From the industry
revolution to the era of globalization, the evolution that mankind has
undergone so far gives not only the increase in quality of human life but also
the destruction of environment. Focusing on the climate change, UNPD Human
Development Report 2007/2008 emphasized that 50% cut of greenhouse gas
emissions until 2050 over 1990 is required to prevent catastrophic climate
change. Recent discussions on climate change in Copenhagen did not reach its
conclusion. The crisis of environment is approaching much closer. (Watkins,
2007)
With the tremendous
efforts from various nations and great individuals, the challenge on
environmental crisis has been reachable. Still, more investment and development
is needed in the context of global unification and sustainability. (Lee,
2010) Developed countries possess
capability enough to adopt the international agreements over climate change
problems. Technologies and industrial abilities are mature and ready to serve
the humanity to face the environmental issues. It is no big deal for the
countries with such a huge market and economy to participate and manage the
carbon economy.
However, it is a true
disaster, which even threatens the existence of a nation and the peace of
international society, to developing countries that preparing themselves for
immediately implementing those global policies is nearly impossible. A
worldwide action to balance and cultivate the technological or economical
capacity is inevitable in order to overcome the calamity and successfully root
sustainability onto the earth. Developing nations with insufficient
capabilities would pose an uncertainty in putting the international enactment
into practice. This risk would somehow return to the developed countries in the
near future. That is, developed countries have a duty to enable developing
countries to properly realize the environment deal. Collaboration among
powerful nations has become no more than the essential. Global investment and
aid from the developed nations should be the first and foremost requirement to
the developing ones to make the environment saved and sustainable.
And this is not a simple
economic matter that is easily and generally regarded. Without the sound social
fundamentals, including politics, economy, and culture, the exertions poured
into the developing countries cannot result in revolution to overcome the
environmental crisis. Every country has to broaden its view to avoid temporary
and volatile efforts that no longer lasts than a few years, as only for the
short duration would the earth extend its longevity.
Climate
change is shrinking many plant and animal species and is likely to have a
negative impact on human nutrition in the future, according to a new study.
Rising
temperatures and growing variability in rainfall are affecting the size of all
species in the ecosystem from microscopic sea organisms to land-based
predators, say researchers. "Our study suggests that ectotherms, cold-blooded
animals like toads, turtles, and snakes that rely on environmental heat
sources, are already changing a lot," said David
Bickford from the National University of Singapore and co-author of
the study.
Both
aquatic and terrestrial ectotherms have been shrinking, according to the study,
with common toads' size and condition decreasing as temperatures raised 1.5
degrees Celsius over a 22-year period.
The study, published in the
journal Nature Climate Change, draws on evidence from fossil records,
experimental and comparative studies, as well as research implicating
anthropogenic climate change over the last 100 years. "What was most
surprising to me was that it was such a uniform signal across all these
different organisms," Bickford said. (Bickford, 2007)
Fossils
from a warming phase during the Palaeocene-Eocene
Thermal Maximum, around 55 million years ago, reveal that burrowing
invertebrates such as beetles, bees and ants shrank in size by up to 75%. Other
fossil records indicated that animals including pocket gophers, woodrats and
California squirrels, also shrank during past warming periods, say researchers.
Experimental
studies which increased water acidification, an observed effect of rising atmospheric
carbon dioxide levels, revealed marine species like corals, scallops and
oysters become smaller. Each degree of warming has been shown to decrease the
size of marine invertebrates by up to 4%, salamanders up to 14% and fish by up
to a maximum of 22%, according to the study.
But
perhaps most worrying for marine life was the reduced growth rates of phytoplankton
in response to acidification, which "could negatively affect all ocean
life because it forms the basis of the marine food web."
Researchers
also say plants, which were generally expected to get larger as CO2 levels
rise, are not immune from reductions. "Over the past century, various
plant species have shown significant negative correlations between growth and
temperature...resulting in smaller grasses, annual plants and trees in areas
that are getting warmer and drier," according to the study.
The study
cites experiments manipulating temperature showing biomass in some grass, grain
and fruit plants was 3-17% smaller for every degree Celsius of warming. But
there are exceptions to the trend. Recent studies have indicated that the
common lizard, mallard and teal ducks, otters and some birds are increasing in
body size, say researchers, but many of these inhabit high latitudes which have
witnessed increased growing seasons associated with global warming making
patterns of shrinking less common.
However,
this might be short-lived if climate change increases in severity, according to
the study. Average global temperatures rose by nearly one degree Celsius over
the past 100 years, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
IPCC, but worst-case scenarios predict warming of up to seven degrees Celsius
by 2100. (IPCC, 2004)
The study's authors concede many
factors will play their part in the size of organisms if warming trends
continue, but highlight reduced availability of water and lower levels of soil
nutrients as key factors for plants, and the animals that feed off them. Bickford
says more experiments need to be done to find out which mechanisms are
important to different organisms in different places. And scientists also need
to discover how ecological balances are going to be disrupted in the future and
what this will mean for different species up and down the food chain, he says. "What
we might see is that there are many ecological buffers out there. These systems
are incredibly resilient. Nature has an amazing adaptive capacity,"
Bickford said. (Bickford, 2007)
But
shrinking trends in the ecosystem are likely to impact heavily on humans, say
the authors. The study points out that nearly one billion people rely on fish
as their main source of protein, and increasing variability in rain will make
crop cultivation more difficult in many areas in the future.
The trees are among three geo-engineering ideas highlighted
as practical in a new report. The authors from the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers say that without geo-engineering it will be impossible to avoid
dangerous climate change. The report includes a 100-year roadmap to
"decarbonise" the global economy.
Launching the report, lead author Dr. Tim Fox said
geo-engineering should not be viewed as a "silver bullet" that could
combat climate change in isolation. He said that it should be used in
conjunction with efforts to reduce carbon emissions and to adapt to the effects
of climate change. Many climate scientists calculate that the world has only a
few decades to reduce emissions before there is so much carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere that a dangerous rise in global temperature is inevitable. (Fox,
2011)
The authors of this report say that geo-engineering of the
type they propose should be used on a short-term basis to buy the world time,
but in the long term it is vital to reduce emissions. They define two types of
geo-engineering. Nem Vaughan of University of East Anglia said, "The first
category attempts to cool the planet by reflecting some of the sunlight away.
The problem with this is that it just masks the problem."
"The other type of geo-engineering is to remove carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere and store it." (Nem, 2010)
The team studied hundreds of different options but has put
forward just three as being practical and feasible using current technology.
A key factor in choosing the three was that they should be
low-carbon technologies rather than adding to the problem. Dr. Fox said, "Artificial
trees are already at the prototype stage and are very advanced in their design
in terms of their automation and in the components that would be used. "They
could, within a relatively short duration, be moved forward into mass
production and deployment." The trees would work on the principle of
capturing carbon dioxide from the air through a filter.
The CO2 would then be removed from the filter and stored.
The report calls for the technology to be developed in conjunction with carbon
storage infrastructure. (Fox, 2011)
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Dr. Fox said the prototype artificial tree was about the
same size as a shipping container and could remove thousands of times more
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than an equivalent sized real tree.
Another of the team's preferred methods of capturing carbon
is to install what they term "algae based photobioreactors" on
buildings. These would be transparent containers containing algae, which would
remove carbon dioxide from the air during photosynthesis. (Fox, 2011)
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The third option focuses on the reduction of incoming solar
radiation by reflecting sunlight back into space. The report says the simplest
way of doing this is for buildings to have reflective roofs.
The authors stress that all of these options will require
more research and have called for the UK government to invest 10 million pounds
in analysis of the effectiveness, risks and costs of geo-engineering.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(Bickford,
2007) – David Bickford. Cryptic species as a window on diversity and
conservation, 2007.
(Watkins,
2007) – Kelvin Watkins. Human Development Report 2007 / 2008, 2007.
(IPCC,
2004) – Intergonernmental Panel on Climate Change, Intergonernmental Panel on
Climate Change Agenda, 2004.
(Fox,
2011) – Timothy A. Fox. Engineering Geo-Engineering, 2011.
(Lee,
2010) – Junho Lee, Postech research, 2010.
(Nem,
2010) – Nem Vaughan. Mitigating climate change, 2010.
