In this Q&A, Michael poses and answers more questions about climate change. As always your comments and questions are welcome.
Q: At present, how much of global energy consumption involves burning fossil carbon to produce heat?
A: Approximately 80%. Coal and natural gas power plants convert heat energy to electricity.
Q: What other ways do we generate power?
A: The remaining power we produce comes from hydroelectric power sites, nuclear power plants, solar arrays, wind turbines, and to a lesser extent from geothermal and tide sources.
Q: What is power?
A: Power refers to energy flows coming from electricity generators and the burning of fossil carbon in furnaces, industrial manufacturing processes, and for transportation.
Q: What has been the result of burning fossil carbon?
A: Rising atmospheric temperatures as described in Part 1 of this two-part series.
Q: What is the reason why so many Americans are not concerned about global warming?
A: American leadership from the Oval Office to Congress and state governments are not discouraging the burning of gasoline, diesel, and natural gas.
Q: Who are the biggest global emitters of carbon dioxide (CO2)?
A: China = 30%, United States = 11%, India = 8%.
Q: Why can’t these nations commit to a common strategy?
A: They do not have the same populations to feed and look after. A quick comparison shows that China has a population of 1.408 billion and a GDP per capita of $13,870 US. India has 1.425 billion and a GDP per capita of $2,940. The United States has 343 million and a GDP per capita of $89,680.
Q: Will removal of CO2 from the Troposphere result in cooler global surfaces?
A: Yes, but this will require the removal of about 20% to produce significant cooling.
Q: What is the total weight of CO2 in the Troposphere?
A: 3,300 metric gigatons.
Q: How much needs to be removed to cool to the mean global temperature in 1990?
A: 660 metric gigatons.
Q: How much CO2 can new experimental carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technologies remove?
A: 13 metric gigatons per year.
Q: What area of land is needed for significant CO2 removal by planting trees?
A: An area equivalent in size to the United States and Canada.
Q: How long will it take to plant these trees and ensure they survive?
A: At least one hundred years.
Q: Will new trees we plant to naturally remove CO2 take up land currently being used to grow food?
A: Yes.
Q: Will humans need to stop current animal husbandry farming and tying up land to produce feed for livestock?
A: Yes. Humans, particularly in meat-consuming countries, have to reduce herd sizes of high-emission livestock like cattle, and find protein equivalent low-emission alternate food sources.
Q: Is our human population eventually going to stop increasing?
A: Yes. The current rate of growth is 0.9% annually or between 70-80 million people. Human population growth, however, is expected to eventually reach a peak within this century of approximately 10.3 billion by 2085 before starting to gradually decline.
Q: How much warmer could global surfaces be in the next three decades?
A: By the year 2055, global surface temperatures are projected to be 0.55 degrees Celsius (1.0 Fahrenheit) degrees warmer.
Q: Are future weather events going to be catastrophic?
A: Yes.
]]>I hope you find it clarifies climate change issues and gives you practical advice on how we collectively can mitigate the risk and adapt to the changes we and subsequent generations will face. As always your comments and questions are welcome.
Q: How do Earth’s surfaces stay warmer than the cold vacuum of outer space?
A: By absorption of the extremely hot radiation from the Sun. We feel it when we stand outside on a sunny day. Our skin warms and emits radiation to the surrounding air. If it didn’t, we would continue to heat up.
Q: What keeps ocean surface water from freezing?
A: Special gas molecules located adjacent to the ocean surface. These molecules form a layer at the bottom of the Troposphere, the lower atmosphere. As the air warms, it rises and when it cools, clouds form and rise to the top of the Troposphere.
Q: What is special about these gas molecules?
A: These molecules are non-condensable and have at least three atoms. At ground level, nitrogen (N2) and oxygen (O2) molecules have only 2 atoms and are 96% of the molecules contained in the Troposphere. Argon (Ar) with one atom represents
1% of the molecules. Water vapour amounts to up to 3% of the total. When water vapour condenses, we feel humidity and get precipitation.
Q: How do special gas molecules with more than 3 atoms become warmer than Earth’s surfaces?
A: By absorbing the heat radiated from the ocean, sea, forest, field, and desert surfaces.
Q: How does this miniscule concentration of special molecules warm other molecules in the Troposphere?
A: By agitating them, causing them to collide.
Q: Are Earth’s surfaces warming at an alarming rate?
A: Yes. The rate has increased to 0.2 Celsius (0.36 Fahrenheit) degrees per decade. The result is that mountain glaciers are continually receding, polar ice caps are melting faster, and Arctic Ocean sea ice is thinning.
Q: Should humans be alarmed?
A: Yes. By 2050, we may experience a mean atmospheric temperature increase of 0.55 Celsius (1.0 Fahrenheit) degrees of warming.
Q: According to NASA, what gases contribute to the warming of our Troposphere?
A: Carbon dioxide (CO2) contributes 45%, methane (CH4) 20%, and nitrous oxide (N2O) 3%.
Q: What is the current concentration of CO2 in the Troposphere?
A: The present value from NOAA’s Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii is 425 CO2 molecules per million (ppm). That means CO2 molecules make up 0.0425% of the atmosphere. That doesn’t seem like a lot but in 1800, CO2 molecules represented a much smaller number, probably closer to 300 ppm.
Q: Why are there more carbon dioxide molecules in the Troposphere today than in our recorded past?
A: Humans are burning too much fossil carbon (coal, crude oil, and high-pressure natural gas).
Q: Define the term “too much.”
A: Too much occurs when living plants cannot photosynthesize the CO2 we humans are creating.
Q: Which plants are important?
A: Trees are important because they can grow continuously for 50 to 1,000 years, ingesting the CO2 and storing it by turning it into wood.
Q: How many trees are we cutting down each year?
A: The approximate total is 15 billion. When a tree is cut down, the CO2 sequestered in it can reenter the atmosphere if burned or left to rapid decay. If decomposition is slow, the CO2 gets released more slowly. If the wood is used for construction and furniture, the CO2 remains stored. Finally, some of the tree’s carbon from roots and leaves gets stored in the soil.
Q: What is the rate of human population growth and why is this relevant to the issue of climate change?
A: In 1961, there were 3.1 billion of us. The present number surpasses 8.2 billion and increases by 65 million every year. The more of us there are, the more we demand from the natural resources of the planet. The more energy we produce for our growing population, more CO2 gets added to the atmosphere and the ocean because of the burning of fossil carbon.
Q: What is fossil carbon?
A: Fossil carbon consists of coal, natural gas, and oil, including byproducts such as gasoline, diesel, propane and other fuels.
Q: Why are humans burning so much fossil carbon?
A: We use the heat energy from fossil carbon to power machines, for manufacturing and other industrial activities, the heating and cooling of buildings, transportation and the generation of electricity.
Q: Are disturbances from heating in the Troposphere causing weather changes?
A: Yes. Most noticeable are the changes to atmospheric currents known as the Jet Stream. These exist in both the northern and southern hemispheres and on average range between 40 and 60 degrees latitude. A subtropical Jet Stream between 15 and 30 degrees latitude exists as well. Jet Streams circle the Earth in the upper Troposphere moving at speeds of up to 160 kilometres (100 miles) per hour. As the atmosphere absorbs more CO2 and other greenhouse gasses, its warming is causing these Jet Streams flows to distort, increasing their latitudinal range. These distortions are contributing to increasing severe weather events.
Q: Is warming of the lower Troposphere causing more drought?
A: Yes. NASA satellites continually monitor groundwater and soil moisture content with notable trends showing some areas of the planet experiencing increasing drought episodes.
Q: Will it be difficult for humans to stop burning so much fossil carbon?
A: Yes. This requires humans to change how we support our way of life.
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