Is It Me Or Is It Getting Hot In Here?

Global warming has been a persistent threat to planet earth as well as its inhabitants. Since we, humans, are the cause of this problem, it is our responsibility to rectify it. On the 30th of January 2009, a two-hour long lecture was presented by three different lecturers on the issue. Each lecturer brought forth different perspectives of the problem. The following is a brief summary of the ideas of each lecturer.

The main idea for the first segment is regarding the technology of carbon capture and storage. The lecturer first acknowledged that global warming is more of a global problem, whereby each and every country of the world has to unite to solve it, rather than a local problem confined within a country itself. He then mentioned that carbon capture is technologically achievable. Unfortunately, the decision to implement this technology lies in the hands of politicians, who are currently more interested in short term goals, as well as solving larger global problems, such as famine and pandemic diseases.

The second segment of the lecture focuses on how the social factor determines the failure or triumph of new technologies, regardless of the benefits or drawbacks of that technology. One example is how citizens of the United States protested against the operation of the first nuclear power plant reactor, and gives favor to coal power plants instead. A nuclear power plant is more technologically advanced and does not produce as much harmful substances towards the environment as compared to coal power plants. Another example shows that how electric cars, being the pioneers in the automobile industry, were being taken over by gasoline cars even though gasoline cars pose a greater impact on the atmosphere.

The third and final segment of the lecture highlights the cause and effects of greenhouse gasses, as well as preventative measures government agencies and normal citizens can execute to reduce these gasses. There are four natural greenhouse gasses, namely water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. Excessive greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere are the cause of global warming. The worse predicted effects of global warming are the melting of ice caps and rising sea levels. Some preventative measures pointed out were the incurrence of higher tax on petroleum sales by governments, or the reduction of greenhouse gasses in households by increasing energy efficiency.

A particular statement in the first lecture caught my attention. The professor’s speculation is that politicians will only look into the problem of global warming approximately 25 years down the road, when our environment is already in a critical state. As the old saying goes, “prevention is better than cure”, which makes me wonder why the world leaders are still taking this issue so lightly when various studies have already shown the catastrophic effect of global warming if no effective measures are taken.