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THE GEOGRAPHY
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Selina Babakhani Geography 102 Final Exam One reason why uncertainty over climate looks to be with us for a long time is that the oceans, which absorb carbon from the atmosphere, act as a time-delay mechanism. Their massive thermal inertia means that the climate system responds only very slowly to changes in the composition of the atmosphere. Another complication arises from the relationship between carbons dioxide (CO2), the principal greenhouse gas (GHG), and sulfur dioxide (SO2), a common pollutant. Efforts to reduce man-made emissions of GHGs by cutting down on fossil-fuel use will reduce emissions of both gases. The reduction in CO2 will cut warming, but the concurrent SO2 cut may mask that effect by contributing to the warming. The other reason, is that it is net emissions of CO2 that need to peak and decline. That leaves scope for the continued use of fossil fuels as the main source of modern energy if only some magical way can be found to capture and dispose of the associated CO2.Happily, scientists already have some magic in the works. Governments everywhere (but especially in America) must send a powerful signal that carbon is going out of fashion. The best way to do this is to levy a carbon tax. However, whether it is done through taxes, mandated restrictions on GHG emissions or market mechanisms is less important than that the signal is sent clearly, forcefully and unambiguously. This is where President Bush's mixed signals have done a lot of harm: America's industry, unlike Europe's, has little incentive to invest in low-carbon technology. The irony is that even some coal-fired utilities in America are now clamoring for CO2 regulation so that they can invest in new plants with confidence. The third pillar is to promote science and technology. That means encouraging basic climate and energy research, and giving incentives for spreading the results. Rich countries and aid agencies must also find ways to help the poor world adapt to climate change. This is especially important if the world starts off with small cuts in emissions, leaving deeper cuts for later. That points to a second prescription: the rich world could usefully help poorer countries to switch to cleaner energy. A forthcoming study by the international Energy Agency estimates that there are 1.6 billion people in the world who are unable to use modern energy. They often walk many miles tofetch wood, or collect cow dung, to use as fuel. As the poor world grows richer in coming decades, and builds thousands of power plants, many more such unfortunates will get electricity. That good news will come with a snag. Unless the rich world intervenes, many of these plants will burn coal in a dirty way. The resultant surge in carbon emissions will cast a grim shadow over the coming decades. Ending subsidies for exporters of fossil-fuel power plants might help.But stronger action is probably needed. Meaning that the rich world must be ready to pay for the poor to switch tolow-carbon energy. This should not be regarded as mere charity, but rather as a form of insurance against global warming. The final and most crucial step is to start pricing energy properly. At the moment, the harm done to human health and the environment from burning fossil fuels is not reflected in the price of those fuels, especially coal, in most countries. There is no perfect way to do this, but one good idea is for governments to impose a tax based on carbon emissions. Such a tax could be introduced gradually, with the revenues raised returned as reductions in, say, labor taxes. That would make absolutely clear that the time has come to stop burning dirty fuels such as coal, using today's technologies. None of these changes need kill off coal altogether. Rather, they would provide a much-needed boost to the development of low-carbon technologies. Naturally, renewable such as solar and wind will get a boost. But so too would "sequestration", an innovative way of using fossil fuels without releasing carbon into the air (see article). All rain is slightly acidic, but the term Acid Rain is used to describe rain that has mixed with a range of industrial pollutants and become far more acidic that it could normally become. Air borne pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and assorted hydrocarbons react in the air with sunlight and water to form nitric acid, sulfuric acid and assorted other mineral acids and ammonium salts. The resultant acidic water can be carried thousands of miles by the wind before it falls to earth as rain, snow, fog or as dry particles which settle out due to gravity. The biggest source of the 'acid rain' chemicals that pollute the atmosphere is the burning of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels were created from organic ( animal and plant ) material that died millions of years ago. The original material was full of carbon, and it's decay created sulfur, so the coal, oil and gas we burn today are rich in hydrocarbons and sulfur. We burn these fuels in power stations to make electricity, in factories and oil refineries to make plastics and similar products, and in our vehicles which produce huge amounts of nitrogen and carbon gasses. In recent years there have been some efforts to reduce the amount of pollutants that we pump into the air, but these efforts have been too small and too late to stop vast amounts of damage occurring across the world. Even though we know that acid rain is dangerous to us and the planet, we still produce all the chemicals that cause it. In some parts of the world scientists have recorded rain that was more acidic than vinegar. Animals, plants, and even some rocks cannot survive when they come into contact with something so acidic.
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Paper Information
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Title: THE GEOGRAPHY
Words: 4753
Rating: None
Pages: 19
submitted by: celinabab
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