Effective Steps for Net Zero Carbon Emission
The element Carbon has become an inevitable part of our lifestyle. Carbon is used widely ranging from daily essentials, say a fuel or energy source to being a luxurious jewel. However, Carbon is used in different forms than as a mere carbon element itself. The most abundant and common form of Carbon is Carbon dioxide. This compound has become the basic unit of life as it is essential for photosynthesis. Even though carbon dioxide is vital, it must be maintained at an optimum level, but it is exceeding the limits due to our activities . This imbalance in the amount of Carbon dioxide in our atmosphere has created many global issues since it is a greenhouse gas. These problems include global warming, climate change, etc. This essay highlights the impacts of carbon emissions and various modalities to reduce it.
Carbon emission:
In order to take effective measures for reducing carbon emissions first, we need to be aware of the meaning of the term -Carbon emission. Carbon emission refers to the release of Carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by various activities. These activities range from burning fossil fuel or respiration, unavoidable forest fires, etc. Carbon footprint addresses the amount of Carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.
Impact led by carbon emission:
Carbon emissions have created many problems, among them the major one is said to be global warming. Global warming refers to the rising temperature of the whole Earth caused by greenhouse gases. These greenhouse gases actually form a layer in our earth’s atmosphere. This layer only allows heat from the sun to radiate into the earth but doesn’t allow the reflected heat wave to escape back to space. Hence this layer acts like a blanket surrounding the earth. This increasing temperature causes the ice in the poles to melt ultimately leading to increasing sea level. This action reduces the land area on earth by many natural disasters. Moreover, this diminutive but dangerous phenomenon also causes climate change, disrupting the biological clock and having an impact on every organism in this globe.
Steps to reduce carbon emission:
Carbon emissions can even be nullified if effective measures are taken. That includes transition to renewable energy, reforestation, switching to electrical transport, exterminating the use of plastic, educating and providing awareness, etc.
90% of the electricity consumed today is derived from the burning of fossil fuels. In common, coal is being burnt to generate electricity. This practice generates a lot of carbon dioxide and releases it into the atmosphere. An alternative for this is using renewable energy sources like solar energy, wind energy, hydroelectricity, tidal energy, geothermal energy, nuclear energy, etc. This reduces the massive amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere. Also, many countries are trying to implement this by introducing solar power plants and nuclear power plants.
Plants use carbon dioxide to make their food and emit oxygen into the atmosphere. Although this helps to recycle carbon dioxide into oxygen, humans tend to cut trees for their benefit and do not replace the cut trees with a new one. This dangerous behaviour has increased the concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Ultimately thickening the greenhouse gas layer, thus increasing the global temperature. To eradicate this problem many countries are executing a plan of reforestation. This helps to reconstruct our ecosystem and reduce the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere.
The transportation used today is often powered by non-renewable sources like fossil fuels. The engines used in these vehicles emit harmful gases like oxides of nitrogen, oxides of sulfur and carbon dioxide during the combustion of fossil fuels. Eventually the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, ultimately increasing the global temperature. To overcome this hurdle towards a greener planet, we have discovered electric vehicles. Electric vehicles eradicate the need for combustion of fuel for energy, providing greener transportation. However the source of electricity needs to be green and renewable to make this action efficient towards a carbon free atmosphere. Even though this way of transportation supports our ecosystem, the public is still preferring to use the traditional type of vehicle. Thus the government is required to impose many restrictions on using fossil fuels-based vehicles and provide many offers for people using electric vehicles.
The invention of plastic, once seemed to be the greatest invention of all time, had ironically become the major contributor to carbon emission. The production of plastic releases a humongous amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In addition, people around the world don’t have awareness about the toxic side effects of burning plastic and they tend to burn plastic instead of recycling it. Since the invasion of plastic into our lifestyle dates back to 1907, the impact created by plastic at the start of the disaster is still reflected in the current world. Many ways were invented to try to reduce the impact of the usage of plastic, but every attempt led to an increase in the amount of microplastic in our breathing air. Thus many countries banned the usage of plastic. However, the public is still using it. So creating awareness about the side effects of using plastic is essential to reduce carbon emissions. Moreover, this protects biodiversity.
About 14% of people around the world are illiterate. Either these people do not have infrastructure for education or they are not able to receive the education . It might be due to family situations or it is not affordable.These people will not know the side effects of their actions in daily life. Those activities may include the usage of plastic or usage of vehicles powered by fossil fuels. Since they don’t know the impact of these dangerous activities, they contribute to carbon emissions globally in an indirect way. Eventually, this small factor of carbon emission may create a bigger impact shortly. Unless this is addressed or solved by providing education for all, or at least creating awareness of these sensitive issues, these global issues will be present even after eternity.
Conclusion:
Achieving net-zero carbon emissions is tedious but essential. To achieve that monumental goal, steps like transition to renewable energy, reforestation, switching to electrical transport, exterminating the use of plastic, and educating and providing awareness on carbon emissions are mandatory to execute. Even though it is challenging, we are capable of doing it. If people around the world cooperate and coordinate together, future generations and nature will not suffocate.
By: S. Paarthivkumar
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