Global warming

One of the main issues that has caught the attention of the scientists & the goverments across the world is Global warming. Global warming refers to the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans in recent decades and its projected continuation.


Scientists have been debating for ages whether the climatic changes have been caused by the change in sun's light due to earth's orbital eccentricity or by human activity throwing up more GHG(greenhouse gas). But in this process we miss one salient point. We can't change things over which we have no control. So, if global warming is partially caused by changes in solar energy, so be it. We can't do a damn about it. Lets focus on what we can do to minimise GHG emissions.


The Kyoto talks gave a roadmap as to what we should do till 2012. But U.S- the biggest emmiter of GHG(2.79 billion tonnes per year) though a signatory, did not ratify. The next round of talks is going to begin in Bali(Indonesia) next month to try & bring in a consensus as to what we should do till 2050. Thankfully, U.S has agreed to participate in the discussions as there is a tremendous internal pressure building up to recoganize the perils of GHG emissions due to human activity. The IPCC( Intergovernmental panel for climatic changes) has now realized that the Global warming is most likely caused by human activity & it requires urgent steps & global action to ward off possible devastation.


How can we contribute towards this? The answer is twofold. What we can do as individuals as citizens of the world & what global industries can do.


As individuals, we can start using energy efficient lamps like CFL(compact fluorescent lamps) instead of the standard incandescent bulbs.Use energy efficient household electrical items.Switch off lights,TV,Computer when not needed. car pooling is an effective way of reducing emissions. Do not use automobiles when you can walk the distance. ( it's a good exercise & would make us healthy). Say "no" to cutting of trees & plant trees instead.

Industries should quadrpule investments in technologies for better emmission control systems. Research should be speeded up for renewable energy on a commercial scale.Technology should focus on "carbon capture & storage" instead of emission.

Goverments across the world should take hard decisions to put a cap & agree on reduction of carbon emission by 50-80% over a 25 year period for developed nations & 30-40 years for developing countries.It is decisions like this which will spur creativity for alternate sources of energy.

Can we prevent global warming if we do all this? I don't know. But atleast we would have put in efforts to be in the right track.