Global warming is real and something needs to be done about it as a matter of urgency. Many people argue that the Earth has always experienced cyclical climatic and temperature changes, and that climate change is a natural phenomenon unrelated to human activity. This is partially true, but these changes have never been as accelerated as they are now and this increased rate of warming is a direct result of human activity. This is the unequivocal verdict of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – a consortium of about 2000 of the world’s top scientists advising the United Nations.

Put simply, our atmosphere is made up of a mixture of gases (including the ozone layer) that act like an insulating blanket around the Earth. It traps some of the sun’s heat, making the Earth warm enough to live on, and regulates it’s temperature. Without it, heat would bounce off the Earth’s surface and escape, leaving it far too cold for us or any other life forms to exist on. All the wonderful advancements of modern living such as using electricity, driving cars, air travel, manufacturing the millions of products we use in our daily lives cause extremely large and unnatural amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases to be released into our atmosphere. Added to this, the massive rate of deforestation (20 million hectors per year) is adding to the problem. Trees absorb CO2 from our atmosphere, but when they are destroyed, all their stored CO2 is released.

These gases rise up until they are trapped within the earth’s atmosphere, increasing its thickness. If you kept adding more blankets to your bed, your body heat would get trapped, you’d feel uncomfortably warm and you’d start to sweat. With oceans making up 75% of the earths surface, this is exactly what happens. An increase in temperature leads to increased evaporation. This results in water vapor, another greenhouse gas, being trapped in the atmosphere making it even thicker. Thus, the vicious cycle of our (thicker) atmosphere trapping more heat and heat making our atmosphere thicker continues until we find ourselves exactly where we are today, wondering “what the hell is going on with the weather?”

The Industrial Revolution, which started around 1750, is one of the most significant periods in the history of humankind and marks the beginning of “modern” life as you and I know it. The first machines were invented for the textile industry increasing production and efficiency, and replacing a lot of manual labour. For the first time people worked in factories and no longer simply as individual artisans. Production in agriculture and other industries increased as the use of machines spread. The steam engine was invented and locomotives transported food, raw materials and people in quantities and across distances that were previously impossible to achieve. Before steam engines, most people lived and died without visiting the next village, let alone cross-country trips.

With industry beginning to boom, the demand for coal and fossil fuels steadily increased to what it is today, consuming billions of tons of coal and oil annually. With an increased and varied food supply as well as greater access to medicine the human population also started to increase. To give you an idea of this massive increase, the world’s population growth was approximately 0.001% per year from the year 1000 until the dawn of the industrial revolution in the mid 1700’s putting it at 700 million people. Then, fifty years into the Industrial Revolution (1800), the world population suddenly soared to one billion people. By 1900 it had reached 1.6 billion people and a century later it has increased by 400% to what it is now – 6.9 billion. Predictions are that by the year 2050, the world’s human population will reach 9 billion people!

]]>

Prior to the industrial revolution the global temperature could naturally change by 5 degrees over a period of 10 000 years, that’s 0.05 degrees every 100 years. But it has started to change so rapidly that for the last 30 years it has risen by 0.2 degrees every decade. That’s 10 times faster than the natural rate, and that is alarming.

Well, leaving all the science and dizzying figures out of it, I’ll put it in terms that are bound to shock you into action and Greenpeace activism.

As climates are getting warmer, diseases and disease-carriers like mosquitoes, ticks, mice and others are expanding their range and surviving warmer winters. Say hello to epidemics of Malaria, Dengue Fever, Cholera, Lyme Disease and West Nile Virus.

1/3 of all species may be extinct by 2050. That’s a whopping number of weird and wonderful creatures our children will probably never know existed, let alone see, read or hear about. I remember feeling very deprived as a child due the extinction of the poor dodo, and qwagga long before my time.

We will experience water rationing, similar to our electricity load shedding. Demand for fresh water has already exceeded it’s natural supply.

Kiss your coastal property goodbye- a 6m rise in sea level predicted to displace 100 million people worldwide will take care of that.

Insurance premiums will go up to cover extreme weather events.

The best solution we have at the moment is efficiency and conservation. To most people, this sounds too simple to actually be effective, but if you were to measure the amount of energy we waste, the potential savings would not only astound you, but would also make an enormous difference to your household utility bill. Although alternative renewable energy sources like solar and wind power have been available for many years, they have not entered the market competitively. Due to lack of information, public awareness has been limited. It is only now after experiencing load shedding and the astronomical global rise in fuel prices, that we the public are becoming aware of the energy crisis. Our energy resources have always seemed abundant and we have developed wasteful habits. Tiny changes in our daily routines can a make significant impact to our energy expenditure and the amount of carbon emissions we are responsible for as individuals.

Think of how often we leave lights on in rooms that are empty. A single 100-watt incandescent light bulb burning for 10 hours a day emits 292 kg’s of CO2. Think of how often we make individual car trips to the corner café or just down the road to visit a friend. If we planned more efficiently, we could combine errands and save ourselves both time and fuel costs. Most of us haven’t insulated our geysers, which work continuously hard to keep the water at a temperature of around 70 degrees. Experts recommend that our bath temperature should not exceed 51 degrees, and even then, this is hot enough to seriously scald a child. That’s nearly 20 degrees difference. Think about it, don’t you always run the cold tap with the hot? Wouldn’t it make sense to lower the temperature setting on your geyser instead of continuously using energy to maintain your water at a temperature too hot to use? Another good tip is to put your geyser on a timer. Most families only shower or bath in the mornings or evenings. If the geyser is timed to work for 2 hours a day around those times instead of 24 hours a day, individual households could dramatically help South Africa lower its energy usage.

Turning off your appliances when they’re not in use is another saving method most of us overlook. Appliances left on standby accounted for approximately 0.36% of South African consumption for 2003. Cell phone chargers, computers, TVs, DVD players, microwaves, and hi-fis left on standby all start to count when you add it up. Think about your internet connection, even when we log on without opening any browsers, bandwidth is used. When we run out of bandwidth we feel lost – no email, no internet, no Skype – and our lives screech to a halt. If we became aware of conserving electricity in the same manner we try to conserve our bandwidth, we would realize the incredible savings we could make.

Products imported from all over the world have always been a novelty, but importing figs from Turkey, avocados from Spain or cherries from Israel is not necessary when you think of how rich South Africa is in natural resources. Not only are these products expensive but they are also costly to the environment in terms of carbon emissions, and by investing in local produce we stimulate our local economies.

South Africa is responsible for 90.6% of Africa’s energy sector carbon emissions. We rely on cheap and “dirty” coal for most of our energy consumption. South Africans emit an average of 9.8 tonnes of CO2 per person annually and we have a population of 47 million people. If we all make small changes to our daily lives, we could make an impact as a nation and help slow the effects of climate change. Perhaps one day in the distant future we may even discuss the weather as the boring, same old conversation-filler it once used to be. Special Thanks to Global Carbon Exchange and Food & Trees for Africa for assisting me with this article.