Global Warming and so called severe effects on our life style

I wrote following article for Collegiate Times, Virginia Tech. The articles was published in its edited form and the online version was not published either. Following is the original letter.


It has been amusing to see how Collegiate Times chooses its article and letters. I wrote one article for Collegiate Times on “Global Warming and Scientific Uncertainty,” which talked about how a familiar term in scientific literature is constantly being abused by people who want to negate the concept of global warming. I wrote another article about how Oil and Gas companies are using the Global Warming in their benefit by starting to drill in pristine Arctic. Later, I published both of them in my blog. Collegiate Times didn’t find both of them worthy enough to publish, but they definitely found the article by Tim Edison “Global Warming doesn’t tell the whole truth.” I am not expecting this article to publish in Collegiate Time either, but it might be worth a try.

There are several holes in Tim’s article, but I want to discuss the most ridiculous statement by Tim Edison “..before enacting policies which will inexorably alter our way of life and damage our economy.” I cannot understand how anything you do to reduce global warming can affect your life style and American economy. I am trying to list some changes which I did in my life and want you as a reader to analyze if it can affect anybody negatively. I am listing their positive effects except their effect in reducing global warning.

1. Recycle: I recycle most of the waste generated in house and office, (although feel bad that there is not good way to recycle biologically decomposable waste in Blacksburg). By recycling I feel happier for needing lesser space in land fills, lower number of cut trees, and reduced pollution.

2. Reduced Wastage: I have called the companies to stop sending me mail marketing offers and catalogs. That saves some trees, my time, space and wastage.

3. Using less electricity: By switching off devices when they are not required, using low power bulbs, increasing AC temperature by couple of degrees, making my apartment complex to replace my windows with double pane glasses, I save something on electricity. I feel good for lower electricity bills, lower coal usage, cleaner air and lower pollution. I hope it will result in future generations with lower breath related problems and other side effects.

4. Reusable grocery bags: I got them from Kroger, and feel very great to use less petroleum based grocery bags. Again they are product of petroleum and we all know its story. In last month, I think I avoided about 100 grocery bags by using reusable canvas bags.
5. Higher mileage car and maintaining it properly Lower gas bills, cleaner air, reduced dependence on non-renewable energy source and I hope not another war for oil (Hold your breath for Iran and Arctic area).

These and several other small things, I and some of my friends practice and I don’t think these are affecting our life style severely. These changes in life style will definitely give positive feeling and help you solve several global problems. Reducing wastage is the key to survive. These adjustments in your life style can at least save you some money, and in the time where every American is born with a debt of $8000, I think it is wise to save a little bit of money. Not changing the life style will only affect the economy of those companies who do not want their consumers to get intelligent and want them to consume and waste as much as they can.


Raag

Story of Bhasmasur

In Hindu scriptures, there is a story of a person who became demon named Bhasmasur.That person did a lot of praying to “Lord Shiva” (a Hindu God) for long time.Lord Shiva became happy and asked him what he wished for. The person requested for a power to destroy (Bhasma) anybody he wished for, just like we want to have more and more arms and weapons. Lord Shiva fulfilled his wish and said he can destroy anybody by putting his hand over their head, and that person’s name became “Bhasmasur” (Bhasma = Destroy, Asur = Demon). Just like we can aim and shoot anybody whom we like using guns, airplanes, may be satellites.

Since Bhasmasur had power to destroy anybody he grew stronger and stronger and in the lust for more power he planned to destroy Lord Shiva himself to become more powerful. Just like when we arm another country or group who comes back to us after some years. Anyways, Lord Shiva got scared and ran to another God “Lord Vishnu” and requested his help. Lord Vishnu said Bhasmasur has become very strong and now he can be killed with his own power only. So Lord Vishnu made a plan and disguised himself as a beautiful seducing woman and went to Bhasmasur.

As soon as Bhasmasur saw this woman he proposed her. The woman (Lord Vishnu) said that for her to accept his invitation, he will have to dance with her. Bhasmasur accepted and started dancing with the woman. While dancing, the woman kept her hand over head, Bhasmasur - lost in the intoxication of extreme power and lust, in an attempt to copy her, kept his hand over his own head and destroys himself.

I have heard this story from my parents a few times since childhood, and it’s interesting to see so many of its live practical examples everywhere. We can relate it to the amount of weapons on Earth which can destroy all life on earth multiple times, we can relate it to arming the groups or countries who come back to us, we can relate it to a concept of arming each and every person with a handgun, or rifle as a measure to protect human life (we forget that the soldiers in Iraq are far more equipped, still close to 4000 of them have died and many after Iraq lost the war), we can relate it to the amount of pollution human being has created to destroy Earth’s natural processes (and not accept it) and so forth.

The story has been repeated since human civilization for ages and being repeated again. One of the latest example is the "mistaken" flight of nuclear bomb all over the US in B52 bomber. Although, the science and knowledge has improved a lot since human being appeared on this earth - our dressing style has changed, we use internet, we fly airplanes, but have we become really civilized since then? I wrote an article in Collegiate Times long back and said that may be it’s a right time to watch an old movie called “Gandhi,”I think it will always be right to time watch it once more.

Raag

Oil and Oil everywhere

EDIT on Sep 12, 2007: Arctic sea ice cover at record low

It has been amusing to see several lobbies trying to make us believe that Global Warming is a hoax, and it is more amusing to see many of these lobbies are partially or fully funded by Oil Giants. Their effort against the concept of Global Warming and the impact of human being on Global Warming did show some results and there is still a good amount of confusion regarding this concept. As a result of this confusion, many people do not take this concept seriously and some who started conservation as a part of their life are not so serious about it or are dubious about it. Although there is a good amount of people who are trying their best to reduce their footprints on Earth, this problem needs attention from each one of us.

There has been news for quite sometime regarding the conflict we are starting to see in Arctic Circle of Earth. Arctic is on extreme North of Earth and it used to be covered by ice mostly until recently. As a side-effect of Global Warming though, the ice in the Arctic area is melting. Due to the melting and reduction in ice cover of this area more and more sunlight is being absorbed instead of reflecting back to atmosphere, which is further increasing the rate of melting of ice. The temperature in this area is increasing at double the rate of rest of the Earth.

So what?

Arctic is extremely rich in oil and gas. And now that the ice is melting fast it is feasible to extract these resources from Arctic area. But who owns Arctic? Russia always claimed it to be its part, Canada is there too, USA always had an interest in Arctic and then we have Denmark. The thirst for Oil is deadly, and we have already seen it in the form of Iraq war. And to get an idea of the amount of the resources in Arctic for which the world is thirsty, "It contains about 40% of the world's requirement of Energy."

Also, now that companies are trying to fetch the resources from Arctic, they are going to ruin that place as well. God Forbid, if we see a war for that area then I don't think we will have the Earth or Environment to save.

Let’s hope for some sane policies for the whole humanity in coming days. Do your best to save the environment and pray that these companies do not spoil some more of Earth's pristine areas in Arctic.

Raag

Relevant Links:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0731/p01s01-woeu.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10217691/site/newsweek/
http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/qthinice.asp

My Letter to Blacksburg Mayor - Ban Plastic Bags

As a resident of Blacksburg, I wrote the following mail to Mayor of Blacksburg. The vice mayor promised me to look into the matter. I hope they do. I would suggest you to do the same in your home town and city and country. Its the pressure from common people like us that will help in tackling the issues like this.

Letter Starts here---

Mr. Ron Rordam
Blacksburg Mayor
Blacksburg, VA.
Dear Mr. Rordam:

I have been a proud resident of Blacksburg for nearly 5 years now. The town has long had a reputation of being technology savvy, and has been quite ahead of its time in many ways. The town boasts a wealth of educated people from diverse backgrounds, one of its major strengths.

I recently stumbled upon a CNN news article that described how San Francisco has banned the usage of plastic grocery bags. They estimate saving more than 450,000 gallons of oil, as well as the massive waste of grocery bags that are not recycled--it's a known fact that less than 2% of grocery bags are recycled. I feel it is important for Blacksburg to follow this idea as well. This would definitely be a great service to the earth, and contribute to reducing our carbon footprint. Blacksburg has residents from all around the world, and anything positive in Blacksburg will definitely affect the thinking of people around the world.

I have also noticed that several Blacksburg showrooms, banks, and shops have a lot of their lights switched on even after they are closed. I believe that these commercial places must be somehow regulated or requested to use only a small and specific amount of electricity when they are closed. Reducing this wastage at idle hours will definitely affect the environment, and I believe that it would be easy to convince businesses to do that.

It would be great to see the town of Blacksburg coming with some other initiatives as well (like phasing out incandescent lamps in the next two years, planting extra trees on a monthly basis or having an aggressive recycling program). It's important for us to act today as we are damaging the environment every day.

Regards

Anurag

--Letter Ends here

Relevant News Articles
English Town Bans Plastic Bags
Paper or Plastic

"What are you waiting for?"

Global Warming and Scientific Uncertainty

Recently with the global warming issue getting hotter and hotter, a term which is being used and misused a lot to prove or mostly disprove the global warming concept is "Scientific Uncertainty." This term has been in use in the scientific world ever since scientist started to predict anything. Mathematical models are very popular tools to simulate most of the physical processes. These simulations are conducted to predict how a system will behave in future under different conditions. Now, these predictions always have some amount of uncertainty in them and it is very different than being wrong or inaccurate. There are several reasons for this uncertainty but the major reasons can be classified as knowledge uncertainty and stochastic variability. The knowledge uncertainty is due to the improper understanding of the system and stochastic variability is the natural property of the system being modeled.

The knowledge uncertainty can be decreased with improved understanding of the system, whereas stochastic variability can only be quantified. In the Department of Biological Systems Engineering, we work on several hydrologic and water quality models. The predictions from all of these models have some inherent uncertainty due to above stated reasons. The scientific community acknowledges this uncertainty and a lot of research are conducted to reduce it and/or quantify it. The truth however is that a scientist, especially working with natural systems, cannot take into account all possible reasons of uncertainty. In spite of this uncertainty in predictions from these models, these predictions are widely used. For example, the predictions from hydrologic models are used in designing hydraulic structures, the predictions from water quality models are used in preparing watershed management plans and so forth. The hydraulic structures help in water management, flood control, water supply and so forth. Watershed management plans help in reduction of pollution, improved ecological conditions, increased productivity in watershed etc. If we start giving more thought to the uncertainty in modeling and stop building these structures and making plans, where would world be? As an example, if we had given more weight to the concept of scientific uncertainty than its worth then the waters in United States would be still be polluted.

Similarly, if we give more weight to uncertainty of ten, twenty or thirty percent in the predictions of global warming then we will miss the big picture। The truth is "Globe is Warming," and there are higher chances of humans to be responsible for that. I would go for that higher chance and act as if I am responsible for Global Warming, and I need to fix it no matter how miniscule my effect may be. Moreover, whatever needs to be done to reduce our carbon footprint in nature falls in the purview of common sense as well. Doesn't it?

Raag