The German friend who inspired the discourse on ‘The German Machine’ last year has spoken yet again. He complains that the huge glaciers that he saw as a young man in Switzerland more than 50 years ago have all but disappeared. And he attributes this to the following theory. The average person inhales three litres of air that contains 30 per cent oxygen, 60 per cent nitrogen and 10 per cent mix of other gases. When he exhales, the three litres of air that come out is 30 per cent carbon dioxide derived from the oxygen that was taken in, the 60 per cent nitrogen, and the 10 per cent mix of other gases.

If you check the math, man, by breathing, is releasing toxic air into the atmosphere by three parts, for every one part of oxygen that he inhales. With more than 100 per cent increase in world population – from 3.5 million about 50 years ago – to more than 7.5 billion today, man is gradually breathing himself to death. That’s not all. Man’s economy is premised on growth. And as more human beings breathe more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, trouble nature by indiscriminate felling of trees, and run more industries and vehicles that puff out carbon dioxide from fossil fuel, man may asphyxiate himself. This wicked German. It’s increasingly looking like man will not await the rapture promised by Christ, but simply burn himself out by global warming.

Knowledge of global warming is still sketchy and wooly. A former American President, Ronald Reagan, once said that air pollution comes from plants and trees. (sic) Eminent climatologist, Richard S. Lindzen of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says no one can predict occurrences of global warming with certainty. Scientists generally admit that they cannot fully explain how changes in humidity, ice cover and cloud formation spread up or ease atmospheric temperature. But they think that climate is affected by population growth, uses of energy and technology, just as they hold man responsible for global warming through the burning of fossil oil, coal and gas. This has led to a rise in the temperature of the surface of the earth. The Industrial Revolution has substantially increased the concentrations of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide. The temperature of the earth rose from 0.7 degrees Fahrenheit to 1.5 in the 20th Century. Before the Industrial Revolution, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were typically 190 to 280 parts per million by volume (ppmv). By 1958, they were 315, and 370 by 2001. They have been rising by 1.5 every year. This is increasingly leading to shrinking glaciers and likelihood of drought, and disruption of agriculture.  Computer analyses estimate that temperature could rise by 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit to 10.4 by 2100. Look at the vicious cycle. Increasing temperature shrinks the glaciers and releases water that creates flood. The flood water is licked up by the increasing heat in the atmosphere. The resultant lack of moisture desiccates the soil and leads to desertification. This reductionist, and not so brilliant, argument should compel man to urgently address the global warming issue.

Michael Grunwald, a contributor to Time Magazine, argues that the historic 2012 heat waves, droughts and wildfire and Hurricane Sandy that ravaged the US, the Caribbean and parts of Canada, and the unprecedented ice meltdown in the Arctic Region, happen when you broil the planet with fossil fuel. He adds that warmer seas and warmer air produce nasty storms, and predicts that the oceans will rise by one foot by 2100. Hurricane Sandy, with diameter exceeding 1,100 miles, is the largest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded. Its highest speed was 115 miles per hour. It killed 253 people and destroyed assets worth more than $74 billion. Climatologists say that heat or moisture in the atmosphere leads to climate change. They also contend that, nature, enhanced by global warming, caused Hurricane Sandy. They add that increase in atmospheric temperature, a result of global warming, makes sea surface abnormally hot. This increases its capacity to hold water, and leads to stronger storms and higher rainfall. In 2012, Nigeria experienced severe flooding, reportedly caused by the overflowing of the Benue and Niger Rivers. It ruined settlements, homes and farmland, as it ran down southerly toward the coast, to end in a “collision” with water coming from the Atlantic Ocean. This rampaging flood, the result of terrestrial folly, disturbed celestial agendas, and prevented 2,600 Nigerian Christians from performing the Holy Pilgrimage to Israel last year.

To stall commitment to emissions reduction agreements, a former American President, George Walker Bush, created the diversionary US Climate Change Research Initiative. But America has now introduced strict rules on cars and trucks to reduce carbon emissions by six billion metric tons by 2025. The US will also insist on clean energy, double its use of wind power, increase solar energy use by 1,000 per cent and plant trees in factories and government buildings. There is cheering news, however. The US emission level is dropping inversely with the growth of its economy. Oil giant, Shell, is making PR hay as a global leader in the drive to generate electricity through gas, which emits about half of the carbon from coal fuel.  The 1997 Kyoto Protocol has set binding obligations on industrialised countries to reduce emission of green house gases. By September 2011, about 191 countries had signed and ratified the Agreement.

Though America and a few other countries signed, they refused to ratify it. Some industrialised countries, mostly in the EU, are committed to reducing emissions of four of the most dangerous greenhouse gases, namely, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and sulphur hexaflouride, as well as hydroflourocarbon and perfluorocarbons. Never mind these dense terminologies, they are mere classifications of noxious gases. But note that the eco-system, to use the fancy word for the planet, is getting hotter, and the trend must end. You can get a good idea of the devastation by taking a look at the very graphic images in the video of “Heal The World,” a song by late musician Michael Jackson.

In 2012, Kyoto Protocol’s successor, Doha Climate Change Conference, extracted further commitment from consenting industrialised nations to maintain emission reductions at 15 per cent till the end of 2020. However, some former Soviet Union nations, led by Russia, may withdraw or not even ratify the Protocol Amendment.  It is important to note that the Kyoto Protocol exempts (so-called) developing BRICS nations, like India and China, from binding emissions limit. This puts an unfair burden on industrialised countries, but, more importantly, reduces the pressure on nations to conform to emission restrictions. Predictably, America opposes the Protocol because it believes that the emissions provisions are detrimental to its economy.

For the earth to remain, man must control the appetite of his technology for fossil fuels, and explore alternative and less climate devastating energy sources. He must invest in re-greening of the earth by aggressively replenishing the devastated  rain forests and planting trees in urban centres. Greening the deserts is going to be a tall order. But more inner city woodlands like New York City’s Central Park should be developed. These should compensate for the atmosphere-corroding externalities, effluents and smokestacks that come out of industrial parks, like Hoboken in New Jersey. This should greatly reduce the chances of man literally burning himself out.