Global warming and climate change

PUNCHLINE

Ike Seneres

There is definitely a direct correlation between global warming and climate change that everyone should know. Global warming is the cause, and climate change is the effect. Having said that, I dare say that we should stop global warming on one hand, and we should adapt to climate change on the other hand. Without any doubt, disaster risk reduction (DRR) is the most practical way towards climate change adaptation (CCA).

I know that many people would not agree with me that global warming could be stopped. These people would probably tell me that we could only slow down global warming but we could not stop it. On my part however, I refuse to believe that it could be stopped, because that would be tantamount to saying that our planet is hopelessly doomed, because it would mean that it would be the end of the world.

Technically, the status of global warming is measured by the amount of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, including carbon dioxide. There are many monitoring stations around the world that are keeping count, but the leading location it would seem is the one located in Hawaii. Recently, this Hawaiian station recorded that greenhouse gasses have already reached a high of 400 parts per million (ppm), the highest so far in 3 million years.

Prior to that reading, many scientists were already saying that 350 ppm is already a dangerous tipping point. What this means is that it has already exceeded the allowable tipping point, and therefore global warming would really worsen not unless we stop it. From the time that it hit 350 ppm, we could have slowed it down, but we did not. That is the reason why I say that we should not just be content with slowing it down, we should really stop it.

Pardon me if I would sound too naive, but as far as I am concerned, global warming is all about simple mathematics. To stop it, there should be a subtraction in the amount of greenhouse gasses that are released to the atmosphere on one hand, and there should be an addition of oxygen gasses that are released into that same atmosphere.

This is a classic case of good versus bad, oxygen gasses being good, and greenhouse gasses being bad. This could not be explained much simpler than that, and we should now put it in our head that for all of us in this planet, this means life versus death, again good versus bad.

There is no doubt that the majority of greenhouse gasses that are released into the atmosphere are coming from the burning of fossil fuels, either directly or indirectly. This is perhaps the reason why Climate Change Commissioner Sonny Alvarez has recently called for increasing the generation of power from alternative sources of energy such as wind, solar and hydro.

Although he probably meant power for industrial, commercial and residential use, his call would also have a direct bearing on transportation, if more electric vehicles would be used.

Perhaps unknown to most people, the bulk of carbon absorption and oxygen production is done not by the big trees on land, but by the tiny phytoplankton in the oceans. This is the reason why we should understand how and why the pollution of our waters would also affect global warming, because it would kill the tiny phytoplankton that are also cooling the oceans because of the oxygen that they produce.

Do you know that you could help stop climate change by simply eating organic foods? That is because organic foods do not need the commercial feeds and chemical fertilizers that would need a lot of fossil fuel energy to produce. Besides, chemical fertilizers would also pollute the water and harm the environment. In the case of organic fruits, it would sustain the livelihood of farmers who are planting trees that are in turn absorbing carbon and producing oxygen.

It goes without saying that as the world becomes warmer, the water supply will also become lesser. This is also another aspect of global warming mathematics that we should all understand. More heat, less water. It is also as simple as that. This is also the reason why we should make sure that we could ensure the supply of more water for our needs now and for our future generations. Fortunately, having more water is a positive side effect of planting trees in our watersheds.

I am happy to report that we now have a way of supplying seedlings and organic fertilizers to the tree plantations in the watersheds. To add to that, we also now have a way of marketing the organic fruits and vegetables that is harvested from these plantations, nuts and beans included. My hope now is that more people would understand that this supply chain of organic foods could become the key to sustaining the trees in the watersheds, by way of supporting the livelihood of those who are taking care of them.

One more thing, it would be more practical to support the livelihood of those who are producing charcoal within the watersheds, by giving them a more abundant supply of renewable wood species. This is the only way of stopping them from cutting down and burning the trees indiscriminately. This is a reality that we have to face. There is already a market for charcoal, and we just have to tap it. For feedback email iseneres@yahoo.com or text  +639083159262