diet that is highly damaging to the planet.
It is estimated that current food causes about 50% of greenhouse gases.
Right now on the planet there are 1,500 million cows, not counting horses, buffaloes, pigs, lambs, and all of them, they are all expelling intestinal gases, a great deal; according to a FAO study cows alone are responsible for 18% of greenhouse gases. Cows do 300-500 liters of flatus a day, while a human individual only makes 1-2 liters, and it’s methane. Methane has 23 times more greenhouse power effect than CO2. This pollution is a great deal more damaging than the majority of cars that are parked most of the day. They also greatly outnumber the 1,000 million vehicles. Cattle, mainly the intensive production one, are a major source of pollution, and we are brutally deforesting the planet to grow grass or soybeans to feed them. Fewer trees mean more CO2. In addition slurry goes to the water where the fermentation of droppings causes more methane and nitrous oxide.
Another area for improvement is the overexploitation of the seas and the contamination of fish by mercury and lead.
We eat sausages, cheese and milk for breakfast, meat for lunch, fish or eggs for dinner plus a glass of milk, all from animals that pollute considerably, and that’s an excess of unnecessary animal proteins, and it’s not good for either our own health, or the planet’s.
It is estimated that on average food travels 5,000 km until it reaches our plate. Chickpeas come from Mexico, beef from Argentina, lamb is from Australia, pineapples from Costa Rica, melons from Brazil, etc. etc. Only 32% of the meat eaten in Menorca comes from Menorca, the rest comes from outside, and we export our surplus meat. All this movement of foodstuffs is done by plane, boat or lorries and it is estimated that this unnecessary and absurd transportation causes another 25% of greenhouse gases.
Eating much less meat and dairy products, and choosing locally produced food would be another important contribution we can all make to help cool the planet.
Incidentally, it is estimated that 50% of food is lost in the long food chain, and an important part is our fault for buying more than we need when shopping.
We can, we can cool the planet but we have to do it together.
For our children and grandchildren.