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 CLIMATE
KEEP IT COOLER!
Manuel Giraldes
The lifestyle that rich countries have spread throughout the world, greatly based on the burning of fossil fuels and in the waste, is changing the climate. Global warming affects everybody and everything. It can already be seen in extreme and catastrophic phenomena like the typhoons that hit the Philippines and the hurricanes that destroyed New Orleans. Yet, scientists affirm that the worst is still to come.
In December 2004, two strong typhoons, with sudden and abundant rains, caused severe destructions and deaths in the Philippines. In September 2005, two violent hurricanes destroyed a great part of New Orleans, USA, causing thousands of deaths and great losses in the region.
Could nature be blamed? Both the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans are prone to these kinds of disaster. However, human action, or inaction, cannot be excused: in the first case, the massive deforestation opened the way for huge landslides and overflowing mud rivers that buried people and houses; in the other, the inadequate upkeep of dikes that protect a city partially under sea level and the disastrous evacuation of people that left behind the poorer lot were reasons for such suffering and calamity.
Scientists are increasingly pointing a blaming finger to a third element which, though natural, is the result of century-old human activity. They call it the ‘greenhouse effect’ and consider it to be responsible for harsh climate changes. These changes explain the increased frequency and the intensity of dreadful storms which cause innumerable calamities all over the world. For example, last summer in Europe, while part of this continent was affected by a severe drought, extremely high temperatures and numerous fires, the other part was affected by floods – disasters which are not common in Europe at this time of the year.
‘Gas helmet’
What has changed? What is this ‘blamed third element’? It is this so-called greenhouse effect, as in greenhouses where we grow flowers or vegetables, where it is always warmer inside. Since this phenomenon happens at a global level, it is better to think of it as a kind of a huge ‘helmet’ over the whole Earth planet. Its effect is that it ‘amplifies’ the heat that the sun constantly sends us and, at the same time, increases the heat because the ‘helmet’ does not allow it to return to the atmosphere.
This ‘helmet’ is formed by six kinds of gases which are the effects of human activity. Out of them all, the one that has the greatest impact is the carbon dioxide (CO2); more than 60% comes from burning of fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum or gas. It can be readily concluded, then, that energy production (more than 45%), transports (about 25%) and industry (15%) are responsible for the production of CO2.
This means that every time we use a car we are actually contributing to the worsening of this problem. But this is not all! Living in a society that follows the ‘use-and-throw-away principle,’ makes us all responsible, in our waste, for the production of more greenhouse effect gases. The poor living in developing countries also aggravate this problem. Every time they cut trees to cook or produce heat to warm themselves, they destroy a ‘natural mechanism’ to eliminate CO2, as forests are necessary to change carbon dioxide into the oxygen we breath.
It is obvious that CO2 was always present in the atmosphere. Enough forests to ‘recycle’ it and oceans to absorb it did exist. It was only after the Industrial Revolution that the scales begun to turn. The actual economic system based on consumption at any cost completely upset the scale.
Submersed world
Oceans have always been the great regulators of world climate. This truth is not yet sufficiently known and acknowledged due to the many factors that must be taken into account. The greenhouse effect disrupts that natural world climate regulator. Oceans have a limit in absorbing CO2 and they are becoming a part of the problem. It is not for no reason that the climate gets warmer!
Throughout the whole 20th century – the warmest of the millennium – the average temperature of our planet increased by 0.6 degrees Centigrade. It seems very little but its effects are enormous. The famous glaciers of the poles and those of the highest mountains, such as the Himalayas (Asia), the Andes (Latin America), or the Kilimanjaro (Africa) – thought to be ‘eternal’ – are condemned to disappear soon.
When those huge reserves of fresh water join the oceans, sea level will go up. Studies show that, from 1990, sea level water has gone up by 20cm. This was due to ice melting as well as to the dilatation caused by warmer temperatures.
According to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), if we do not control the sending of greenhouse effect gases to the atmosphere, the average temperature will go up by 6 degrees Centigrade during this century. And, taking into account the already existing rising of sea level water, the effects can be catastrophic worldwide. The most affected countries will be those surrounded by the sea, some of which will simply disappear from the world map. Also in danger will be those countries at the delta of great rivers like the Nile, Ganges and Mekong, or countries with a vulnerable coastline.
We must not forget that a good part of the big cities, of population and economic activities worldwide are near the coast or close to rivers. It is not, indeed, science fiction! We have only to think of the Netherlands, a great part of which was reclaimed from the sea; they are already preparing for the worse. Or of the recent huge floods in the city of New Orleans, USA to imagine what greater chaos this would cause at a global range. It is believed that, during this century, the water level may rise more than half a meter.
Eco-refugees
The North American administration has been affirming, for a long time now, that global warming and extreme catastrophic phenomena are normal signs of the many climate cycles our planet has experienced throughout its history. However, they are now recognizing that the climate is changing due to human action. A document prepared by the Pentagon and sent to them was extremely clear and alarming.
Cited by the February 2004 issue of Fortune magazine, the document challenged the Bush administration to ‘imagine the unthinkable’ and to get ready, even at the military level, for a chaotic change in climate – possibly by 2020 – that would generate innumerable armed conflicts and would bring to the opulent USA successive and massive migrations of desperate people. Fortunately, the greater part of the scientific community does not foresee such a terrible disaster at such a close range from now.
Two presidents of the most powerful and polluting country of the world (in 2001 alone, U.S. emitted 1,547.5 million tons of CO2 to the atmosphere compared to EU countries′ 859.4) – the elder Bush and current U.S. President Bush – had refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty to diminish production of greenhouse effect gases. The former argued that he could not compromise the ‘American way of life’; the latter said that doing so would affect the American economy.
When George W. Bush could no longer deny the fact that the globe was getting warmer – due to an increased consensus among scientists on their studies – he affirmed that America would find out in time new technologies to solve the problem. His perspective is somehow realistic: only through the creation of alternative sources of energy can we get rid of the dreadful control of fossil fuels. (It is believed that resources of petroleum will last for another 40 years.) The problem is that Bush has not considered the urgency this whole question demands.
Real urgency
One of the most complicated factors in this complex phenomenon is the fact that, once in the atmosphere, the greenhouse effect gases take decades to dissolve. This means that the reductions we do today will only have an impact in the lives of our sons and grandsons. Therefore, it is necessary that concentration of gases stabilizes at the lowest possible level and at the earliest possible time if we want to diminish the effects of climate changes. Even so, global warming cannot be stopped still. According to an optimistic scenario envisaged by the IPCC, the increase will still be at least 1.5 degrees Centigrade this 21st century.
To stabilize means to diminish, the soonest possible, the CO2 emissions from six to three thousand million tons of carbon dioxide per year (not to mention the other five greenhouse gases). Obviously, this cannot be done from one day to another. For a population of ten million people, and having as limit the year 2050, this would mean reducing by three the average gas emission of each inhabitant starting now.
The inequalities in the world only make things worse. On the one hand, it cannot be expected that poor countries can develop respecting the kind of control that even the EUA could not accept in the Kyoto Protocol – the reduction, by 2010, of 5% of gas emissions of the developed countries would represent between 1 and 2% of their Gross National Product – or, on the other hand, that great developing countries like Brazil, India, and especially China will self-impose rules that would limit their possibilities of alleviating their great poverty.
Out of the three, China – foreseen that, in some years, will surpass Japan as the second biggest user of fossil fuels – is the country that poses more problems. An investment on a car as a means of transport and in the automobile industry, together with a record economic growth of about 8 per cent, makes it fundamental that China accepts a reduction gas emission plan. It is also a country where respiratory diseases are the second cause of premature deaths, right after road accidents. Beijing, which used to be an oasis of peace and bicycles, is now the third most polluted city in the world.
Massive destruction
What is really at stake is the conception of a development model, a model of a ‘civilized’ society. As the ecologist and botanist Peter Raven would say: "If we all lived like the Americans, we would need three planets like ours to uphold consumption levels."
In a ‘globalized world,’ where all influence the climate, no country has the right to ignore the state of the world and the future of mankind. That would be dangerous, very dangerous, indeed. The UN inspector in charge of investigating the ‘secret arsenal’ of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Hans Blix, has warned: "The warming of the planet is a threat so serious for humanity as the weapons for mass destruction."
WM
– In an over-warmed world, repeated natural catastrophes of unprecedented intensity will spread misery and famine. Destruction caused by rising sea level waters is difficult to imagine. According to Christian Aid, three quarters of humanity may be affected by droughts, floods and typhoons in 2020, which will create about 25 million eco-refugees.
– In the North Pole (Artic), according to some studies conducted by NASA, the layer of ice covering the sea is melting 8% in average per decade, which means that, keeping the actual circumstances, it would disappear by 2060. Melting affects the territory of Inuit hunting and it could threat polar bears, seals and other animals that depend on this ecosystem. Specialists, moreover, think that one of the great victims of global warming will be the biodiversity and, as a consequence, many kinds of animals and plants will disappear from the face of the earth.
– The climate cycle is extremely complex. The melting of the glaciers does not only raise the level of oceans; it also intensifies the greenhouse effect. On the one hand, they are a kind of a ‘global air-conditioner’, thus the less ice they have the less cold they produce; on the other hand, they free gases retained by the ice for thousands of years.
– Even a small change in sea water temperature may have unexpected effects on the currents, the movements of the shoal of fish, and on the whole sea life. A small rise in temperature is sufficient to kill corals and many species that depend on them. When the hurricane that hit New Orleans City was formed, the waters of the Mexican Gulf were 4 grades warmer than they usually are. According to a scientist, typhoons increased their intensity by 50% in that region since the 70′s.
– We must not forget the natural planet equilibrium. According to a scientist, quoted in Time magazine, when the number of storms increases in the Atlantic North, they diminish in the Pacific North. And if the Gulf current disappears – it takes the heat from the tropics to the cold North of Europe – then the average temperature of the continent would diminish by 5 to 10 degrees Centigrade.
– The glaciers of the highest Asian mountains, including the Himalayas, are in danger of disappearing and this would affect the already fragile ecosystem and the rivers that provide water for half of the world′s population. In Nepal and Bhutan, 50 lakes were formed due to ice melting in recent years. In China, seven per cent of the glaciers melt every year. Studies show that 64 per cent of them will disappear by 2050, affecting 300 million Chinese people.
– Christian Aid estimates that 80 per cent of production of carbon dioxide, accumulated in the atmosphere throughout the last 150 years, is entirely the responsibility of rich countries of the North. Thus, they have enough reasons to do something about it. However, the director of the CIRED (Centre International de recherches sur l´Environnement et le Développement), Jean-Charles Hourcade, warns: "As we cannot deal with climate questions unless it is done at a multilateral level – one country cannot diminish its emissions of gases while the neighboring country increases them – it will be a good opportunity to make global democracy work. Besides a strong international cooperation, it is necessary that countries agree on concrete goals, organize the exchange of necessary technologies among themselves, and foster national awareness on this issue."
– Regarding global warming, democracy is working well in the USA due to the federal system of the country. Against the general administration, about one third of the states adopted programs to reduce the emission of gases. Actually, they are achieving more demanding goals than some countries that have signed the Kyoto Protocol.
– We must not think that we cannot do anything to combat global warming; this is simply not true. A small initiative makes a difference. In France alone, electrical appliances (computers, TVs, sound systems) left in ‘stand-by’ position consume the equivalent of a construction of a nuclear station. Is it so difficult to switch them off?
– A simple initiative can have great effects. In the 1970′s, the Mayor of Curitiba (Brazil) wanted to build a metro rail in the city but had not enough money to do it. He thought, then, of an alternative transportation system with fast buses moved by clean energy, and they already cater for 70 per cent of the public city transportation. This experience has spread to other cities in Brazil, USA, Europe, Indonesia, China (Xangai) and Latin America. Bogota, the capital of Colombia, has benefited a great deal from this system. (Located at 2,640 meters above sea level and with a population of about 6.5 million, it had serious pollution problems, traffic jams and road accidents.) Since that system was adopted, death by accidents have gone down by 93 per cent, and the emissions of CO2 have diminished by something like 318 tons per day.
– Alternative energies – eolic (wind), solar, waves, bio-fuels, and especially hydrogen –thought to be the most likely successor of petroleum – will play a fundamental role. The Bush administration is working in this regard: until 2010 they will spend around 1.7 million USD to overcome the difficulties that are still an obstacle to the use of hydrogen as an alternative energy. When used in a proper engine, hydrogen only releases steam water.
Ten Commandments on the Environment
The 10 guiding ecological principles, according to the Church, are as follows:
1) The Bible lays out the fundamental moral principles of how to affront the ecological question. The human person, made in God's image, is superior to all other earthly creatures. Christ's incarnation and his teachings testify to the value of nature: Nothing that exists in this world is outside the divine plan of creation and redemption.
2) The social teaching of the Church recalls two fundamental points. We should not reduce nature to a mere instrument to be manipulated and exploited. Nor should we make nature an absolute value or put it above the dignity of the human person.
3) The question of the environment entails the whole planet as it is a collective good. Our responsibility toward ecology extends to future generations.
4) It is necessary to confirm both the primacy of ethics and the rights of man over technology, thus preserving human dignity. The central point of reference for all scientific and technical applications must be respect for the human person who, in turn, should treat other created beings with respect.
5) Nature must not be regarded as a reality that is divine in itself; therefore, it is not removed from human action. It is, rather, a gift offered by our Creator to the human community, confided to human intelligence and moral responsibility. It follows, then, that it is not illicit to modify the ecosystem, so long as this is done within the context of respect for its order and beauty, and taking into consideration the utility of every creature.
6) Ecological questions highlight the need to achieve a greater harmony both between measures designed to foment economic development and those directed to preserving the ecology, and between national and international policies. Economic development, moreover, needs to take into consideration the integrity and rhythm of nature because natural resources are limited. And all economic activity that uses natural resources should also include the costs of safeguarding the environment into the calculations of the overall costs of its activity.
7) Concern for the environment means that we should actively work for the integral development of the poorest regions. The goods of this world have been created by God to be wisely used by all. These goods should be shared in a just and charitable manner. The principle of the universal destiny of goods offers a fundamental orientation to deal with the complex relationship between ecology and poverty.
8) Collaboration, by means of worldwide agreements, backed up by international law, is necessary to protect the environment. Responsibility toward the environment needs to be implemented in an adequate way at the juridical level. These laws and agreements should be guided by the demands of the common good.
9) Lifestyles should be oriented according to the principles of sobriety, temperance and self-discipline, both at the personal and social levels. People need to escape from the consumer mentality and promote methods of production that respect the created order, as well as satisfying the basic needs of all. This change of lifestyle would be achieved through a greater awareness of the interdependence among all the inhabitants of the earth.
10) A spiritual response must be given to environmental questions, inspired by the conviction that creation is a gift that God has placed in the hands of mankind, to be used responsibly and with loving care. People's fundamental orientation toward the created world should be one of gratitude and thankfulness. The world, in fact, leads people back to the mystery of God who has created it and continues to sustain it. If God is forgotten, nature is emptied of its deepest meaning and left impoverished.
If, instead, nature is rediscovered in its role as something created, mankind can establish with it a relationship that takes into account its symbolic and mystical dimensions. This would open for mankind a path toward God, creator of the heavens and the earth.
Bishop Giampaolo Crepaldi, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace
Copyright © 2003-2006
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