Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) believe in having found a way to reverse climate change. The proposal: is to create “silicone bubbles”, as they’re defined - that should be banded together as if a raft was being built. Once placed in space, they would acquire Brazil's size and work as a sort of buffer against solar radiation. While we cannot count on “space bubbles”, there are measures that help slow climate change down - and, some might say, even reverse it.
Climate change is the long-term change in temperatures and climate patterns. Since 1800, human activities have been the paramount engine for climate change, especially due to the use of fossil fuels, like coal, oil, and natural gas. When burnt, these energy sources release carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse effect gases (GEG), which retain heat in our atmosphere, mainly responsible for global warming and climate change.
The concentration of greenhouse effect gas has recorded the highest levels in the last 2 million years, and emissions continue to increase. As a result, Earth is now around 1,1ºC hotter than in the late 1800s. Because Earth is a system, where everything is interrelated, changes in one area, induce changes in every area.
How did we get here?
Several reiterated behaviors, taken on by Man, were the responsible for climate change that the planet has been facing. Identifying them helps change the habits. There’s still time to correct the mistakes that have been made.
Production of energy
A great part of electricity is still generated by the burning of coal, oil, or natural gas, which releases carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, two of the main gases that cause greenhouse effects, that retain sun heat.
The burning of fossil fuels, to generate electricity, is the head responsible for global emissions. Worldwide, only around 25% of electricity is generated by wind, sun, or other renewable sources, that issue little or no polluting gas or with a greenhouse effect.
Industry
Manufacturing and the industry are large providers of emissions, mostly construction and mining industries, and the production sectors of concrete, iron, steel, electronic, plastic, and clothing items.
The machines used in production processes, usually work with coal, oil, or gas; and some materials, such as plastic, are made with chemical products stemming from fossil fuels.
Deforestation
Yearly, around 12 million hectares of forest are destructed. By being chopped, trees release the carbon stored in them, limiting in a significant way, the ability nature has to keep emissions out of the atmosphere. Deforestation, agriculture, and change in the use of the land are all liable for around one-quarter of global emissions of greenhouse effect gases.
Use of transportation
Most cars, trucks, ships, and planes work using fossil fuels. Cars are responsible for the majority of the emissions, due to the combustion of products deriving from oil, like gasoline, in internal combustion engines. However, the emissions from ships and airplanes are still increasing and tendencies point to a significant increase in the use of energy for transportation in the upcoming years.
Food production
Food production causes emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse effect gases, in several ways, directly and indirectly, among them through deforestation and land clearing, for agriculture and pasture, through the production and use of fertilizers and manure for cultivation and the use of energy for farming equipment or fishing boats.
Supply of energy for buildings
Globally, residential and commercial buildings consume more than half of all the electricity produced. The growing energy demand for heating and cooling of spaces, as well as the increase in electricity consumption for lighting and appliance and device use, have propelled the increase in carbon dioxide emissions.
Excessive consumption
Our lifestyle has a deep impact on the planet. Our homes, the way we move around, and what we eat and waste, contribute to greenhouse effect gas emissions. The same happens with the consumption of goods, like clothing, and electronic and plastic devices.
Where are we?
Increase in Earth’s temperature
As greenhouse effect gas concentration increases, so does Earth’s temperature. The 2011-2020 decade was the hottest in the records. Temperatures in the Arctic, for example, have risen at least twice faster as the global rate.
More severe temperatures
Storms have become more intense and frequent in many regions. As temperatures rise, there is more evaporation in humidity, leading to more intense and frequent rains and storms.
Droughts
The shortage of water observed in even more regions increases the risk of agricultural risk, which may have a direct impact on crops, increasing the vulnerability of the ecosystem. Droughts also enhance sand and dust storms. Deserts have also been expanding, reducing the extension of land available for crop areas.
Increase in sea temperature
Oceans absorb the largest part of warmth deriving from global warming, inducing an increase in sea temperature. In parallel, sea levels have been rising, as a result of the ice melting, threatening coastal and island communities. Waters have become more acid, as a consequence of carbon dioxide, threatening sea life and coral reefs.
Disappearance of species
Climate change represents serious risks to the survival of terrestrial and sea life species. These risks grow as temperatures rise. According to the information published by the Science Daily site and reinforced by several reports of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) - especially in their lists of threatened species - have been disappearing at a rate 1.000 times higher than the one registered in any other moment of human history.
One million species are in danger of extinction in the next decades, as a result of forest fires, extreme weather, pests, and invasive diseases, related to climate change.
Insufficiency of foods
Climate change and the increase in extreme climate events are among the reasons behind the increase in world hunger and malnutrition. Fishing, crops, and cattle can be destructed or become less productive. With the oceans becoming increasingly acidic, marine resources that feed billions of people are at risk.
Risks for health
Data revealed by the World Health Organization (WHO), show that climate change is the largest threat to health mankind faces. Every year, environmental factors, such as air, water, and land pollution, chemical exposure, climate change, and ultraviolet radiation, are responsible for the death of 13 million people.
Between 2030 and 2050, WHO predicts climate change will cause approximately 250.000 additional deaths. Diseases resulting from extreme climate events - heat waves, storms and floods, rupture of food chains, and the increase in zoonosis, among others - are increasingly frequent.
In parallel, climate change has been impacting means of subsistence, access to health care, and social support structures. The most affected are, predictably, the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, including women, children, ethnic minorities, poor communities, migrants or dislocated people, elder populations, and people with frail medical conditions.
Poverty and dislocation of populations
Floods can lead to the disappearance of some coastal areas, and destructing houses and means of livelihood. Heat makes outdoor labor difficult and water shortage affects the crops.
According to the United Nations, in the 2010–2019 decade, events related to climate have propelled the dislocation, annually, of around 23,1 million people, on average, leaving many of them more vulnerable to poverty.
To mitigate is the word of order
By the end of 2021, the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) took place in the United Kingdom. In light of the “Unifying the world to face climate change” quote, it has counted with the presence of representatives of 200 governments.
The resultant Glasgow Climate Pact reaffirms the objective of limiting the temperature increase to 1,5ºC, above the pre-industrial era levels; reinforces the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 45% by 2030, about 2010, and takes on the commitments about financial support to developing countries, to fight and adapt to climate change.
Mitigation is the expression adopted by the UN to reduce emissions, needing to intensify the efforts to reduce coal and erase subsidies related to fossil fuels reinforced.
COP26 has approved, also, the known book of rules of the Paris Agreement, whose implementation aims to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions, preventing, for example, double carbon count (by vendor and buyer).
It is, of course, very clear that the future of climate (and Mankind’s) will be through the urgent adoption of some measures, some on a national scale, promoted by their leaders, others at the reach of just about anyone. Every day is a good day to make the right choices.
Reversing climate change: 10 measures at the reach of everybody
- Adoption of renewable energies;
- Promotion of the circular economy;
- Maintenance and preservation of sinkholes (natural systems, like forests, which absorb more carbon than the amount they issue);
- Adoption of “cold” roofs in homes, that reflect heat (white roofs or with foliage and perennials);
- Reduction of car and plane traveling and the adoption, whenever possible, of the bicycle, scooters, or public transportation;
- Replacement of vehicles powered by gasoline and diesel, with electric vehicles;
- Adoption of silvopasture (pasture, in complementary areas in the forest, that combines livestock, trees, and forage);
- Supporting reforestation and afforestation of forest areas;
- Feeding red algae to sheep, to reduce methane production;
- Reduction (or elimination) of meat intake.