Although not as deadly as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide (CO2) is still poisonous in concentrations of over six per cent. This gas stimulates the heart (increases pulse rate), lungs (rapid breathing), and finally progresses to confusion, convulsions, unconsciousness and death. CO2 is a by-product of respiration, which is a basic feature of any living organism. The concentration of CO2 in expired air as we breathe out is 4.1 per cent.
During the unsuccessful Apollo 13 lunar mission (April 1970), the astronauts discovered that the build-up of CO2 in their crippled spacecraft was a serious problem. Had they not managed to purify the air inside, they would have died soon.
Nature no longer balancing itself
So, all animals, and human beings exhale CO2 with every breath, even while sleeping. At night, like other living organisms, plants and trees also take in oxygen and give off CO2 as waste. However, throughout a 24-hour period, they remove more CO2 than oxygen, and give off much more oxygen than CO2 through photosynthesis which is an essential process for growth and fruit formation.
However, this delicate natural balance of maintaining the correct atmospheric levels of CO2 within normal limits (which was once 0.04 per cent) is being offset. More trees are chopped and not replaced (deforestation). Also, CO2 is produced by all combustion reactions of any organic material, be it smoking a cigarette, burning candles, cookers, barbecues, fireplaces, fireworks, car engines, incinerators, or power stations that burn fuel. In Malta, the two power stations alone are emitting 75 per cent of our CO2. According to a study published in the journal Nature, at current rates, CO2 is polluting the atmosphere 50 times more rapidly than it does from natural sources!
The 'greenhouse effect'
The CO2 in the atmosphere acts like the glass in greenhouses. It traps heat energy inside, in other words, it prevents heat from radiating out. Therefore, excessive CO2 emissions and the heat given off from this 20th century revolutionary progress (industrial and transport) coupled with intense solar energy enhances the 'greenhouse effect'. The resulting global warming (thermal pollution) will bring about partial or complete melting of the polar ice caps resulting in an increase in sea level! In Malta, this means that we may have to move to higher places such as Rabat and Dingli!
At this point, I would like to make it clear that this CO2-induced global warming has nothing to do with the freons or CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) and ozone layer "hole" business. Although the ozone layer is critically important in screening the Earth from the full force of the sun's cancer-causing ultraviolet radiation, it is not as grave an issue as catastrophic global warming would be to life's survivability.
Life, as we know it, could not exist without natural global warming from the sun; it is the human contribution that is cause for concern. Earth's atmosphere is like a blanket that traps heat and makes our world a pleasant place to live. But humans have been adding more CO2 that helps trap this heat inside. Since pre-industrial times, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere increased by one-third!
Climate change is a threat to humanity's future. The general consensus is that within this century, if we do nothing, our present civilisation would vanish! Scientists from Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research are warning us that a further rise of just 0.4°C in global average temperature would give rise to flooding of the Himalayas and millions more people facing famine!
The atmosphere's main constituent of our neighbouring planet Venus is CO2. This shuts in the sun's heat, making the surface temperature high enough (over 480oC) to turn the surface into a raging desert. This greenhouse effect makes Venus even hotter than Mercury, the closest planet to the sun, and should therefore act as an eye-opener for us earthlings to wake up before it is too late!
Extreme weather
Global warming is real and it's upon us now. Although a third of the sun's energy is reflected back into space after hitting the upper atmosphere, two-thirds get through, driving Earth's weather engine hotter and hotter! In the last century, the average temperature of the Earth has risen roughly by 0.56°C, meaning that an enormous additional amount of heat has been built up into our life system, and there are already serious consequences!
It is not only the poorest communities that are hit by droughts and other natural disasters. In 2003, more than 14,000 people died in France in an extraordinary heatwave. The World Health Organisation estimates that 160,000 people a year die of extreme weather and disease events caused by global warming, and that this could double by 2020! In summer, our Health Department advises us to drink plenty of fluids and to stay in the shade to prevent serious life-threatening dehydrations.
Last autumn, we all saw how the coastal regions of Miami and New Orleans were devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma. Professor Judith Curry, chair of School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Institute of Technology, warns that we have a ten-year window to do something about greenhouse gases. She is saying that ocean temperatures have risen by about 1°F since 1970 and this extra energy is playing havoc with hurricanes.
Fires and insect outbreaks that are assaulting forests and other places round the world are also attributed to warmer temperatures. The world's highest ski resort mountain, a dizzy 5,300 metres above sea level in the Bolivian Andes, has also melted away!
Maltese Islands were beneath the sea
The Maltese islands were made from sedimentary rocks that were formed under water millions of years ago. Proof of this is the vast fossil evidence of seashells and other marine creatures that are found everywhere including central parts of Malta and Gozo.
Millions of years ago, the continents were united in one landmass. Intense geological activities broke up this supercontinent into other landmasses which started to drift slowly apart. As Europe and Africa were moving towards each other, they uplifted our islands with tremendous pressure. This is like what happens when you push the edges of a carpet towards its centre.
I am not a scientist and in no way am I going to disprove this theory. But through basic logic I arrived towards another hypothesis, this time based on climate change. According to an article in National Geographic Magazine (May 2005) titled: "Great Green North: Was the icy Arctic once a warm soup of life?", 50 million years ago, the North Pole was not as we know it today; it was ice-free. Without such a continental mass of ice, it is obvious that sea water levels were much higher than today, and so Malta was probably still under water. Millions later the North Pole started to take shape more or less as we know it today, and water levels fell down thus exposing the peaks of the mountainous sediments that form our Islands.
These days, as climate warms and the Arctic ice shrinks more and more, we may be undoing the change that began back in that warm, green Arctic 50 million years ago!
The Day After Tomorrow: reality or fiction?
In the first part of this 2004 film we saw New York City totally inundated, thus concealing very tall buildings and drowning the famous Statue of Liberty. This can become a reality...
The Ice Age part of the film is however, fictional. As with most Hollywood movies, there is a kernel of truth, pumped with body-building steroids. Turning NY into an icy wasteland in a matter of days is impossible, according to Stefan Lovgren for National Geographic News. In fact, probably no climate scientist would imagine such extreme events as Global Warming and Ice Age in a very short time period, as likely scenarios.
Although winter conditions are becoming colder and harsher, even for young healthy adults, including Malta, we are still a very long way, if ever, from reaching the extreme climate of a new Ice Age.
There is no doubt, however, that The Day After Tomorrow was a sensational blockbuster, but environmentalists hope that it should also spread awareness about global warming.
Measures to reduce global warming
Catastrophic global warming is concerning climatologists, scientists and governments worldwide. After the US, Britain is the second largest producer of climate change gases, particularly CO2. Although for now Malta is not obliged to reduce 'greenhouse' emissions under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, it is understood that MEPA is currently analysing options for Malta's future. Malta was in fact among the countries participating in the World Climate Change Conference in Montreal last December.
We can reduce our impact on global warming by burning less fuel and taking simple measures that are more energy efficient. Combustion of fossil fuels (petrol and diesel) in vehicle engines is by far the fastest growing cause of global warming. In Malta, there are over 500 vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants! Besides CO2 and heat, such combustions also result in a nasty toxic cocktail of exhaust gases including high levels of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and various oxides of nitrogen which all contribute to acid rain and ill health.
Drivers who switched to unleaded are a bit 'greener' but the removal of lead, albeit a good thing, is only the first step towards greener cars. CO2 and other gases are still given off. In general, short journeys with a cold engine are very inefficient.
The catalyst is a device found in most modern cars to reduce harmful emissions. However, we must not be fooled into believing that we are 'super-green' travellers just because we now drive around in catalytic cars. Besides the fact that catalytic converters are usually guaranteed for 50,000 miles, and only work when the car's engine has fully warmed up, they do not reduce emissions of the chief global warming gas, because on the contrary, they convert the toxic monoxide into the dioxide!
As diesel combustion engines in general are still less efficient than their petrol counterparts, they obviously produce less CO2 because most of the fuel is incompletely burnt to carbon monoxide. Therefore, the fact that they emit more carbon monoxide and many unburned carcinogenic carbon particles (sooty black exhaust), makes one doubt whether its benefits (in terms of CO2) outweigh the risks.
Biodiesel, also known as biofuel, is a renewable source of energy made from plant oils such as sunflower or rapeseed, or from waste cooking oil. It is cleaner than diesel and can be used in any vehicle with a diesel engine. Although, burning biodiesel also emits CO2, this is offset by the fact that the crop used to produce it used the gas from the atmosphere to grow via photosynthesis. For this reason, biofuels are often called "carbon-neutral".
However, there is not enough land to grow crops to replace all diesel with biodiesel. It has been estimated that for the US to replace diesel use with biodiesel, it would have to use 30 per cent of its land to grow the crops needed! So, if this industry plans to expand, it is likely that plantation will occupy forested areas, and the net CO2 balance would therefore, be negative.
Ethanol (alcohol) derived by fermentation processes, is another form of biofuel. It accounts to 40 per cent of Brazil's driving fuel. The country is also the main supplier of ethanol to the UK. As with biodiesel, the snag is that there isn't sufficient land on which to grow all biofuel crops needed to satisfy the voracious appetites of the industrialised nations!
Electric cars have now started to be imported. The key component here is the battery. Electric vehicles produce very low noise and zero emissions, and this would certainly greatly benefit the urban environment. However, as electricity is still generated from non-sustainable fuel reserves (coal or oil) to charge the lead-acid batteries, the pollution is simply passed down the line from the garage or road to the power station. Batteries also pose major disposal headaches.
Methane, propane and other natural gases, are other finite fossil fuel resources. Compressed natural gas vehicles emit up to 30 per cent less CO2 and 70 per cent less carbon monoxide. It is also free from sulphur impurities. However, the necessity for large on-board fuel tanks and limited availability, present major disadvantages. If our power stations were to run on such cleaner fuels, we would also make considerable improvement.
Combustion of hydrogen does not yield any organic waste compound and this sounds great. However, the safety requirements of hydrogen mean that adequate ventilation systems must be developed, particularly when confined for long periods of time in a garage. Availability is very limited, and as with natural gas, on-board storage is another drawback. On the other hand, BP is developing a hydrogen power station in Scotland that will produce electricity with practically no carbon emissions for 250,000 homes!
Solar-powered cars would be a blessing to mankind; an environmentalist's dream! The sun's energy is trapped into photovoltaic cells and transferred into electricity. However, solar power has the disadvantage of only being available in daylight and the technology is still expensive.
Malta's 'emission alert' campaign was greeted with much enthusiasm, and many SMS reports were sent. This shows that the public is aware of the adverse effects of noxious fumes that increase the risk of cancer and respiratory conditions. However, this does not address the problem of CO2 because it is colourless and odourless.
For the time being, however, basic good driving practice would help reduce CO2 and other harmful gas emissions. These are: regular service and correct tyre pressure; keeping speed low and avoiding erratic acceleration; and turning off the engine if struck in traffic (quite common in Malta!).
Scientific studies also have to determine the extent of environmental impact from other sources of combustion, namely fireworks' displays on land and sky (also a source of sound pollution) which in Malta reign throughout the summer! Ironically however, although Malta recently received three warnings from the European Commission regarding Climate Change obligations, we have introduced a fireworks festival in our calendar to celebrate Malta's accession into the EU! Is this what the EU wants from us?
Other studies should exploit the generation of electricity from wind-powered turbines. Unfortunately, finding a large space in suitable exposed parts of Malta is a great challenge. A wind farm of 12 turbines would occupy about one square km! The possibility of offshore wind farms as hinted lately by the Prime Minister should be investigated. Shell is pioneering a new generation of offshore wind farms in the North Sea that will be generating 108 megawatts, enough to supply over 100,000 homes. On a domestic level, imagine also, if on every rooftop we were to have small wind-driven generators to light two or three rooms during windy days!
Being completely surrounded by sea, it is also a pity that wave energy is not utilised to generate hydro-electric power. The use of double glazing and well insulated building are also not given enough importance in keeping a house cool or warm.
Malta is blessed with almost unlimited sunlight. Although vehicle solar technology is still in its infancy, domestic solar heaters have been on the market for two decades. Unfortunately, they are still relatively expensive even though the government is offering a refund of around Lm100 for each system installed. In a bid to reduce the consumption of non-renewable energy, the Ministry for Rural Affairs and Environment has installed a solar panelling system to generate electricity. May all other ministries follow suit. Abroad I have also seen solar-powered street lights.
The EU has committed itself to reducing CO2 emissions. However, with projections showing that fossil fuels will continue to provide about 85 per cent of our energy for the foreseeable future, it will be difficult to achieve reductions of CO2 by only switching to other forms of renewable energy. Carbon capture technology can help reduce emissions. A pilot plant has been inaugurated in Denmark to capture CO2 emissions and storing it underground, thus preventing it from interacting with the atmosphere.
Even were it not for the 'greenhouse effect', global fossil fuel reserves are on the decline and as we are all aware, oil prices are shooting up! So, it is high time we do not keep focusing on this non-renewable, highly expensive commodity. In the case of Malta, however, we still hope to strike oil one day!
For very obvious reasons, I will not recommend nuclear or atomic energy as we all remember the Chernobyl disaster of 20 years ago! It is true that atomic power stations do not emit CO2 , but the processes involved in creating atomic energy do. Mining uranium for atomic fuel production, plus power station construction all require the burning of fossil fuels. According to researchers from New South Wales University, atomic power stations using high-grade uranium ores would have to run for about ten years before they create enough power to cancel out the energy required to establish them.
Finally, from a very young age, children should be encouraged to use more their legs, bicycles, and public transport. The latter has to be made more attractive and efficient though! Planting more trees, preferably evergreens is also an asset for our survival on Earth. Over-pruning of poor trees is not recommended, and in my opinion even a tiny green weed helps!
As CO2 is soluble in water (it is in fact used to carbonate beverages), long-term emissions of CO2 could sharply increase the acidity of the oceans and devastate much of the marine life, scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory warn. Researchers are warning that if emissions are not curbed, the acidity of the seas will increase more rapidly over the next 1,000 years than it has over the past 300 million years. However, unlike global warming, the increasing acidity of seawater has scarcely received any public attention.
Landfills: another source of greenhouse gases!
One must not get the impression that only CO2 is the culprit greenhouse gas. Every gas differs in its ability to absorb heat. Methane, which is emitted from decomposition of organic wastes in landfills and manure heaps, for example, traps over 21 times more heat per molecule than CO2!
If according to rural affairs and environment minister, the methane produced will be used to fuel electrical generators, (as already suggested in measures to reduce global warming), we are heading for the right direction. However, if we are not capable of effectively collecting all this landfill gas, at least burning it to CO2 will alleviate this problem. What a strange irony!