Global Warming ! Are we done ?

Global Warming is the name given for the increase in the average temperature on Earth due to Greenhouse gases. But is this a serious issue ? Should we all start worrying about this right now ? We don't see any siginificant weather changes, so is it necessary to actually worry about this now ?

So many questions , but the one answer for all these is that "we are already late" , so lets work harder and cover-up for what we have missed. Yes we have to take Global warming seriously, IF we want to see our future generations to lead a peaceful life on this planet. The Noble Peace prize for this year was awarded to Al Gore and an Organisation called IPCC for their effort towards educating the people and the policy makers of the possible effects of global warming. Spare a thought for the "Peace" Noble prize, its usually given for national leaders who fought to bring peace in a war torn region , some of the distinguished persons who have won this award include Aung San Su Kyi (Burmese pro-democracy leader), Nelson Mandela , Yasar Arafat and likes. These are people who tried to bring peace to their respective countries so that the people could leave peacefully. And when the same Noble Peace Prize is given to Al Gore and IPCC for educating the world about Global Warming, it explicitly tells you that in order to have peace for mankind , we should do something about global warming.

So what we as an individual can do about Global Warming ? What my Country as a nation can do for Global Warming ? No country is safe, neither USA the largest emitter of Green House gases nor a Country in Africa, because all countries share a common atmosphere, so every one is going to get affected in one way or the other.

Certain facts of global warming , Do you know that
1) USA has worlds 40% of vehicles.
2) more interestingly USA produces 45% of the green houses caused by Vehicles
3) Ice caps in the polar region are melting faster
4) Glaciers in the Antartica and Himalayas are melting faster
5) US the largest emitter of Green house gases is not a signatory of the Kyoto Protocol, which sets standards and limits for emission.
6) China is al set to take over the mantle of the "Producer of the largest green house" gases.
7) If global warming proceeds in the current phase , then the Map of the World would change, most part of Bangladesh would be submerged, Chennai, Cochin, and many other Cities near the Oceans would vanish from the map by the end of this century.
8) Sea levels would increase bcos of the glacier meltdown and ofcourse I dont have to tell what would happen If the Sea level would increase.


So what are the countries of the world trying to do on this ? Are they doing something to find a solution for this ? Luckily they are but unfortunately not every country is participating in the initiative . The Kyoto Protocol is a set of guidelines stating the limit of the green gas emission by various countries ? It basically quantifies the amount of green house gases which can be emitted by a country. This protocol divides the countries into two categories , Developed and Developing countries. While the Developed countries who are a signatory of this protocol has to bring down thier green gas house gas emission to a specified level by 2016 or so, the developing countries don't have that obligation. The developing countries have to just report the amount of green house gases emitted by them. The rationale behind this logic is that countries like India and China who are developing countries missed out on the Industrial revolution (which is considered as one of the major reasons for green house gases) and therefore no restriction should be placed on them now or atleast for a certain longer period of time, since it would affect thier economic progress. But European countries which are already developed bcos of the Industrial Revolution have to press the button now to reduce the emissions because they have long been causing emissions.
Though the rationale is debatable, I am afraid we don't have any other feasible solution for the time being. But unfortuantely Uncle Sam (also popularly known as USA) is not a signatory of this Kyoto protocol. only very recently has US President George Bush has admitted that Global warming is a serious issue and its time the USA got its act together on this. I believe this is good signal from the US. ofcourse the US has its own reasons for not signing this protocol, they demand that resonable emission restrictions be placed on developing countries like India and China since they also contribute a lot towards green house gases emission. India and China are clever , they want restrictions to be placed based on the population of a country. ie a country with X population can produce 100X emissions for each person. So naturally since China and India are the leading manufactures of HomoSapiens, they would get to produce more green house gases.
In my opinion the permissible level of green house emission should be based on the population and the geographical area of the country.

So finally what could we do to do something on this ?
a) We can use more atmosphere friendly energies (Wind energy, Tidal Energy)
b) Make less use of our Cars
c) plant more trees
d) burn less things
e) eat only once in a day (I am kidding )

or I have a alternative idea
a) If you are living in a coastal area , pack your bags and move to the mountains, so that the sea water level increase won't bother you.
b) get into a secret agreement with NASA and get yourself transported to some other Planet. (But beware you may be dropped in Nevada desert )

Before closing this article, I want to tell about an interesting problem.
Ocean waters are responsible for absorbing 30-35% of the CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere. Warm waters have more CO2 absobing capacity than cold water. Usually water on the surface of the ocean is much warmer than the water beneath the ocean surface. But due to global warming winds across the Oceans are blowing much faster (Air moves from High pressure to low Pressure regions and hence Waves are created on the Water surface) due to a higher difference in presssure between land and water. Fatsre winds create larger tides and larger tides mix more water.This leads to mixing of waters from the deep ocean with the waters on the surface of the Ocean and thereby decreasing the temperature of the surface water. Since the temperature of the surface water is reduced, it also reduces their capability to absorb CO2.

So a solution is affected by the same problem ,which it is trying to solve !!! What a pity !