Climate Change/Global warming

Greenhouse gases may be a result of natural occurrences or human activity. These gases include carbon dioxide, methane, water vapour, nitrous oxide and ozone. Fluorinated gases are also considered to be greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases act like a heat-trapping blanket, making the Earth habitable for humans. However, human activities have increased emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere beyond what the Earth can support, resulting in climate change.

According to UNEP, every person, employer, industries, and politicians have the responsibility to act and fight against climate. They suggest that besides the above, Spreading the word, Keeping up political pressure, changing to renewable energy, taking plant-rich diets, sustainable living, dress(climate) smart are some other ways to fight climate change.

Bhutan has made possible what no other country has been able to achieve. This carbon-negative country has shown us how we can address climate change with compassion, commitment and creativity and come out on top. On the other hand, on average USA is considered the top most CO2 emitting country followed by China and Russia.

Emissions come from many sectors. But Energy sector emits the most green house gas emissions.

The combustion of fossil fuels for energy is the most significant source of carbon dioxide emissions linked to human activity and a major cause of global warming.

Although carbon dioxide is only a small fraction of the earth’s atmosphere, it is a potent greenhouse gas. Today’s concentration of carbon dioxide, 415 parts per million, or 0.0415 percent, is about 30 percent higher than when modern records began in 1960.

Hydrogen is a fuel that stores energy. It can be produced from fossil fuels or by running electricity through water, making “green hydrogen”.

The Greenhouse Effect is the natural process of the rise in surface temperature on Earth as certain gases in the atmosphere trap energy. These gases such as water vapour, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) are known as greenhouse gases because, like the glass in a greenhouse, they trap some of the outgoing energy from the sun retaining this heat in the earth. As a result, the earth’s temperature increases.

The main causes of the extinction of many living species are linked with human activities. However, the increase in global temperatures of 2° Celsius would cause as many as one-third of all animal and plant species to find themselves on the brink of extinction.

A carbon footprint is defined as "the total sets of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an organization, event, product or person”. We must remember that our individual decisions affect the fate of the world. Riding a bike is the most eco-friendly way to travel.

Forests contribute to mitigation because of their capacity of remove carbon from the atmosphere and to store it. Deforestation and forest degradation cause 15-20?% of global GHG emissions.

There are numerous heavily populated sinking cities like Mumbai, Shanghai, NYC, and Miami at risk. With a population of 10 million, Jakarta is considered by some to be “the fastest-sinking city in the world” and is projected to be “entirely underwater by 2050”.

The research found that around 80% of the increase in the temperature of the troposphere since 2000 was due to warming caused by humans.

Global average sea level has risen by about 8 inches (about 21 cm) since 1900, with about 3 of those inches (about 7.5 cm) occurring since 1993.

The lifetime in the air of CO2, the most significant man-made greenhouse gas, is probably the most difficult to determine, because there are several processes that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Between 65% and 80% of CO2 released into the air dissolves into the ocean over a period of 20–200 years. The rest is removed by slower processes that take up to several hundreds of thousands of years, including chemical weathering and rock formation. This means that once in the atmosphere, carbon dioxide can continue to affect climate for thousands of years.