Some strategies are being applied
as efforts to reduce rising global mean temperature. The main and common
strategy is a shift from fossil fuel and biomass to renewables with research
and technology as the driving forces. Fossil fuel as source of energy comes in
the form of coal, oil and gas. Biomass is organic materials like plant and
manure that has not been fossilized. Renewables are energies derived from
sources like wind, solar and hydro (water). Fossil fuel and biomass as sources
of energy release greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide) into the atmosphere,
renewables do not. Another strategy running through the minds of some thinkers
and researchers, and which is being thought through, is the direct removal of
carbon dioxide, the major culprit of global warming, from the atmosphere!
RISING
TEMPERATURE
As you may know the temperature on the surface
of planet Earth is rising causing global warming. The result of global warming
is abnormal changes in the global climate generally. The cause of the rise in
the mean temperature of the globe is a variety of gases called greenhouse
gases. Some of the greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide and methane. The general
view is that the greenhouse gases are generated into the atmosphere due to the
escalating increase in the activities of man here on Earth. The
overexploitation of the resources of the Earth to satisfy man’s unbridled need
for consumption due partly to population explosion and industrialization is the
mainstay of those activities. In the
process of exploitation and processing of the natural resources, through the
manufacture of products therefrom to satisfy our needs, to the disposal of
waste generated from consumption, greenhouse gases are emitted into the
atmosphere.
HUMAN
SURVIVAL
As a human you have a certain temperature range
within which you can survive. Beyond that range you cannot survive. I suppose
the average normal human temperature is 37⁰C or 98.6⁰F. You would not want the
surface temperature of planet Earth to get to a level that will turn it into an
oven. But then by our activities on the Earth that is the way we are going! However,
as indicated strategies are being thought out and applied by concerned
earthlings to hopefully get a reversal and restoration to a clean and balanced
natural environment as espoused by this blog.
CCS
In the spirit of efforts to hopefully
restore the natural environment to normalcy, let us get back to the idea of
directly removing carbon dioxide, a major pollutant, from the atmosphere. Carbon
Dioxide (CO₂) is a chemical compound made up of two elements, carbon and
oxygen, one atom of carbon and two atoms of oxygen. Some forms of carbon are
charcoal, diamond and graphite. Carbon is a versatile element. Carbon atoms can
be manipulated in one breath to form a soft material like graphite, and yet in
another to form a hard material like diamond. Carbon dioxide is a chemical
compound comprising two elements of carbon and oxygen. An element is a
substance that cannot be split into simpler substance, but it is made up of
atoms, and atoms comprise of electrons, protons and neutrons. Further there are
yet smaller particles inside protons and neutrons called quarks. This is the
chemical structure of matter of which the material universe is made of. This is
just to correlate carbon dioxide to the material universe, and to contextualize
it therein.
The idea behind the mechanism for the
capture of carbon dioxide is to capture the gas from the emission point and
store it underground. A driving force behind the carbon dioxide capture idea is
the inadequacies of the targets and timetables set by COP21 under the aegis of
the United Nations Organization for the reduction of greenhouse gases into the
atmosphere. The argument is that even if provisos of COP21 are followed to the
letter there will still be a lot of greenhouse gases to remove from the
atmosphere. This new gas capture idea is technically called carbon capture and
storage (CCS). Look at it this way: plants contain carbon dioxide when they
decay or are burnt they release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to increase
atmospheric temperature. For that carbon dioxide to escape into the atmosphere
to cause a temperature increase it should be captured and stored to prevent the
carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere in the first place. Experiments
with this idea are going on in Norway, USA and Germany for example.
PARTING SHOT
Is it an apocalyptic future you want? You
may not see it that way but the way we as humans are handling the natural
environment, a resource we are supposed to live off sustainably, is leading us
to that future. High atmospheric temperature due to greenhouse gas emissions
leading to acidification of the oceans, erratic rainfall patterns, droughts,
fast-melting icebergs, disappearing species, desertification, rising water
levels leading to loss of some coastal towns etc.
Man has sensed the danger and is trying to
change course for a natural environment sustainably managed. The United Nations
Organization is spearheading this global cause on behalf of mankind. Please
note that not everybody believes that the cause of climate change is
anthropogenic. All ideas and strategies are to be brought on board to catalyze
and supplement the strategy being applied by the United Nations Organization. It
is in that direction and spirit that CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) is being
brought on board.
The point of this post is to further
project the CCS idea and to motivate you to put across the idea to
environmentalists, politicians, industrialists, fellow earthlings and even
climate change skeptics to help harness more resources to turn around trends in
the natural environment that is leading it to an apocalyptic future, towards a clean
and natural environment, sustainably.
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