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photo courtesy W. S. - click for larger version |
What would you say if you were on a ship awash in water to the gunwales, and a few people are desperately trying to bail out the ship with a tin cup - while many others are cutting huge gaping holes in the hull with chain saws. You would no doubt think that these people have gone nuts, that they are out of their minds, and that the whole thing is some insanely crazy farce. |
And you would be right, of course. And this is exactly - in capitals, EXACTLY - and in bold, EXACTLY and PRECISELY - what is going on in this world, and what we are doing.
While everybody is talking about reducing carbon emissions, and a lot of people are doing whatever they can to reduce their "carbon footprint", others are cutting down forests on a vast scale - the size of the Netherlands in the Amazon alone - every year.
Every scientific paper ever written recognizes that deforestation and carbon emissions are the cause of the Greenhouse Effect. And as our scientists have established, and many of us have come to understand, forests are the second major carbon sink of the Earth. The first and primary carbon sinks are the oceans and waters of the Earth.
And so it is indeed that we are actually trying to bail out the good ship Earth with a few tin cups, while others are cutting huge gaping holes in the hull with chain saws. Exactly; in capitals: EXACTLY; and in bold; EXACTLY.
As long as we continue to cut down forests we haven't got a chance in the proverbial hot place. None; Zero; Zilch; Nada; Kaput. The carbon in our atmosphere is going to increase no matter how much we try to reduce carbon emissions. Indeed, cutting down forests not only robs us of carbon sinks, but it adds huge amounts of carbon to the atmosphere from the carbon released in decay. It's not only the quick decay of the leaves and twigs, and the slower decay of branches and stumps - but also the quick death and decay of the huge biomass in the soil underneath living forests.
This biomass in vegetation sheltered soils is the third major planetary carbon sink, which soaks up about 3 billion tons of carbon. Some will argue that this teeming biomass - altogether it outweighs all life above the surface - is "balanced", that it releases as much carbon with the dead and dying biomass, as it soaks up with the advent of new members of this biomass. While this is almost true - there is a small but significant net growth every year - they forget that as long as this biomass exists - while individuals may come and go - it constitutes, in total, a major "standing" carbon sink of our planet.
Meanwhile, the hull of our good ship Earth is burning here and there, as forest fires destroy huge areas of forests around the world, further reducing carbon sinks and adding carbon to the atmosphere. And worser yet, global warming is now beginning to melt the permafrosts of the Arctic Alaska and Siberia, which releases not only huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, but also, and along with it, huge amounts of methane, which is a 23 times more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
These vast sources of carbon dioxide and methane dwarf our puny efforts to reduce emissions, while laudable, to total insignificance.
Worse, the growing population of the Earth - from the current 6 billion to 9 billion by 2042 (US Census) - is accompanied by a growth in energy demands. People need food and water, housing, clothing, fuel for cooking and heating, utensils, education for their kids, and whatever amenities their culture may afford them. And all this takes energy. And this results in more carbon emissions.
To this we must now add the rapidly growing economies of China, India and Russia, where more and more people are now beginning to realize their dreams of owning a car, along with other common modern amenities such as fridges, TVs, stereos, computers, phones, washing machines, dishwashers and all the other technological marvels of our time. All of which requires energy to produce and run.
Combine population growth and the rapid spread of modern technology, and we have a runaway demand for more energy everywhere in our world, along with runaway carbon emissions from our current methods of producing energy. And while we are making great strides in alternate, less and non-polluting sources of energy - such as hydro, solar, wind, tidal, geothermal energy, and less polluting fuels such as methane, hydrogen, ethanol and bio fuels - it all amounts to no more than 1% of world energy production.
And to top it all off, we continue to eradicate the forests of the Earth - our 2nd most important carbon sinks - on a massive scale. We have not got a chance. None; Zero; Zilch; Nada; Kaput. Emissions will go up no matter what we do, on our present course.
So, we have wrecked the stability of our planetary biosphere by deforestation, and now we are embarking upon wrecking our economies as well, without making one smidgen of a hoot of difference about the greenhouse effect as long as we continue to deforest the Earth.
And to make it worse, we are now beginning to penalize our most prolific producers of energy, the oil companies and the fossil fueled power generating stations, for providing what we demand. It's insane. We demand electricity to run our homes, we demand gas and oil for our cars, trucks, trains, ships and airplanes, we demand heat for our homes, businesses, offices and factories, we demand energy for our amenities and entertainment. And then we go and penalize the producers of this energy. This is insanity gone insanely insane. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.
So; are the people who have formulated the Kyoto Protocol insane? No, they are not. Definitely and emphatically not. They have based the priorities of the Kyoto Protocol upon the recommendations of rational, sober and objective scientists. It's our leaders who are making an insanely insane insanity of it.
Here are the eight priorities of the Kyoto Protocol, reduced to their cogent kernel from the lengthy resolutions.
Priority 1). "Enhancement of energy efficiency". The effort to reduce the consumption of energy, and thus, achieve a reduction of carbon emissions with current sources of energy. Much work is being done in this field, among them in transportation, housing, lighting, appliances and, particularly so, in electronics, but far more work on a much larger scale is needed.
Priority 2). "Afforestation and reforestation". This includes the planting of new forests where none had existed in historical times, in currently uninhabited lands such as semi arid and arid areas, and reforestation where forests once existed, which is the easiest. Among them is the Sahara desert where hippopotamuses flourished in verdant forests as little as 6.000 years ago, and where the indigenous people hunted elephant, buffalo, antelope and giraffe - which is yesterday in geological time, and therefore eminently reclaimable for forests.
And forestation is the easiest, most effective, immensely beneficial way of ending the greenhouse effect - at practically no cost.
Some reforestation and afforestation is being done here and there, but amounts to practical insignificance compared to the continued eradication of the worlds forests on a massive scale. Instead of increasing the world's forests, we are continuing to eradicate them.
Priority 3). "Promotion of sustainable agriculture". This is a major effort to reduce the huge demands of energy of our current modern agriculture which are far in excess of the energy provided by its yields. In other words, it costs far more in energy to produce a bushel of grain than the energy a bushel of grain provides. Our modern agriculture is not only unsustainable in terms of its energy demands, but also in the degradation of the soils it creates.
These pages contain the methods of an agriculture which is not only permanently sustainable, but like Nature herself, gets richer and more fertile season by season and year by year, without chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. It also costs much less to operate. Further, there are also the man-made "Terra Preta" and "Plaggen" soils which are the foundation of a natural agriculture which also gets richer and more fertile season by season and year by year, also without fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. The former was widely practiced by the people of the Amazon, and their Terra Preta soils remained rich and highly fertile for thousands of years. And the latter, a similar soil, was widely practiced in Holland until quite recently. Finally, an intensive natural agriculture can produce a thousand times greater yields, and do so indefinitely, than our chemical agriculture.
Priority 4). "The promotion of new and renewable sources of energy and carbon dioxide sequestration". This included the development of other non-carbon emitting sources of energy - such as hydro, solar, wind, tidal, geothermal, and low carbon emitting fuels such as methane, hydrogen, ethanol and bio fuels. There is much work being done in these fields, but current production amounts to only 1% of world energy production. And while some research is being done to find other long term carbon sinks than the oceans and forests, nothing convincing has been found yet. Carbon dioxide is a gas, which is hard to separate from the air and hard to contain. And it appears that currently considered alternate methods of sequestration produce almost as much carbon emission as is sought to remove. So far, it appears that "fixing" it - combining it with other elements or compounds - is the only reliable way.
Of all these, switching cars and vehicles to methane (perhaps better known, and in use, as "natural gas"), which can be easily done, would be the easiest as it is already a ready made fuel by nature [more below]. Instead, we are focusing on other fuels, such as bio fuels and ethanol which would take 14 Earths to grow the biomass which we would need. Plus huge amounts of energy to make it. 'Tis another insane insanity.
Priority 5). "Reduction of market incentives, tax breaks, etc. in industries causing emission of greenhouse gases". Nothing is being done in this regard. This is fraught with trouble; are we going to make it more expensive to produce energy?
Priority 6). "Measures to reduce greenhouse gases". Finally, and sixth in the order of priorities, here we are, and our efforts to reduce greenhouse gases. As stated above, this is the most difficult, if not impossible to achieve initiative. And so, why have we made it our first priority - against impossible odds, and when there are far easier and far more effective means? Such as forestation, for instance. With large scale forestation we can end the greenhouse effect in 50 years; well, ok, maybe it will take 60 years.
Priority 7). "Measures to limit greenhouse gases". Ditto. See above. Plus all of our now familiar current efforts to reduce and limit greenhouse gasses.
Priority 8). "The limitation and reduction of methane through recovery and use in transport and distribution of energy." Methane (also and perhaps better known as "natural gas) is a ready made natural gas; cows and other ruminants belch it; it rises from swamps; it threatens miners in coal mines; it rises from landfills and fermenting chicken, pig, sheep, cow and human manures, there are huge natural gas deposits underground, and immense deposits of frozen methane ("methane ice") at the bottom of the oceans. All we need to do is to collect it, and then use in our cars, buses, trucks, trains, boats and ships.
It is so easy to use in our cars that thousands of methane - gasoline hybrids exist in Europe. Volvo makes them. You just switch between tanks. Methane also delivers more energy than gasoline and burns perfectly clean. Methane has a combustion of 97% to 98% - compared to the 27% combustion of gasoline, with the rest going out the exhaust in the form of carbon and pollution. And there is none of the sludge left behind by burning gasoline. Engines stay clean, perform better and last longer. And besides burning a potent greenhouse gas out of existence (23 times more potent than carbon dioxide), there is also a very substantial reduction in carbon and other harmful emissions, as well as in air pollution.
It is a win - win - win situation with no economic disruption, no disruptions in life-style, massive reduction of a potent greenhouse gas, a massive reduction in air pollution, and much lower energy demands in producing it as compared to gasoline. Methane is essentially inexhaustible, it does not need to be refined; it's ready made. And it does not need additives.
Next, the sane and easy way to terminate the greenhouse effect - which can be done in 50 years, and without disrupting our economies - while creating immense wealth.
see "POISON FREE AGRICULTURE" in these pages.
see "METHANE FUEL" in these pages.
A Guide to Land-Use and Land-Cover Change (LUCC) - http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/tg/guide_frame.jsp?rd=LU&ds=1
DEFORESTATION: Tropical Forests in Decline - http://www.rcfa-cfan.org/english/issues.12-3.html
The long-term impact of global deforestation on climate - http://www.geo.vu.nl/~renh/deforest.htm
Global Deforestation Overestimated - http://www.scidev.net/News/index.cfm?fuseaction=readnews&itemid=257&language=1
World Population - http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/world.html
Methane from Permanfrost - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane
544 New Coal Fired Power Plants Planned in China - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/4330469.stm
hunting elephant, buffalo, antelope and giraffe in the Sahara - http://www.transafrica.biz/en/cou_niger_en.htm
The Ethanol Disaster - Earth Policy Institute - http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/2007/Update63.htm
Rescuing a Planet Under Stress - Earth Policy Institute - http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/PB2/index.htm
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