I have often heard people say “I am not worried by global warming.” “I will not be around when it happens.” Or. “The scientists will find a solution before long.”

Let us take this time to explain the Global Warming process, and it’s immediately influence us here on the West Coast.

Firstly, we must realize that more than 71% of the globe is covered in oceans. Human activity and industry is releasing Carbon Dioxide at unprecedented rates whilst we have already destroyed most of the forestation on the globe. This forestation use to absorb the carbon dioxide.

So all this CO2 is generated and it is not converted into oxygen as nature intended and thus it forms a “blanket” over the globe, 71% of which is ocean.

The West Coast is very dependant on its primary industry, which is fishing.

The CO2 is absorbed by the oceans but it is not sequestrated into oxygen so it simply increases the acid level of the seawater.
This in turn affects the smaller life forms in the ocean that basically forms the bottom of the food chain for the fish we catch.

So the effect is simply and if you speak to any fisherman you will hear it from them. There is less fish. This is because they do not have enough food.

Secondly, the Carbon dioxide “blanket” increases the temperature of the globe.
This increase in temperature coupled with the acidification of the oceans is causing the polar ice to melt, which in return causes the ocean levels to rise. So soon, Langebaan Air Force Base might become a naval base and Saldanha Bay might join the Fabled City of Atlantis.

The third and most lethal effect is one that has scientists globally running like headless chickens.
On the Globe, there are some very large frozen lakes, which do not thaw during summer. The sediment in these lakes has been producing Methane gas for centuries, This Methane is trapped under the ice that covers these lakes.
As the global temperature increases these ice lakes are starting to melt, sure they freeze again during the winter but the amount of thaw is greater than the amount of re=freeze thus the ice sheet keeps getting thinner. As anyone, who has ever blown up a balloon knows, at one stage the skin of the balloon just gets to thin and the balloon burst. Methane gas is far more damaging to the total global warming process.

When this methane bubble burst, we will very suddenly find temperatures getting warmer and our feet getting wetter.

This problem is so serious that the European Union has recently given its support to EPOCA, the European Project on Ocean Acidification, which will be launched in Nice (France) on 10 June 2008.

So please do not fool yourself and think that you are not going to be affected because you already are.

Recently I had the opportunity to pay a visit the Iron Ore harbour in the port of Saldanha.
I was almost instantly amazed, the last time I was there was about a year ago and the red iron ore dust was everywhere. This time it seemed as if the sticky, yucky red dust that normally turns everything a shade of red, had been dramatically reduced.
I had a chance to look at the section where the lagoon forms a sort of beach, I noticed how clear, and clean the water had become.
Then I noticed that all the conveyor belts have had coverings put on them and everything was explained. Well done Transnet

This leads me to this week’s concern.
In a research done by scientists in various studies since 1993 it has become apparent that the sea levels have risen by 3.2 cm. This is twice as much as during the past century.

Scientist predict with a fair amount of accuracy that the global rise in sea levels during the next couple of years will dramatically increase as they are seeing a rise from the global average of 3mm per day.

The largest contributor to this phenomenon is the increased melting of the polar caps.
The Glaciers that are melting contribute an annual amount of 400 billion tones of ice to the oceans where it just melts and turns into water.
The Greenland and Artic Ice sheets contribute about 250 million tones a year to the global water content.

Now as any schoolchild will tell you if the ice in a glass of water melts it do not overflow so why worry about the polar ice.

The answer is simple. The Ice sheets and the Glaciers are not in the “Glass” even though it might look as if they are. They are actually land based, they slide into the ocean (Glass), and thus the ocean overflows.

So once more a word of heed. LET’S STOP CO2 not all of us can swim so well.

Scientists have been racing around the clock to find a solution to the growing CO2, or the more commonly called Climate Change Problem.
Some looked to the oceans some looked into the earth. Some even had a few nutty ideas like making silver clouds.
However, given enough time a solution for every problem will be found.
In a recent article, I wrote about how the planet will survive even this catastrophe that man is inflicting on it.

Scientists have now noticed that plants and trees are growing faster than before, the mountains in Sweden are getting greener, in places where before there was no vegetation there now grows plants.
Mother Earth is going ahead and healing herself, irrespective of what man is doing, but this is a long process and we might not live long enough to see the recovery.

This inspired a couple of scientist from a German university, Fritz Scholz and Ulrich Hasse from the University of Greifswald, to come up with the following very practical idea.

Plant Trees…. Now in itself, the idea is simple and we all know that the only real way to sequestrate Carbon Dioxide is by means of photosynthesis.
Where the intelligent part comes into their solution is the following.

After the trees have grown and have absorbed all the CO2 it can, man traditionally cuts them down and burns the largest part of the biomass from such forests, this simply releases the CO2 trapped in the wood back into the atmosphere.
Scholz and Hasse suggests that these trees are harvested and buried in the ground, there are many open pit mines that need filling across the globe.
The buried wood will remain intact for many years and when eventually it breaks down the trapped CO2 will be released into the earth.

According to their calculations, we will have to plant just over 1 billion hectares of forests to absorb the CO2 produced globally each year.
This is the same size as all the virgin forests cut down in the last century.
They further recommend that this project be financed from a levy placed on fuel and electricity in Europe and the USA and those third world countries that have the space and work force then plant the forests.
Thus creating a whole new trade that will actually save mankind from extinction.

We are what we eat has always been a much bandied about saying.
These days it is more a case of where what we eat comes from that makes more sense.

We have already discussed the impact of “Food Miles” to the global greenhouse effect as well as to the price of consumables.
We also discussed the methane gas produced by livestock farming.

Now research has shown that No-Till farming has a better impact on the environment that the modern method of farming and that organic farming absorbs even more CO2 that NT Farming

Professors Humberto Blanco and Rattan Lal at the Ohio State University have recently made amazing discoveries that indicate that by not tilling the soil farmers can trap fast amounts of CO2 in the top 2 meters of soil. This will greatly help countries reduce their carbon load.

Whilst researchers at the Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Centre in Beltsville USA, discovered that organic farming traps even more CO2 within the soil than No-Till farming.

Paul Mäder of the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, in Frick, Switzerland in a 21-year project discovered that in organic farming the amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, and other nutrients added to the soil were 34-51 percent lower in the organic systems than in the conventional systems. However, because the crop yields from the organic systems were 80 percent as large as those from the conventional systems were; the organic systems seem to use their resources more efficiently.

This all brings us back to a point previously made. With the eminent continual increase in food cost and the continual addition of carbon to our atmosphere by the trucks, delivering the food to our shops it is becoming clearer that we need to use our backyards to produce food for our table.

So take up your shovels and start planting, petrol is becoming so expensive that soon you would have to push your car to work and back.

65 million years ago had there been newspapers or radio or even television this would have been a very brief headline.

The impact of this asteroid on the planet was catastrophic it wiped out all the dinosaurs and most other mammals.
It caused major volcanic eruptions.
It triggered an ice age where everything froze.
In fact, the impact was so great that it liquefied the carbon deep inside the earths crust and shot it skywards where it formed tiny carbon beads that covered the earth.
Scientists estimated the total mass of carbon cenospheres (the tiny carbon bead formed by the impact) ejected by the asteroid collision, to be perhaps as much as 900 quadrillion kilograms.

Today we are all performing and shouting to SAVE the PLANET but guess what. The planet is OK after a couple of million years the effect of the asteroid impact was covered and new plant life sprung up in place of the old. The carbon fall-out was absorbed and converted and is now powering our houses and our automobiles.
The massive forest fires that resulted in the total destruction of vegetation in large parts of the globe eventually ran out of fuel and stopped burning and about a thousand years later new vegetation had sprung up in its place.

The animal life that where eradicated has been replaced with new animals that are far more evolved.
Man has taken the place of the dinosaurs on the planet and have lived here of the bounty provided by the environment for a long time.

Therefore, as you can see, the planet we call home is OK it will survive almost anything and in time it will recover and renew for that is the nature of nature. What will not be ok is that which inhabits this planet… MAN.

In the last 4000 years plus Man has developed this concept that as a species it is indestructible. That it rules the planet and that as a species it can do as it pleases. It can burn all the forests in the world. It can dig up all the precious metals, suck out all the black oil from deep within the core of the planet, and waste it as it sees fit. In addition, those amongst them, who actually understood the serious repercussions of these actions and who dared to speak out about it, were burnt at the stake, literally and figuratively.

So we do not need to save Earth, she is OK we need to save ourselves as a species from following all other species before us into extinction.

Despite all the talk and attention given to “Food Miles” the one factor that to date have not been brought into the equation is the greenhouse gasses that are produced in the manufacture processes of food production, and especially that of the meat industry.

When we talk about greenhouse gasses, we think immediately of the gasses that come from our exhausts. Yet the other greenhouse gasses are often far more dangerous.

Consider Methane for instance, whilst not present in as large volumes as carbon dioxide it is molecule for molecule more damaging than CO2. 1 Ton of methane is as dangerous as 50 tons of CO2 to the atmosphere.

A current fear amongst climatologist is that the change in temperature will cause lakes in the perma-frost to melt and release the Methane gas trapped under their iced tops.

Methane and Nitrous Oxide are well-documented by-products of the meat industry.

As one of the biggest meat, eating countries in the world

South Africa

is a huge contributor in this regard.

Recent research has determined that small organic vegetable farms are the key to lower food costs and a huge reduction in greenhouse gasses.

A small 5-acre plot can provide vegetables for up to 200 families, whereas a similar size plot only provides meat for a few families.

The biggest culprits in the huge distances food travel to get to our tables are the supermarkets. They are money driven businesses and if they can get chickens cheaply form china they will import it and sell it locally never minding the fact that the chicken had to travel thousands of kilometers to cross the road to your table.

Therefore, if the readers of these articles care for the environment in any way or even if they are more interested in just consuming that which the environment produces, I now offer them the same challenge.

EAT LOCAL PRODUCE.
DEMAND THAT YOUR FOOD SHOP GET MORE LOCAL PRODUCE.
STOP BUYING IMPORTED BASIC FOOD GOODS.

Currently your food consumption causes more than 1/3 of your total carbon footprint. (The amount of CO2 gasses one person causes to be released into the atmosphere.)

If we can reduce the amount of meat and dairy products, we consume on a daily basis and replace it with locally grown organic vegetable products then each one of us can firstly make a major contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gasses and we can all lead healthier lifestyles.

The links between illness and meat products are to well documented to discuss here but suffice to say that there are no known correlations between vegetables and illnesses apart from allergies.

So eat locally, eat healthy, help save our planet.
There is no plan B for planet earth.

Today many people are speaking about Greenhouse Effects or Climate Changes.

Our civilization has become utterly Dependant on the burning of fossil fuels for our transport and our energy requirements. Our vehicles run on petroleum, the electricity we use is derived from coal burning generators, even our Saturday afternoon Braai often use wood or charcoal, all of which releases a gas into the atmosphere, its called smoke, or more accurately Carbon dioxide (CO^2).

Under normal circumstances, plants will absorb a large part of this CO2 and trees in a process called sequestration that in turn results in photosynthesis, the balance will form a small layer in the upper atmosphere where it serves to trap some of the sun’s Ultra Violet Rays from escaping back into space. This is what has always given our planet its warmth and makes it liveable. Unfortunately, these are no longer NORMAL circumstances.

Levels of greenhouse gases (GHG’s) have gone up and down over the Earth’s history, but they have been constant for the past few thousand years. Global average temperatures have stayed constant over that time as well, until recently. Through the burning of fossil fuels and other GHG emissions, humans are enhancing the greenhouse effect and warming Earth. The amount of carbon dioxide have increased by more than a third since the advent of the industrial revolution; a process that would naturally have taken thousands of years has happened within a few decades, this is simply to fast for nature to cope with.

The 12 hottest years since the invention of the thermometer where measured between 1995 and 2006.

As a planet we where able to repair the hole in the Ozone layer, together we can repair this man made crisis as well and maybe we will not have many more winters like the one we are having now or worse.

The first thing that you can do is determine your CO2 footprint, which is the amount of carbon dioxide that you release into the atmosphere as an individual. To help you there is a website; ^{www.earthlab.com where within 3 minutes, by answering a few simple questions your carbon footprint is calculated.}

Over the next few weeks there will be regular articles on what you as an individual can do to help reverse this process. For more information, please visit ^{www.liveearth.org}

The globe I so big, and after all the most greenhouse gasses are released in the USA, so what can I do.

Well if you followed last week, you would know what your Carbon Footprint is.

If every person would undertake to reduce or offset their carbon footprint then that in itself would make a huge impact on the existing excess greenhouse gasses.

So how do I offset my Carbon footprint?

The organizers of the recent Live Earth Concerts than was held all over the world on 7.7.07 planted just over 100 000 trees to offset the Carbon Monoxide generated by the electricity they used for the concerts.

This is the example to follow. Plant and maintain enough trees or leafy plants in and around your home to absorb an equal amount of carbon dioxide to that which you produce.

The next step is to place pressure on Local Government to enact and enforce environmental laws. No longer can we just stand by and allow those we elected into power not to take care of our environment.

To this extent, I have recently sent an email to the Mayor’s office in which I challenged the following.

I invite you all to do the same.

In future articles we will tackle how to reduce your carbon foot print as well as recycling and its benefits.

For those of you who wish to comment on these articles you are welcome to do so by going to the following Internet site http://www.sawestcoastdevelopment.com/envirobuz

The globe I so big, and after all the most greenhouse gasses are released in the USA, so what can I do.

Well if you followed last week, you would know what your Carbon Footprint is.

If every person would undertake to reduce or offset their carbon footprint then that in itself would make a huge impact on the existing excess greenhouse gasses.

So how do I offset my Carbon footprint?

The organizers of the recent Live Earth Concerts than was held all over the world on 7.7.07 planted just over 100 000 trees to offset the Carbon Monoxide generated by the electricity they used for the concerts.

This is the example to follow. Plant and maintain enough trees or leafy plants in and around your home to absorb an equal amount of carbon dioxide to that which you produce.

The next step is to place pressure on Local Government to enact and enforce environmental laws. No longer can we just stand by and allow those we elected into power not to take care of our environment.

To this extent, I have recently sent an email to the Mayor’s office in which I challenged the following.

I invite you all to do the same.

In future articles we will tackle how to reduce your carbon foot print as well as recycling and its benefits.

For those of you who wish to comment on these articles you are welcome to do so by going to the following Internet site http://www.sawestcoastdevelopment.com/envirobuz

I have spoken to many people since the first article and apathy was the largest response from many of them, with comments such as “it’s not my problem”, “I am not responsible” and even the occasional “it’s a sign of the end times”

Therefore, this week I would like to try to shed some light on this not my problem syndrome, if I may call it that.

As an individual you can rightly say that you are not responsible in even the smallest way if and only if.

All of modern life permeated with the release of Green House Gasses in some way or another. The bread, delivered to the shop does so in a truck using fuel and releasing Carbon Dioxide. Simply to say that in our modern consumer driven society we cannot avoid sharing the responsibility for the Green House Gas disaster that is facing us.

What will be the results of us just ignoring this problem that is not ours?

Well if we simply look at our own rather strange weather patterns recently.
Floods and fires in the same country, at the same time, the unusually high tides we are experiencing, rivers that suddenly start running again after many years, these are not just co-incidental.

These and other phenomena for part of a pattern, a pattern that not only observable on a local scale but also on a global scale as well.

Our choices are simple we stand together and do something about this or we face the increasing adverse climate changes we currently see happening all around us.

The world took hands when the ozone layer developed a hole in it and very soon all CFC’s where banned and today that hole is repaired.

If we reduce our Carbon emissions the earth will restore the climate again to what it was a couple of years ago. Remember when winter followed autumn which came after spring. That was when the earth could still maintain the steady climate we need to survive comfortably.

The simplest way in which you can take ownership of you small share in the global responsibility and to change it, is to become aware of what you are producing day to day and to become aware that you need to offset the effect you are having on the environment.

I invite you to join in discussing this matter with others via our blog at www.sawestcoastdevelopment.com/envirobuz