Proem

A few days ago about 120 Presidents and Heads of State of the different countries in the world were gathered in Paris, France for a discussion to solve the problem of “Climate Change”.

The scientific community has proposed that the carbon gases emission of the different countries of the world should be limited so that the atmosphere of the earth will not be disturbed.  The scientists envisioned solving the problem of “Atmospheric Change” but the politicians discussed the wrong problem of “Climate Change”.

The scientific community has proposed that the carbon gases emission of the different countries of the world should be limited so that the atmosphere of the earth will not be disturbed.  The scientists envisioned solving that problem of “Atmospheric Change” but the politicians discussed the wrong problem of “Climate Change”.

“–spheres”

The earth is covered or enveloped with many system with a suffix “—sphere”.  There is the magnetosphere, the ionosphere, the stratosphere, the ozone layer, the atmosphere, and many others.

For millions of years these “spheres” have changed and the living things in earth evolved to adapt to the new conditions.  The living things that could not evolve became extinct, like the dinosaurs.

A few years ago the discussion was about the ozone layer that has already become thin and huge holes are already found in it.  Without the ozone layer the electrically charged particles can reach the earth and cause diseases.

Nowadays the problem is atmospheric change brought about by the activities of man, especially the emission of carbon gases that becomes part of the atmosphere.

Definitions

To understand the situation let us know the definitions of “atmosphere”, “climate”, and “weather”.

Atmosphere is the body of gases surrounding the earth.  It has been there for a long time that the living things in earth have adapted to it.  When the animals breathe they only consume the oxygen and expel the other gases, especially carbon dioxide.  When the plants absorbed the gases they only take in the carbon dioxide and expel the oxygen and other gases.  There is symbiosis between the plants and animals in earth.

Climate is the combination of temperature, precipitation, winds, etc. over an extended period of time.  It is the effect when the atmosphere is subjected to changes in temperature.  For example: When a portion of the earth, as it revolves, is near the sun, the region will have summer.  When it will be far from the sun it will have winter.

Weather refers to the movement of gases and air as the atmosphere adjusts itself to the differences in temperature.  In the Philippines the movement sometimes becomes very strong, which we call typhoon.  It is very destructive.

Analogy

We can make an analogy with the humans.  The atmosphere is the human body.  When the atmosphere is disturbed it is analogous to a sick person.  The climate is analogous to the fever caused by the sickness.  The weather is analogous to the effects of fever like blurred vision, headache, muscle pains, etc.

When a person is sick (altered atmosphere), any physician knows that the fever (climate) is not the problem.  It is the effect of the illness or disease.  The physician knows that he can control the fever but if he can not treat the disease the fever will return.

So the objective of the physician is to cure the illness or cause of the disease.  No amount of controlling the fever (climate) can cure the disease (altered atmosphere).

Function of the Atmosphere

The atmosphere functions as a filter or thermostat.  Some of the solar radiations are reflected back to space by the atmosphere.  A portion will reach the earth.  The plants have already evolved that it can convert the solar energy into food by photosynthesis.  The plants provide food for the animals.

Some of the solar heat not converted by the plants into food is reflected back to space by passing again the atmosphere.

Present Problem

At present the human population is utilizing carbon and fossil fuels as sources of energy for its machineries.  When these fuels are burned carbon gases are produced that joins the atmosphere.  If this will continue the atmosphere will soon become too thick.

Many of the entering solar radiation will be reflected back to space and only few can pass through to become food for the plants.  Many of the plants will die.  Without plants, many of the animals will also die.

The solar radiation that reached the earth will be reflected back to space.  However, only few can pass through the thick atmosphere, and many will be trapped near the earth and cause the temperature of the earth to rise.

When the temperature becomes hot the climate will react and made changes.  To redistribute the heat the speed of the spreading gases will become faster and we will have faster and stronger typhoons.  The snows will also melt and cause sea level to rise.

The Solution

The scientists say that the rise in temperature should not be more than 2^o centigrade until year 2050.  To do it, the amount of carbon gases that will join the atmosphere must be limited.  Hence there is request for a consensus among world leaders to find solutions how to do it.  However, the talk was about climate change.  The world leaders are addressing the wrong side of the problem.  They talked on how to pay the countries destroyed by typhoons and flooding and not on limiting the gases joining the atmosphere.  They did not tackle the real problem, which is “Atmospheric Change”.

Another solution is to plant more trees and vegetations.  Plants are consumers of carbon dioxide as food and expel oxygen.  The more plants there is, the more consumers of the carbon gases in the atmosphere and the more oxygen there will be for animals to breathe.  Is there a serious move by the world leaders to do it? (By Jes B. Tirol)