Global Climate Change: Vital

Signs of the Planet

INTRODUCTION
One of the greatest problems facing the world today is global warming. Global climate change has
already had observable effects on the environment. Glaciers have shrunk, ice on rivers and lakes is
breaking up earlier, plant and animal ranges have shifted and trees are flowering sooner.
Effects that scientists had predicted in the past would result from global climate change are now
occurring: loss of sea ice, accelerated sea level rise and longer, more intense heat waves.

IS MOTHER NATURE REALLY HEATING UP?

According to two separate analyses by NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) scientists, the year 2014 ranks as Earths warmest since 1880. Scientific projections of the
global mean temperature all point towards it increasing even further. The following graph from NASAs
Goddard Institute for Space Studies, represents the global mean temperature from year 1880 to present.

WHAT CAUSES GLOBAL WARMING?

Most climate scientists agree the main cause of the current global warming trend is human expansion of
the "greenhouse effect" warming that results when the atmosphere traps heat radiating from Earth
toward space.

On Earth, human activities are changing the natural greenhouse. Over the last century the burning of
fossil fuels like coal and oil has increased the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2). This
happens because the coal or oil burning process combines carbon with oxygen in the air to make CO 2. To
a lesser extent, the clearing of land for agriculture, industry, and other human activities have increased
concentrations of greenhouse gases.
The following graph from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows the
ever increasing emissions of CO2 from year 2005 onwards.

The major sources of CO2 emissions are the burning of fossil fuels for the purposes of electricity
generation and transportation. Air travel is mainly responsible for large amounts of CO 2 emissions in the
transportation sector whereas the production of cement is the primal cause in the industrial sector.

THE CURRENT AND FUTURE CONSEQUENCES OF GLOBAL

CLIMATE CHANGE
EXTREME WEATHER AND NATURAL DISASTERS
In the year 2013, the World Metrological Organization published a report called The Global Climate
2001- 2010: a decade of climate extremes. In it they pointed to a 20% increase in lives lost in extreme
weather events compared to a decade earlier. Over 350,000 lives were lost globally due to extreme
weather over the ten year period. They also pointed out that the 2001-2010 decade was easily the warmest
decade on record. The two decades before then were also record breakers.
Since the report was published, new research has been published which demonstrated that half of twelve
extreme weather events of 2012 could be linked to climate change. The US heat-waves, Super-storm
Sandy, shrinking Arctic sea ice, drought in Europe's Iberian Peninsula and extreme rainfall in Australia
and New Zealand were given as examples. Recent examples include a volcano in Hawaii, a typhoon in
the Philippines, wildfires in California and seven feet of snow in Buffalo.
Agriculture is extremely vulnerable to climate change globally and in Pakistan, which is one of the worst
hit countries of climate change, agriculture is badly affected. Quoting a report from the World Bank,
climate change experts warned Pakistan of the existence of five major risks related to climate change.
Those include rise in sea level, glacial retreats, floods, higher average temperature and higher frequency
of droughts. In the past decade, the increased frequency and intensity of droughts in Thar, rainfall across
Pakistan, and floods in Punjab have only confirmed these reports.

FUTURE CONSEQUENCES
An Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on extreme weather, published in 2012
said that for the future:
It is virtually certain that increases in the frequency and magnitude of warm daily temperature
extremes and decreases in cold extremes will occur in the 21st century at the global scale.
It is likely that the frequency of heavy precipitation or the proportion of total rainfall from heavy falls
will increase in the 21st century over many areas of the globe. There is medium confidence that
projected increases in heavy rainfall would contribute to increases in local flooding in some catchments or
regions.

HOW DO WE PULL THE PLUG ON CLIMATE CHANGE?

Lots of ideas have taken over the world, but theres only one winner. Consumerism! About 3000
advertisements bombard us every day; telling us we would be happier, more attractive, if only we buy that
product. Together they create an insatiable desire to buy more and more stuff. Capitalisms only goal is its
ever expanding growth, but ever expanding growth on just one not expanding planet is impossible. The
current economic system is disastrous; not just for the planet, but for most people too.
So the best way to tackle global warming is to fight consumerism by responsible living. We should be
more energy conscious. We should buy energy efficient appliances; drive smarter cars, or better yet drive
less. Biking is a healthy alternative. Recycling can also help us get back on the right track. Aside from
these, work should be done in technologies that promote sustainable energy which include renewable
energy sources, such as hydroelectricity, solar energy, wind energy, wave power, geothermal
energy, bioenergy, tidal power.
Alternatives should be considered for the industrial processes such as the production of cement, which is
responsible for the increased amount of CO2 emissions. Cement production comprises around 10% of
human CO2 emissions. In Switzerland, researchers at Ecole Polytechnique Federal de
Lausanne (EFPL), recently received a round of funding to focus on the development and testing of a new
blend of low-carbon cement. This new green cement has the potential to reduce the carbon footprint of
construction sites by 40%. The researchers are confident that this green cement has the potential to
become a benchmark material for low-carbon concrete because clay and limestone are abundant materials
found all over the world.
If similar solutions cannot be realized for other processes that involve CO 2 emissions, carbon
sequestration, a process involving the capture or storage of CO 2 away from the atmosphere, should be
adopted. The captured CO2 can be utilized in other chemical processes without it contributing to climate
change. Further developments need to be made in this technology as it shows promise and is the only
viable option when all other possibilities fail and CO 2 emissions cannot be minimized.
Solar energy is an attractive energy alternative for Pakistan, a developing country that cannot afford to
invest in other relatively expensive renewable energy sources. Pakistan being in the Sunny Belt, is lucky
to have long sunshine hours and is ideally located to take advantage of solar energy technologies. This
energy source is widely distributed and abundantly available in the country. Baluchistan province is
particularly rich in solar energy. It has an annual mean sunshine duration of 8 to 8.5 hours a day and these
values are among the highest in the world. Additionally, the use of solar energy for heating and cooking
promises a more repaid pay off than other energy alternatives because the basic technology already exists
and need only minor refinements.

HOW DO CHEMICAL ENGINEERS CONTRIBUTE TOWARDS

PREVENTING CLIMATE CHANGE?
Chemical engineers are regularly involved in the design and optimization of complex industrial
operations, applying their engineering skill to pollution prevention efforts. The objective is to develop
techniques and processes that minimize or even eliminate the formation of unwanted by-products and
hazardous pollutantsin other words, to make industrial operations "benign by design."
Chemical-engineering contributions to preventing climate change include

Improved engineering technologies and advanced machine designs that save raw material and
energy,

Higher-activity catalysts,

Re-engineered processes designed for "closed-loop" and "zero-discharge" operation,

Enhanced maintenance procedures,

Advanced monitoring and diagnostic instrumentation,

More efficient process control systems with less waste,

Environmentally friendly, biodegradable solvents,

Advanced combustion systems that reduce the formation of CO2 and other combustion-related
GHGs,

Pollution-control systems engineered to capture CO 2 emissions, and

Use of cleaner-burning alternative energy sources, such as biomass-derived fuels and solar- and
wind-generated power.

We are in an era of unprecedented extreme weather events and these alarming climatic changes are
noticeably the product of human activities.

Heath Byers once said "An asteroid destroying the planet earth before WE do, might be the long shot of
21st century!"
So it is about time that each and every soul on this planet realize how critical this issue is and work
together towards a healthier, sustainable earth.
Global warming is rather a global warning, so be nice and save the ice!