Escalated Carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere: The most concerned environmental issue

The worlds condition today is one of distortion, though everything may seem to be fine it is not that way. From the beginning of civilization we have progressed a lot in terms culture, technology but at the same time we have caused major damages to our planet. In other words, our surrounding environment is in a very critical situation. This is not happening just in one region but the entire globe is being affected. One of the most if not the most dangerous threat to the Environment is the global climatic warming. The center of this phenomenon is the increased amount of Carbon dioxide gas in our atmosphere. One may ask why CO2 is so harmful when it's an important reactant for photosynthesis, which eventually produces oxygen that gives us the ability to breathe and live properly. The answer to this is very simple. ''Nature knows best''. In other words, once we try to interfere in any kind of natural activity, discrepancies will start forming. CO2 levels were not always high. There is a limit to how much plants will be able to synthesize at a time. The excess CO2 in the atmosphere is all due to human-induced activities. From burning fossil fuels to deforestation, all these human activities releases a superior amount of CO2 in the atmosphere which thus cause the 'Greenhouse gas effect' and eventually leads to global warming. If the current way this phenomenon is being handled continues, catastrophic consequences can follow for the future population.

Carbon dioxide as we all know is a chemical compound consisted of two oxygen atoms that are covalently bonded to a single carbon atom. It is always being constantly used up by plants for respiration and synthesis of other organic molecules. Asides from plant; oceans play a major role in the carbon cycle. The CO2 concentration in the Earth's atmosphere is approximately 390 parts per million as of 2010 (CO2Now, 2010 ). This number is slowly amplifying by 1.8 ppm every year (Andrews et al. 2010 ). Carbon dioxide plays a major role in the greenhouse gas effect. Through this process CO2 and other greenhouse gases let shortwave radiation(sunlight) pass through the atmosphere. The earth absorbs the radiation, warms and then radiates in the form of long wave radiation. The outgoing longwave radiation gets absorbed by greenhouse gases like CO2 in the atmosphere. This heats the atmosphere which in turn re-radiates longwave radiation in several other directions. A proportion of that radiation also makes its way back to earth but with more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, we would notice that less long wave radiation has escaped to space at the wavelengths that carbon dioxide absorb. We also expect to see more infrared radiation returning back to Earth at these same wavelengths (Norby & Luo, 2004 ). Simply, CO2 and other green house gases trap heat that would have eventually escaped into out space. After years or researches and climate modeling, we figured that as more heat gets trapped, the weather and climate patterns will be altered. According to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) “Since the beginning of the industrial revolution atmospheric concentrations of CO2 have increased nearly 30%, methane concentrations have more than doubled, and nitrous oxide concentrations have risen by about 15%. These increases have enhanced the heat-trapping capability of the earth's atmosphere''(Schmit, 2009 ). This may lead to extinction of species due to failed adaptation of the new habitat. Length of the seasons will be affected, there will be coastal flooding leading to frequent and severe storms.

Oceans acts as an enormous carbon sink and takes up about a third of the CO2 emitted by human activities. There is about 50% carbon dissolved in the oceans released from the atmosphere in the form of CO2, carbonic acid, and carbonate ion as exists in the atmosphere (Duana, Rui. 2003 ). As this number CO2 emission increases, more will start to get dissolved in ocean water causing the lowering of ocean pH. The process is known as 'Ocean acidification; and it increases the hydrogen ion concentration which then increases the acidity. Over the years

since the start of industrial age, ...

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since the start of industrial age, Ocean acidification has gone up by 33% and it's still increasing (Cai, et al.2010). This factor creates a greater impact on marine organisms. Researchers have found that the survival of larval marine species, including commercial fish and shellfish, is reducing. The rate producing skeletons by reef-building corals is also decreasing. As a matter of fact, major research agencies like IPCC, NOAA, NANOOS have singled out calcifying organisms as the coral reefs since ocean acidification is expected to impact their numbers negatively (Guldberg, et al. 2007). Overall, the entire marine biosphere and internal ocean temperature is being affected due to the increased CO2 emission.

Another sinister sign of CO2 level building up in the atmosphere is the polar sea ice loss (Stroeve, et al. 2007). It's directly connected with Global warming and it leads us back to carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Average temperatures could increase by as much as 12 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century if the emission levels keep rising (Stroeve, et al. 2007). Although numerically it isn't such a big number but impact wise it would easily make the world virtually uninhabitable for humans. Within a short period of time it will bring devastating climate change and cause a catastrophic domino effect. Although we are spending so much research on what might the damage be, we are totally forgetting the root of the issue. According to a recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change stated that ''the final nail in the coffin'' of climate change denial, representing the most authorities picture to date that global warming, CO2 level rise are caused by human activity'' (Soon, et al. 1999). I totally agree with this report since it was inevitable to prevent the rise but the rate of rise was preventable. From burning fossil fuels to deforestation, a lot of other human activities gave rise to the level of carbon dioxide. We are still exploiting non-renewable energy sources like petroleum, coal when we should be putting our money on renewable and alternative energy sources. Tidal energy is really popular in Germany but if North America promotes it, we can also obtain a big amount of energy through this system. Although Solar powered systems may be costly to built but it is way more efficient in ways that sunlight will never run out. Solar powered systems are definitely more well known globally and if developed countries provide their help in the third world countries, easily anyone in the world will be able to process with this alternative energy source. Chemical engineers in Malaysia also have developed a new type of post combustion power plant that absorbs atmospheric CO2. The key point is that, at all cost we have to lower the amount of fossil fuels we are burning every year. Deforestation on the other hand is another environmental issue that many of us are concerned about. Asides from the fact that its destroying the biodiversity of the nearby areas, it is also releasing a great amount of CO2 in the atmosphere by making it a carbon source. Environmentalist are working on 'Silvicultural Systems' which is a planned program of activities by which a forest or trees will be regenerated (Bendell, 2010). Many different countries hold annual tree planting events but if this is done at a global scale everywhere around the world, we can lower the amount of CO2 emission. Overall, it all comes down to us and how we all work together as a whole. If each individual region thinks of their own, none of the world issues will ever be solved so instead countries and politicians should get over with their self-righteousness and help build a better sustainable planet for times to come.

References

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http://co2now.org/

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4) Schmit, J. (2009). EPA's carbon dioxide emissions ruling could raise energy costs. USA TODAY. Retrieved on October 2010 from

http://www.usatoday.com

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7) Guldberg, O. Mumby, P. Hooten, A. Steneck, R. Greenfield, P. Gomez, E. Harvell, C. Sale, P. Edwards, A. Caldeira, K. Knowlton, N. Eakin, M. Preito, R. Muthiga, N. Bradbury, E. Dubi, A. Hatziolos, M. (2007). Coral reefs under rapid climate change and ocean acidification. Science 14: 318(5857). Retrieved from Web of Science database.

8) Stroeve, J. Holland, M. Meier, W. Scambos, T. Serreze, M. (2007). Artic sea ice decline: Faster than forecast. Geophysical Research Letters: 34(5). Retrieved from EnvrionmentOne database.

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