Key Points:
- Population Explosion
- Energy Crisis
- Greenhouse Gases
- Ozone Layer
Population Explosion:
In an analogy by David Suzuki(a famous environmentalist) states that if there were a test tube(representing our planet) that is filled with food, and a single microbe(us humans) that would split in two(double in numbers) every minute, running out of food and dying after an hour, and we compare this with our current situation, we are on the last minute. The time it will take for our population to double: 48 Years(shorter than you expected, wasn't it).
Continuing with the analogy, even if after an hour passed, scientists resupplied us with four new tubes, we would still die in 3 more minutes.
The solution? Put bluntly, kill people, but the Humans Rights groups would go crazy, so thats out of the question. What now? Limit babies, of course! China's done it, so why can't the rest of the world?
Energy Crisis:
~Excerpt from Wikipedia~
"At current consumption levels, and assuming that oil will be consumed only from reservoirs, known reserves would be gone around 2039, potentially leading to a global energy crisis. However, this ignores any new discoveries, rapidly increasing consumption in China & India, using oil sands, using synthetic petroleum, and other factors which may extend or reduce this estimate."
Coal reserves are expected to last 157-285 years with the current consumption rate. This will probably leave you thinking "What's so bad about that?" to which I will reply: "If coal was used to produce electricity for the entire world, the reserves would only last 57 years."
Did you know that "Green Energy" accounts for less than 5% of electricity produced WORLDWIDE? Nuclear Energy produces about 25% whereas the burning of fossil fuels(coal, oil) accounts for more than 70% of electricity produced. The really optimistic scientists estimate that within 50 years, "Green Energy" plants will produce 18-20% more energy than the current plants(big whoop people, now they're going to make 18-20% more than <5%! That's like <5.09-5.1%! We're saved!!!!! NO! It doesn't work that way).
Subsection: Alternative Fuel Vehicles
Do you actually think alternate fuel vehicles are that good? Well, in a sense they do help the environment, but it's pretty much pointless if they're inefficient. What do I mean by inefficient? I mean that they simply don't make sense. For example, Ethanol fuel sources could replace gasoline, as they can be made with just about any kind of plant, but how do we grow and harvest these plants? I suppose farmers pick millions of crops from their own farms every harvest without any gas powered machines right? No, because that would be stupid(why grow that many crops if you can't harvest them all?) and time consuming(It would take 96 years for the average person to just count to 1 million, so how long do you think it will take a farmer to rip a plant out of the ground that many times).
"Well, maybe other cars are better." Um, well thats what a lot of people would like to think but I will provide the following unbiased facts to those who read this thread.
Characteristics of Fuels:
Air
- Fuel is cheap
- Can be refuel wherever there is electricity
- Takes longer to refuel than gasoline
- Low Mileage(100-200 miles/161-322 km)
Battery Energy
- Fuel is easily distributed
- Batteries are changed more easily than other fuels
- Batteries capacity(lifetime) lowers with each charge, if only by a little(depends on the battery)
- Longer battery life and shorter recharge times are required for this type of vehicle to be practical
Alcohol/Ethanol
- Fuel can easily be produced
- Can be mixed into gas pumps(in low proportions) to cut down on gas consumed
- Does not produce as much energy as oil fuels(lower mileage)
Bio-Diesel
- Low awareness(have you heard of them before reading this)
- More than twice the efficiency of the highest grade gasoline power engines(23% as opposed to the average diesel's 50%)
- Is produced from natural oils(not fossil fuels, I'm talking about the stuff you put on a frying pan when you make eggs)
Hybrid
- Just a combination of multiple fuel sources
- Most hybrids use battery and gasoline
- Batteries have low mileage, then charged with relatively small gas tank or charged at home(by coal-burning plants, no doubt)
Hydrogen
- Versatile(can be burned or used in fuel-cell conversion)
- Only exhaust is H2O(Water)
- Current speed record for Hydrogen Cars: approximately 186 mph(300km/h)
Nitrogen
- More than 50% of normal air is composed of Nitrogen(N2)
- Impractical(requires a 93 gallon/350 litre sealed tank, as opposed to a 13 gallon/50 litre tank)
- Extremely expensive to produce
Solar
- Impractical design(in order to produce enough energy, the driver will lay down in the relatively cramped car, with a glass dome over his head to watch the road, and the rest of the car's surface is relatively flat and covered in solar panels. We're talking about a car less than a yard(91.44 cm) high
- Not very fast (Fastest vehicle so far can go up to 84mph/140km/h)
Steam
- Impractical (It takes time to boil something to make steam, and then get the turbines going)
- Can achieve speeds of over 100mph/161km/h
- A secondary fuel source must be used to heat the water
Greenhouse Gases
In essence, greenhouse gases are necessary for life as we know it. Without them, the average temperature of the Earth would be -2°F or -19°C, as opposed to 59°F, or 15°C.
However, the use of combustion engines has severely altered the composition of our atmosphere, to the point where greenhouse gases have reached more than 4 times the natural levels, even during natural peaks. This environmental trend began in the late 1800's and has been continuing up until now, and will continue in the near future. The current level of Greenhouse gases means that the temperature is actually going up every year. In some areas it has more impact on the climate(such as the polar regions, where the mean temperature can rise more than 7.5°F annually, or more than 4°C annually). This trend is also changing precipitation levels in many regions, intensifying global extremes(dry areas are now being hit with droughts that locals were never prepared for, places used to frequent flooding hit with disastrous floods). If this isn't enough to raise your eyebrows, this should be: The increase in temperature has recently made deadlier hurricanes that can travel farther North or South of the Equator without losing energy(AKA Katrina). Furthermore, our methods of dealing with domestic waste are contributing to the greenhouse effect, as they release methane(Methane has 25 times the effect of Carbon Dioxide on the environment) fumes while decomposing.
Did you know that if half(that's right only half) of the ice caps and glaciers prone to melting in the Northern(I'm not even counting the South yet) Arctic regions, that more than a third of the world's land will be submerged in seawater? Take your emissions seriously or suffer the consequences(or imagine the other half + the Antarctic, that'll give you some motivation).
Ozone Layer
Important Terms:
Chlorofluorocarbons: (CFC) are compounds containing chlorine, fluorine and carbon only, that is they contain no hydrogen. They were formerly used widely in industry, for example as refrigerants, propellants, and cleaning solvents. Their use has been regularly prohibited by the Montreal Protocol, because of effects on the ozone layer. They are also a powerful greenhouse gas, in terms of carbon dioxide equivalence (over a time period of one hundred years) between 5000 and 8100 per kg.
Hydrochlorofluorocarbons: (HCFCs) are of a class of haloalkanes where not all hydrogen has been replaced by chlorine or fluorine. They are used primarily as chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) substitutes, as the ozone depleting effects are only about 10% of the CFCs.
Basically speaking, the Ozone Layer is a very thin layer of our atmosphere that partially blocks incoming rays from the sun. Its key function for supporting life is the fact that it blocks UV(Ultra-Violet) rays from the Sun. UV rays are damaging to organisms as it can cause irregular and/or destructive growth in cells(more commonly known as cancer tumors). UV ray levels intensify as one climbs higher in altitude, like mountains and highlands.
In-Depth Explanation of UV rays (Quoted from Wikipedia):
UVA, UVB and UVC can all damage collagen fibers and thereby accelerate aging of the skin. Both UVA and UVB destroy vitamin A in skin which may cause further damage. In general, UVA is the least harmful, but can contribute to the aging of skin, DNA damage and possibly skin cancer. It penetrates deeply and does not cause sunburn. Because it does not cause reddening of the skin (erythema) it cannot be measured in the SPF testing. There is no good clinical measurement of the blocking of UVA radiation, but it is important that sunscreen block both UVA and UVB.
UVB light can cause skin cancer. The radiation excites DNA molecules in skin cells, causing covalent bonds to form between adjacent thymine bases, producing thymidine dimers. Thymidine dimers do not base pair normally, which can cause distortion of the DNA helix, stalled replication, gaps, and misincorporation. These can lead to mutations, which can result in cancerous growths. The mutagenicity of UV radiation can be easily observed in bacteria cultures. This cancer connection is one reason for concern about ozone depletion and the ozone hole. UVB causes some damage to collagen but at a very much slower rate than UVA.
As a defense against UV radiation, the body tans when exposed to moderate (depending on skin type) levels of radiation and UVA in particular triggers the release of the brown pigment melanin from melanocytes; while UVB mostly triggers de novo production. This tan helps to block UV penetration and prevent damage to the vulnerable skin tissues deeper down.
Back to the Ozone Layer...
CFCs are compounds often found in older refrigeration units and had a variety of industrial uses. Unfortunately, though they seemed un-reactive(with a long half-life), this allowed them to reach the stratosphere, where the UV rays could split off the chlorine atom, which is highly reactive on its own, which would then form compounds. Common reactions were Cl· + O3 --> ClO· + O2 and ClO· + O3 --> Cl· + 2 O2. Usually the Chlorine would still split off and compound many times, damaging thousands of Ozone Molecules in the process(This is one atom Vs. millions of molecules, and this is the havoc it wreaks). However newer models of such devices now use HCFCs, which are less damaging, as they only have 1/10th of the impact of CFCs, but as you can see, people are unwilling to get new appliances, and even then the problem isn't solved.
Yeah, that's right. Your old refrigerator could kill someone else who will get skin cancer, and that's one more problem to plague your conscience.
Raise awareness. Copy this into a forum, blog, myspace, facebook, etc.
These problems won't fix themselves. People have to get involved NOW.
Post has been edited 9 time(s), last time on Oct 16 2007, 8:39 pm by SCORPIONOX.
None.