What Is Climate Change, Global Warming, The Greenhouse Effect?

The experts now agree that the atmosphere is warming, with current predictions indicating a .03 degree Celsius increase per decade over the next century (Ciesla, 1995). This is due to the increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the air, which has risen by about 25 % in the last 150 years. Global warming is primarily caused by the excessive discharge of greenhouse gases in industrialized countries, mostly from burning fossil fuels.

Climate refers to the general composition of a variety of atmospheric conditions over the long term, such as a span of over 20 to 30 years. In contrast, “weather” refers to the actual climate conditions in any given short term period. Climate change refers to the global variation of the climate on the planet which happens over diverse scales of time and a multitude of diverse climatic events. Climate changes are brought about by natural causes, and over the recent centuries, one could say this includes the action of humanity. The United Nations uses the term climate change to refer exclusively to changes in global climate brought about by human activity as we alter the atmospheric composition through burning fossil fuels and deforesting large stretches of forest and permanently destroying natural eco-systems.

What gases primarily comprise the atmosphere?

The atmosphere is historically comprised by a mix of 98% oxygen and nitrogen. There also exist small amounts of water vapour, argon, ozone, carbon dioxide and other particulates. The water vapour is most important from the meteorological point of view because it is the source of condensation precipitation which forms clouds, rain, dew, snow etc. The water vapour also absorbs solar and terrestrial energy and serves as the principal source for developing storms and stabilizing the earth’s atmosphere. The Earth receives electromagnetic radiation from the Sun, ultraviolet, invisible and infrared short waves. In turn, it emits long infrared waves. These two flows of energy should be in balance. The greenhouse gases allow the short wave radiation to penetrate, BUT, they also absorb the long wave radiation that should rather be leaving our atmosphere. The greenhouse gases act like a blanket around a rock (our earth) held to the flame( the sun). Once the rock is removed from the flame (night time), the blanket (greenhouse gases) does not allow the rock to cool down as quickly because the heat is trapped inside. This effect is called the “greenhouse effect” or global warming. (GCCPIP 1997).

What does 450 ppv mean in relation to climate change?

Check out the chart listing some of the main greenhouse gases and their anthropogenic sources along with their pre-industrial concentration as compared to 1994. Take carbon dioxide for example which was 278 ppbv and 358 ppbv in 1994, already on its way to 450 ppbv.

Many scientists around the globe are concerned about the levels reaching 350 ppbv, thus heightening the needs for creative, non government solutions to the planetary problems as a world community. Now that we are already exceeding these levels, there is simply no time to procrastinate any longer. When will we wake up and do something about it?

Are the ice caps really melting and seas rising in coastal communities?

Melting polar icecaps as well as ice caps in the Himalayas and Greenland is a fact. The only question is how fast? Photos from Nasa have superimposed the minimum ice coverage reached in 2005 and also in the period from 1979 to 2000.

Coastal communities face immediate consequences of global warming, as can be argued do many victims of recent natural disasters. With rising warm tropical waters, it is no longer discussed if sea levels are rising. The only question is by how much?

In addition to rising sea levels, coastal communities are also subject to swells in the ocean waves which can also be devastating. Fun as surfing big waves is, permanent coastal damage can be expected from significant sustained high wave action or ocean swells. Already, waves have increased by average 3m on the Pacific and 2 m on the Carribean.

According to the World Health Organization, just a small permanent rise in temperatures can cause a drastic rise in the number of extreme temperature related deaths. Diseases threaten the global community like dengue, malaria, and cholera, as do droughts and starvation caused by scarcity of water and food.

 

Is the hole in the Ozone layer related to excess carbon in the atmosphere?

The hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica is also related to global warming or the greenhouse effect. Chloroflurocarbons or CFC’s are greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming AND destroy the ozone. Norms of atmospheric circulation are affected by high temperatures and the chemical reactions that produce ozone are deleteriously affected making the hole grow ever larger. Local data measuring the total ozone present in the air in Central America since 1996 shows the ozone levels falling below normal ranges. Professor Guillermo Quiros.

To reverse the trends in global warming, it will be necessary for the nations of the world to dramatically reduce their dependence on fossil fuels, reduce the current rate of deforestation, and find methods to capture and store the excess atmospheric carbon. Sequestering carbon by planting trees is an effective way of combating carbon build-up. It has been estimated that 100 to 200 million hectares of new forest would be needed to sequester 1,000 million tons of carbon annually (Woodwell, 1992). Five million hectares (FAO, 1997) are currently being planted every year. Therefore, an intensified effort over the next thirty years to double the number of plantations would provide a carbon sink capable of sequestering one-eighth of the present global level of carbon emissions.

Will planting tropical hardwood trees actually help the global warming problem?

Absolutely. See Carbon Bathtub from National Geographic 14.5

Planting trees directly recycles carbon, with new growth doing so most efficiently. Carbon is also sequestered through the undergrowth and roots, which move it into the soil. Growing trees here in Costa Rica sequesters a tremendous amount of carbon dioxide while simultaneously protecting water supplies, as well as providing food and shelter for an inter-connected web of life in which we humans and animals live in harmony with our Earth.

You may think that your few trees will not make much of a difference. But imagine the trees you sponsor being planted with those sponsored by other people from all over the globe. Together, all these trees will form a real forest matrix producing real products and real carbon sequestration benefits compounded each and every year the trees continue to prosper. In tandem with the oceans, these trees will help to balance the gases in the Earth;s atmosphere.

Indeed, the benefits of reforestation are felt here in Costa Rica like no other place on earth and is one reason why the opportunity to help the global environment is so attractive and unique here in this bio-region. In Costa Rica, one can plant fast-growing trees that will offset enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, much more than trees planted in non-tropical areas. Planting trees here, where they are able to grow 365 days a year thanks to Costa Rica’s unique location within 10 degrees of the Equator, can markedly help the world combat global warming. See graphics 18 Costaricaonequator

Carbon build-up caused by deforestation can also be helped by planting tropical hardwood trees. The ever-growing world demand for wood and forest products is causing enormous destruction of natural forests. Sustainably managed forests provide an alternative supply of tropical hardwoods, easing some of the pressure to cut the primary forests. Less deforestation means less carbon dioxide released. Healthier forests also mean healthier oceans which, in turn, regulate and stabilize our global climate.

Profesor Guillermo Quiros

Watch PowerPoint Presentation "Pacific I"
Watch PowerPoint Presentation "Pacific II"

How do the Oceans absorb carbon dioxide?

The Oceans are one of the best absorbers of carbon dioxide, sequestering along with trees over 60% of what is currently generated. Vertically, the ocean is structured into two layers, the superficial layer which has contact with the atmosphere and can extend up to 50 meters in the tropics and up to various kilometers in the poles, combined with the underlying layer which is deeper, colder and more saline, and responsible for moving 90% of the oceanic volume. A change in temperature in the oceans can cause a change in global climate by 30 times.

Winds induce the superficial ocean currents to transport heat from the tropical zones to the poles. This is called the Thermohaline circulation or the global conveyor belt that is the ocean.

But the conveyor is delicately balanced and vulnerable and has shut down or changed direction many times in Earth’s history. Each time the Conveyor belt has shifted gears it has caused significant global temperature changes within decades. Wallace S. Broeker Columbia University Record Reports.

 

How do thermohaline currents like the North Atlantic current regulate the global climate?

The hot superficial currents propel the band including the Gulf current that arrives at the North Atlantic current. In winter, the hot water transfers its heat to the large masses of frigid cold air above Canada, Greenland and Iceland, covered in ice. The masses of air towards the east make the climate in Northern Europe similar to that in North America. Without this functioning system, the temperatures in the Northern Atlantic region would fall by 20 degrees in just ten years.

“However fragmented the world, however intense the national rivalries, it is an inexorable fact that we become more interdependent every day. I believe that national sovereignties will shrink in the face of universal interdependence. The sea, the great unifier, is man’s only hope. Now, as never before, the old phrase has a literal meaning: We are all in the same boat.”

- Jacques Cousteau, quoted in “National Geographic” [1981]

Do you have any idea of the amount of CO2 produced from common activities?

Take a look at these staggering figures...

Each gallon of gasoline spews out over 19 pounds of CO2. Add this up and you pump out an average of five tons per year for every car you, your family or business operates. And what about the electricity supplied by public utilities? You may be shocked to learn that every kilowatt hour adds 1.7 pounds of CO2 to the air. On average, each home in the US consumes 840 kWh per month (EPA, Region 1 North East), which adds up to 5.5 tons of yearly CO2 production. Just imagine how much carbon dioxide a typical small business emits: almost two million pounds per year or 1,000 tons. You probably don’t even want to think about how much CO2 a large factory spills into the air, usually with no repercussions.

How much carbon is produced to provide energy for our lifestyles?

The following figures show just how much carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when we burn fossil fuels and other combustibles to provide energy to support our lifestyles and businesses:

* Data provided by P J Horgan, Energy Systems Mgr., Connecticut College, 12/10/97. Source for the above list: US Dept. of Energy, Form EIA-1605 (1998)

Are you wondering how much carbon your own lifestyle is spewing into the air?

Well, as an approximation, if you are an adult living alone in an urban area, with one car, your CO2 emissions almost certainly total far more than the national per capita average: at least 40 tons per year. In addition, if you fly frequently on commercial airlines or have a motorboat which you use often, your CO2 “responsibility quotient” would likely rise to between 45-60 tons annually.

For those who like their calculations a little more technical, the Forestry Financing Department of the Costa Rican Government (FONOFIFO) uses guidelines widely accepted and equal to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidelines for calculating emissions inventories require that an oxidation factor be applied to the carbon content to account for a small portion of the fuel that is not oxidized into CO2. For all oil and oil products, the oxidation factor used is 0.99 (99 percent of the carbon in the fuel is eventually oxidized, while 1 percent remains un-oxidized.

For example, to calculate the CO2 emissions from a gallon of fuel, the carbon emissions are multiplied by the ratio of the molecular weight of CO2 (m.w. 44) to the molecular weight of carbon (m.w.12): 44/12.

CO2 emissions from a gallon of gasoline = 2,421 grams x 0.99 x (44/12) = 8,788 grams = 8.8 kg/gallon = 19.4 pounds/gallon

Did you know that the United States is the highest average producer of carbon dioxide in the world?

On average, 60% of worldwide carbon emissions are contributed by the American economy, although the country has less than 5% of the world’s population.

How many trees should I plant to offset my CO2 emissions?

By planting 1,000 hardwood saplings in Costa Rica, you would capture and sequester approximately 40 tons of CO2 per year. At the end of a 25-year project cycle, you can feel good about locking in 1,000 tons of CO2. Obviously, the idea is for this CCT forest to continue capturing CO2 in perpetuity. Each year, these same 1,000 trees will continue to sequester carbon dioxide and provide environmental services such as water protection, food for animals and humans, lumber and other products.

Alternatively, one could calculate that for every 25 trees planted and well managed, you could sequester one ton of CO2 annually.

So where did you get this information?

The foregoing information is based in part on tropical hardwood plantation growth rates using a model called the Klinki Forest Matrix. A consultant, Buford Briscoe, Ph.D., Agroforestry, one of the earliest scientists to study carbon sequestration rates, who now lives here in Costa Rica, developed this model. Dr. Briscoe’s model assumes the planting of 1,111 klinki trees (Araucaria hunsteinii) plus other hardwood trees per hectare on suitable land in Costa Rica. Dr. Briscoe has recognized that the Klinki Matrix is an accurate model for predicting average local growth rates for other tropical hardwood species besides the klinki tree.

Using the Klinki Matrix to predict growth rates, Reforest the Tropics, Dr. Briscoe´s non’profit organization, has quantified the average CO2 sequestration ratios that could reasonably be expected from its hardwood plantations here in Costa Rica. The calculation is straightforward: total tree weight is determined by multiplying volume projections by the specific gravity of the wood, with CO2 making up 48% of the corresponding dry weight.

Since CCT plants a fully bio-diverse reforestation project with more than 50 species of trees, including leguminous species which further capture carbon dioxide, the projections of Reforest the Tropics can probably be surpassed. We are honored to have worked with Dr. Briscoe and will strive to continue his good work since his health demise over the last few years.

What is a single tree worth?

The ecological and environmental benefits produced by a single growing tree are invaluable. What is one tree worth if allowed to grow for fifty years?

A total of $196,250, according to American Forests Magazine 1996, broken down as follows:

• $62,500 in air pollution control
• $37,500 in water recycling and humidity control
• $31,500 worth of oxygen
• $31,250 in soil benefits
• $31,250 in wildlife shelter
• $2,500 worth of protein in bark and leaves consumed by wildlife

Doesn’t it make good sense to plant more trees?