Greenhouse gas and our environment
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “the buildup of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases like methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) is causing the Earth’s atmosphere to warm, resulting in changes to the climate we are already starting to see today”.
Some perspective…
Ken Caldeira, an Atmospheric Scientist at the Carnegie Institution, provides some striking perspective when considering these emissions and our atmosphere:
“If you condense the whole atmosphere down to the density of water, it’s only 30 feet deep”.
Although not a scientist, I am an aspiring “Ski Bum” – who would like to ski with my future grandchildren one day – and it seems pretty clear that this math does not bode well for “fresh pow”. But if that’s not enough, the 10-pound brains over at NASA and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, state that the “Scientific evidence for warming of the climate system is unequivocal”.
Data dump:
- Since 1990 until 2018 there has been a 43% increase in human produced GHG emissions
- Global greenhouse gas emissions have grown at a rate of 1.6% per year from 2008 to 2017, reaching a record high of 53.5 Gigatons of CO2 equivalent (GtCO2e) in 2017 – UN Environment Programme
- Global emissions are not estimated to peak by 2030, let alone by 2020 – UN Environment Programme
Check out the brains on… The IPCC
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) serves as the United Nations’ action arm for assessing the data on where our Planet’s temperature is headed (spoiler alert… UP) and the environmental consequences of those changes. When it comes to diagnosing climate change, the IPCC is like the Tom Brady era Patriots. In 2014, the IPCC’s comprehensive report laid the foundation for the Paris Climate Accord and four years later, they were back at again. Their 91 scientists -hailing from 40 different countries- outlined their most comprehensive report to date, based on 6,000 peer-reviewed studies.
The IPCC’s down and dirty:
- Human activities are estimated to have caused approximately 1.0°C of global warming above pre-industrial levels, with a likely range of 0.8°C to 1.2°C.
- More so, global warming is likely to reach 1.5°C between 2030 and 2052 if it continues to increase at the current rate.
That’s a lot of numbers…
Numbers aside, climate change is here now and it’s affecting us all. The climate Miyagi for Outdoor Enthusiasts, Protect Our Winters, illustrates the effects of this 1.5°C increase more plainly below:
“Drought. Dry-as-a-bone. Wildfires, growing larger (massive). Coral reefs – gone, bleached. Not enough oxygen in the ocean. Monsoons – aggressive water infiltration. Farmland? Gone. Sea level rise. Glacial reduction. Food shortages. Poverty. Global, planet-wide impacts. That sweet, sweet powder? A whole lot less of it.”
Considering the consequences of these events, it all adds up to show how the seemingly amorphous numbers of climate change are taking a much more disastrous shape.
A shared problem
A warmer climate doesn’t care about our political parties, nationalities, or how much money we have. Whether we align with dreadlocks and Birkenstocks or resonate more towards Ron Swanson’s “Pyramid of Greatness”, climate change affects us one in the same: it effects our health; our jobs; our homes; our wallets; our passions; and our hobbies.
Ranking among our most difficult global challenges (if not, the biggest), it requires a common understanding of the issues. Most importantly, it requires collaborative approaches -at scale- by consumers, voters, business and governments alike.
Step 1) Understanding of the problem
Pew Research Center Studies show that “two-thirds of the U.S. believe that the government is doing too little to reduce the effects of global warming” and climate change is increasingly climbing in terms of top concern amongst Americans. The increasing acknowledgement and concern over climate change is a positive trend; however, acknowledging the problem does not equate to a better understanding. More pressing, it certainly does not result in action.
As the scenarios outlined above depict, climate change is by no means a distant problem. As citizens, family members and consumers, the real and present dangers of a warming planet are all around us and they are inextricably linked to our health, money and passions.
Consider the most uniting factor to us all: our health and how it is linked to our air quality we all breathe the same air. Shifting focus, envision the Great Armada of 2020: Amazon 18-wheelers and Sprinter vans conquering our roads with a frenzy of 2-hour toilet paper shipping right to your door! Now let’s go back to that 30’ pool… or more plainly, the air we breathe. What are the subsequent environmental and impacts absorbed after that “one-click shipping”?
Take a look:
- Transportation equals 29% total greenhouse gases in US – EPA
- Road vehicles (i.e. your daily driver and shipping) equal 72% total transportation emissions
- Greenhouse gas emissions are responsible for 64% of climate change (36% is due to deforestation)
Climate Change and your health:
- An increase in allergens and harmful air pollutants – Center for Disease Control (CDC)
- Higher temperatures associated with climate change can also lead to an increase in ground-level ozone (smog), a harmful air pollutant – CDC
- Emerging research shows that long-term exposure to air pollution could contribute to higher numbers of COVID-19 fatalities – World Economic Forum
Taking a global view…
These issues are taking place all around us on a daily basis and at massive scale. With Climate Change causing sea levels to rise 8 inches in the last century, coastal towns from Charleston, South Carolina to Jakarta, Indonesia are at increasing risk of flooding and violent weather. In Indonesia, the ever-present flooding has become so bad, that they have are relocating their Capital away from Jakarta.
A man sits on the ruins of what was the neighborhood of Pasar Ikan in Jakarta, Indonesia. Oscar Espinosa/SOPA / Getty Images file
In other weather extremes, wildfire season has lengthened across a quarter of the globe, with some areas -like California- having a year-round risk. These issues are omnipresent and increasing in intensity and frequency.
From the family in Jakarta, completely displaced due to rising seas to the avid hunter in Montana whose outdoor way of life is increasingly impacted as a result of fires and changing forest habitats, climate issues are taking frightening shape. Here and now.
Until these tragic outcomes are clearly understood, citizens, consumers and policy makers will continue to put climate on the back burner. In economics terms, this action is known as Discounting: a way in which the future value of something is calculated relative to its present value. By delaying climate action today and refusing to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we are emphatically signaling a discounted value for our future generations’ physical and economic vitality.
Our climate crisis is not a tomorrow problem, it is a time to roll up the sleeves now problem.
Step 2) Working towards solving the problem: Your wallet. Your Vote.
On a recent interview with Professor Scott Galloway, Senator Michael Bennet (Democrat, Colorado) said, “we all have a piece of this rock” and our “responsible citizenship is needed more than ever”. Furthermore, he states the importance of exercising “our franchise” and doing the right thing: the right thing by our families; by the people we have responsibility for; and for this democracy.
Whatever your franchise may be, climate change is impacting it and it is our responsibility to understand how so. More important is working on solutions to solve it. That starts with us being responsible and cognizant consumers -and citizens- of this planet.