Читать книгу The blood bath has begun, are we too late to save humanity? - Farzana Prior - Страница 4

Countries are still dependent on coal to provide electricity. Not only are carbon emissions contributing to global warming, but it is also a big contributor to respiratory illnesses, death, crop failure and malnutrition. When coal is burned for electricity, carbon dioxide is released. Carbon dioxide remains in Earth’s atmosphere and absorbs solar radiation, effectively cooking the earth.

Rising temperatures leads to climate change which results in droughts, floods, deadlier hurricanes, heat waves, water shortages, pests and fires. In Australia, the bushfires of 2019-2020 caused a change in weather patterns resulting in dry lightning storms and fire tornadoes.

Humid heat waves are becoming more common despite predictions that this effect is decades away. Humid heat waves are formed when rising temperatures cause increased water evaporation from the ocean. Coastal areas are initially affected, and wind can spread the humid air into the interior.

Humid heat waves are deadly because our bodies use the sweating process to cool down. In the presence of humidity, sweating becomes less efficient. Naturally, these populations would then seek out shade or air conditioning, but what if there is no access to shade or air conditioning? Populations will then be forced to migrate to cooler areas, giving rise to conflict as they move across borders.

High levels of air pollution, caused by burning coal for electricity, is associated with exacerbations of asthma, lung cancer, and heart attacks, including skin allergies. Skin allergies increase when clothing is hung outside to dry and pollutants in the air adhere to these garments, which then irritate the skin when worn. Heart attacks increase because air pollution causes blood to clot. Lung cancers increase because air pollution changes lung tissue DNA.

Deaths are also due to the spread of mosquito borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever and yellow fever. Vaccines for dengue fever and yellow fever do exist, while the malaria vaccine is being piloted, and aimed at children, because malaria is still the biggest killer of children worldwide.

Anopheles gambiae mosquito spreads Malaria

Attribution: James D. Gathany / Public domain

Deaths are also caused by crop failure. Throughout history, when crops fail, people have been forced to migrate and this triggers conflict. Hot ambient temperatures also cause pests to breed more frequently, which in-turn damage crop and spread diseases.

High carbon dioxide levels reduce the levels of zinc, iron and protein in crops such as wheat, rice, corn and soybean. If populations don’t have access to meat as a food source, these low nutrition crops will exacerbate malnutrition.

If countries continue to burn coal for electricity, they will need to allocate more funding for disease management and disaster management. However, they will not need to if they are proactive. Governments and politicians that are proactive about renewable energy show consideration for the health of the citizens, as well as consideration for our planet. Renewable energy may be perceived as expensive, but it is not as expensive as the funding required for disease management and disaster management.

Countries that care for their citizens are, for example, Iceland where almost all of the energy in Iceland comes from renewable sources such as geothermal and hydroelectric power generation. Granted, not every country has hot springs and volcanoes, but this does point to the sheer political will of the politicians of Iceland to dig wells a mile deep into the crust of the earth (where rock is in hot liquid form) to access the steam to drive turbines, to generate renewable electricity.

Sweden makes use of hydropower and bioenergy for electricity and heating. This country has abundant moving water and has utilised this to construct a number of hydroelectric power stations. Bioenergy is created when garbage is burned to create heat, which creates steam to turn the power-generating turbines. Over fifty percent of Sweden’s trash is disposed of in this way. A further forty nine percent of trash is recycled, and only one percent of trash lands up in landfills.

While burning trash does release carbon dioxide into the air, it releases half of the carbon dioxide that burning coal releases. And burning coal doesn’t have the benefit of disposing of trash.

The United Kingdom is well placed to make use of wind power generation. In February 2020, the UK has generated approximately eight thousand megawatts in offshore wind capacity and in 2025 expects to add an additional ten thousand megawatts via the construction of more wind farms.

Uruguay has invested heavily in both wind and solar energy, without using subsidies or increasing costs to the consumer. Through sheer political will, this country put regulations into place that made use of private-public partnerships to drive energy production from renewable energy and, within ten years, now have ninety five percent of their energy being produced from renewable energy sources. The other five percent comes from hydropower which depends on seasonal rains. Thermal power is used only for peak demands and is fired by oil and gas, which is still more efficient than coal.

Politicians, act now: stop burning coal for energy and start burning trash. Burning trash has many benefits and few drawbacks. The most significant drawback is the production of ash as a by-product, most of which can be recycled for use in road construction. Any toxic fly ash can be deposited into landfills designed to handle such materials. Air emissions from trash power plants, can be cleaned through filtration and scrubbing mechanisms.

Politicians, act now: make use of wind and solar renewable energy sources. Don’t convince yourself that renewable energy is too expensive. Burning coal is no longer an option because humanity and the oceans are literally being cooked and poisoned to death from carbon dioxide.

Politicians, act now: we don’t have space for landfills. We need them for farming, for housing eight billion people, and for growing new forests. Forests will absorb carbon dioxide and will make humanity resilient to droughts, floods and hurricanes.

Politicians, act now: enforce mandatory vaccinations. Vaccinations will make humanity resilient to diseases, and preventing diseases is far cheaper than treating them.

Politicians, act now: discourage war and conflict in your country. Provide for the people by encouraging ethical businesses to take hold, build forests, introduce renewable energy sources, build renewable housing, build infrastructure and incentivise farmers to farm food for the nation.

Politicians, your purpose is to act with courage and ethics as you make planetary changes to your country’s infrastructure. You know that renewable energy is untapped in your country, but you fear protests from coal mine workers, for example. Proceed with courage, ethics, and transparency!