Globally 'Intended' Warming

Now I’d like to talk about the Hollywood blockbuster ‘The Day After Tomorrow’- in essence the gulf stream stops, a lot of Americans freeze to death and its not really the end of the world. So once again it focuses our attention on global warming, supposedly our formidable future. As we know, global warming is the corollary of accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The main gases being water vapour, CO2, CH4 and ozone. Eventually the temperature of the earth rises and we experience greenhouse effect. So what do we do? Well there r a lot of 'simple' solutions….all we have to do is, stop using aerosols and refrigerators, switch off our ACs, replace our indoor lighting with ‘environment friendly’ lamps, shut down our factories, plant trees, sell our cars and buy horses, stop traveling in airliners and fly in kites…eh…Not so simple really.

However, even if we are able to limit greenhouse gases, how do we deal with the external factors that cause warming? Intensification in solar output, volcanic emissions, and variations in the earth’s orbital are a few of these external factors. These are interlinked and highly intricated processes and I’m not sure how much we could do to counteract them.Climate commitment studies indicate that even if greenhouse gases were stabilized at present day levels, a further warming of about 0.5 °C (0.9 °F) would still occur. Scientists have compared the existing green house gas levels with those of the pre-industrial levels since the 18th century and have found a major rise. But then industrialization and progress have made our lives better- Yes, we could’ve made no alterations on Mother Earth but then we would still be eating deer and wearing fur. Therefore,as it turns out global warming, more or less, is the consequence of human advancement. And that is my point, so what’s the vociferation all about?

David Bellamy, who is a environmentalist and a naturalist, has recently said “global warming, at least the modern nightmare version, is a myth, I’m sure of it and so are a growing number of scientists, but what is really worrying is that the world’s politicians and policy makers aren’t”. So while the green-peace activists are taking elaborate resolutions to stop warming, another part of the Amazon basin is being stripped of its vegetation. And then, for crying out loud, they blame the car. And I ask, “why the car? It’s given us so much in terms of exclusivity, solace and a sense of well-being". Someway or the other, these ‘friends of the earth’ want us to get on a horse or a bicycle, rather than on a car. They are fairly convinced that by doing so the Tasmanian fruit bat will come back to life, that GM crops would be un-invented and the earth will once again cool down. Ludicrous. So what would you do? Take a bicycle to work or take the car instead?
Hey now, eminent scientists have been busy at work and they have found out that a cow produces 500 liters of methane a day. Methane, as we know, is more powerful than CO2 as a global warming agent….so a cow farting causes more global warming than a Range Rover or a Porsche cayenne. And this is a fact, not a conjecture. Therefore, don’t despair if someday you’ve to part with, say for example, milk.

Few months back I read in an article that the UK government was not allowed to build a ring road around Sudbury province of northwest London (even though this would divert traffic- free up traffic jams and save lives) because of the environmental impact. So it might hurt a butterfly, if u build a bypass. Moreover, we have seen and learnt of endless references to all the future cars that would b running on pumpkin seeds and linseed oil and organic products. All I can say is that it’s still a long way from now and when they do happen they’ll be very expensive to run, ridiculously slow and highly complicated….Infact, if you want to make a environmentally friendly car why not make one that uses CO2 from the atmosphere, as fuel, and liberates oxygen as the by-product. That would give the scientists something to speculate on. Sadly though, the futures of these beloved machines are in jeopardy. I just hope that the new world order is V12 and not bio-fuel and that cars remain the way they are, exciting us in the most primeval and pampering us in most subliminal ways…and as for global warming it’ll be a part of the natural process like the Big Bang or the Ice Age. Its inevitable and it will take its toll…