CATCHING THE COUNTRIES THAT CAUSE GLOBAL WARMING

If we really want to be scientific about it, the typhoon that hit us, Yolanda, started as a cyclone. According to a scientific record, a cyclone "a cyclone is an area of closed, circular fluid motion rotating in the same direction as the Earth.^[1]^[2] This is usually characterized by inward spiraling winds that rotate anti-clockwise in theNorthern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere of the Earth. "

Now, tropical cycles start from heated up places, "driven by significant thunderstorm activity, and are warm core.^[10] Cyclones can transition between extratropical, subtropical, and tropical phases under the right conditions."

The following information is important: "Waterspouts can also form ...from environments of high instability and low vertical wind shear.^[12] In the Atlantic basin, a tropical cyclone is generally referred to as a hurricane a cyclone in the Indian Ocean and parts of the Pacific, and a typhoon in the Northwest Pacific region."

In other words, Folks, the tropical cyclone developed into a strong typhoon due to the warm sea, as it came from the Pacific Ocean.

Mr. Reynaldo, not his real name, a victim of typhoon Yolanda, told me that at around 5 a.m., while he was in Palo, Leyte, he and his two boys heard a whistling sound and then later, came the strong wind and rains.

He prayed to God to spare his rented dilapidated house, even just one half of it, and for the two fruit trees in front not to fall on it as it would surely destroy everything and kill them as well. Luckily, the winds only sucked up half of the house's roof and the two trees fell against each other, sparing them of destruction.

I am sure all of us are still wondering why that calamity happened to us. We can almost surmise that this is due to climate change. But what is climate change? This phrase is in the lips of everyone and now, let us find out what this is.

Extreme and significant changes in what is the usual weather is what we may call climate change. Usually this has been caused by human activities that border on the use of fossil-based fuels. Whenever gas, coal or oil is burned, then carbon dioxide flies into the air. We know that we, humans and animals exhale carbon dioxide and need oxygen, we need to inhale oxygen in order to survive. Plants and trees, meanwhile reabsorb carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen. However, due to cutting of trees, depletion of forests, and polluting substances that fill the air, fewer plants and trees are giving us oxygen. So much carbon dioxide remains in the air causing too much heat or what we know now as global warming. Carbon footprint is the term used for the total carbon that individuals cause.

Today, our climate is changing very fast because of too much carbon in the air. The weather is very erratic -- sometimes it rains at unusual hours, and floods suddenly occur in the most unlikely places.

Yet we need energy to run vehicles, to grow food, to manufacture food and other goods. Factories use fossil fuels to run their boilers and turbines which generate electricity. Restaurants need to use gas to fire their stoves; cars use gasoline or diesel to run. But when carbon is combusted, it produces carbon dioxide. Can you imagine inhaling carbon while in MetroManila? Just look at it from the Antipolo mountains -- a large black cloud hovers over our homes.

Here is a simple explanation how carbon dioxide cause global warming from the Lansing State Journal, August 31, 1994

How does carbon dioxide cause global warming?

Fossil fuels such as gasoline, methane and propane contain mostly carbon. When these fuels are burned, they react with oxygen and produce carbon dioxide.

Because of our heavy use of fossil fuels, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been increasing since the industrial revolution. The destruction of forests which use carbon dioxide also contributes to the increase in carbon dioxide.

Most of the light energy from the sun is emitted in wavelengths shorter than 4,000 nanometers (.000004 meters). The heat energy released from the earth, however, is released in wavelengths longer than 4,000 nanometers. Carbon dioxide doesn't absorb the energy from the sun, but it does absorb some of the heat energy released from the earth. When a molecule of carbon dioxide absorbs heat energy, it goes into an excited unstable state. It can become stable again by releasing the energy it absorbed. Some of the released energy will go back to the earth and some will go out into space.

So in effect, carbon dioxide lets the light energy in, but doesn't let all of the heat energy out, similar to a greenhouse.

Currently, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing at the rate of about one part per million per year. If this continues, some meteorologists expect that the average temperature of the earth will increase by about 2.5 degrees Celsius. This doesn't sound like much, but it could be enough to cause glaciers to melt, which would cause coastal flooding.

But here are the more lugubrious facts:

"The People's Republic of China is the largest consumer of coal in the world. Its coal consumption in 2010 was 3.2 billion metric tonnes per annum. In 2001 the carbon emissions from coal use in China made up about 10% of the world total CO₂ emissions at the time. By 2004 this fraction rose to 14%."

The biggest country users of coal are in Asia, reaching as much as 67% of global goal consumption, with China being responsible for 14% of it. Other countries that use coal to meet their energy needs are Japan, Taiwan and Korea. They use steam coal to generate electricity and coking coal for steel production.

Here is the catch:

The four countries can all be found with their shores going out to the Pacific Ocean. Our country is connected to all of these countries by this ocean. And so the heating up of the Pacific ocean could be attributed to the high use of coal in these countries which then could have caused the tropical cyclone, Yolanda.

As of 2008, China is number 1 in carbon dioxide emission. Japan is 5th, South Korea is number 8th, and Taiwan is the 20th. The United States is 2nd in the list.

What happens to the initiatives to stop global warming? Are they really effective?

Meanwhile, let us not forget: