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First of all, the countdown to saving the earth begins.
The appeal of many scientists and non-governmental organizations to "save the earth" is by no means sensational, and time for mankind to save the earth is running out.
1. Arctic ice will melt completely before the end of summer of 20 12. According to the latest satellite data from June 5th to February 5th, 2007, Jay Zwally, a climatologist of NASA, announced that the Arctic ice was melting much faster than previously predicted. At this rate, the Arctic ice will melt completely before the end of the summer of 20 12. The height of Arctic ice in September 2007 was 23% lower than the previous record and 50% lower than that in 1950s. Arctic ice surface temperature is the highest level recorded in the past 77 years. The chain effect brought by the melting of ice and sea ice is that the Arctic ice reflects 80% of sunlight. Once the polar ice melts, it can't reflect the heat of the sun, and the earth will get warmer. The higher the seawater temperature, the faster the ice melts. Warm sea water will accelerate the melting of ice, forming a vicious circle.
Global warming may lead to the destruction of mankind. Global warming has led to a significant increase in extreme weather. Climate disasters such as rainstorm, snowstorm, flood, hurricane, drought, extreme heat and freezing caused by climate warming are one after another. Scientific research shows that global warming may lead to frequent earthquakes. Some geologists believe that climate warming will directly lead to the melting of the ice sheet, which will release the suppressed pressure in the crust and lead to extreme geological accidents, including earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. The weight of 1 m3 ice is close to 1 ton, and the thickness of some ice layers will exceed1000m. When these weights are removed by melting, the crust will spring back to its original shape. The acceleration of global warming will not only trigger a wider freshwater crisis and food crisis, but also affect the migration of hundreds of millions of people around the world. Parts of Shanghai and Hongkong where the sea level of China is only 1 m to 3.5m may be submerged, and a large number of residents in low-lying coastal areas need to be relocated. Many scientists in the American Snow and Ice Data Center believe that sea ice may disappear completely from the autumn of 2008 to 20 12, 30 years earlier than previously predicted. Sea level rise alone is not terrible. What's more, ocean warming will release a large amount of toxic gas methane from the seabed, and human beings will be poisoned by inhaling these toxic gases, and the so-called "material civilization" will also disappear.
3. The latest evidence of toxic gas released from the seabed. Dr Katie Walter pointed out in the report of Arctic Biology Institute of fairbanks University in Alaska: At present, the permafrost in the Arctic is releasing methane, and methane is emerging from the bottom of the lake, accelerating global warming. Permafrost is like a ticking time bomb-the melting of permafrost is releasing dozens of tons of methane into the atmosphere, thus accelerating climate warming. Research by Dr Gregory Ruijins of Northwest University also shows that methane ejected from the ocean 2.5 million years ago caused 90% of marine life and 75% of land species to become extinct.
Second, the three major factors leading to global warming
Humans need to reflect on the "material civilization" in the process of industrialization, and whether mainstream countries and society have led mankind in the wrong direction. Globally, in the 2nd/kloc-0th century, while material wealth was gathering at a high speed, hundreds of millions of people in developing countries lived in hunger, which showed that human beings were uncivilized, or that human development showed a "deformed material civilization". The factors that lead to global warming, if summed up in one sentence, are caused by human's greedy pursuit of material wealth. Since industrialization, human activities have exceeded the self-recovery ability of the earth's ecosystem and life system, and human beings have been overdrawing the earth.
The first factor: meat is the biggest culprit of global warming. The United Nations report "The Great Shadow of Livestock: Environmental Problems and Options" in 2006 pointed out that meat is the biggest culprit of global warming. Scientists have proved that meat has a great negative impact on human beings, animals and the earth's ecosystem. One is to emit a lot of greenhouse gases. Animal husbandry produces more greenhouse gases than the total emissions of the global transportation industry. 65% of nitric oxide produced by human activities comes from meat, and its greenhouse effect is 296 times that of carbon dioxide. 37% of methane produced by human activities comes from meat, and the greenhouse effect of methane is 23 times that of carbon dioxide. According to the report of Worldwatch Institute in 2007, the greenhouse gas produced by livestock accounts for 18% of the global total greenhouse gas (calculated by carbon dioxide equivalent), which is higher than 14% of all transportation industries such as airplanes, ships and vehicles. Second, it consumes too much earth resources, leading to human famine. The production of meat causes great waste of land, manpower, water and money, especially the large-scale mechanized agriculture and industrialized animal husbandry in the United States. It takes 2500 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of meat, which is equivalent to the water consumption of a family for one month. The energy needed to grow grains, vegetables and fruits is only 3% of that needed to raise livestock. Growing 1 kg beef needs about 8 kg grain feed, and growing 1 kg chicken needs 2 kg grain feed. In 2005, the total number of human food animals was 424.2 billion (headband), and the average number of food animals per day was about 65.438+0.2 billion. This does not include 220 million cows. In order to eat in the future, it is necessary to raise more than twice as much as eating. Most of the corn and soybeans planted have become animal feed, but 800 million people around the world are still hungry or malnourished. In 2008, 37 countries and regions around the world faced food crisis, and the rising food cost has caused social unrest in many countries and regions around the world. According to FAO statistics, in 2007, the grain directly used as human food was1010 million tons, accounting for only 47.42% of the world grain output of that year. There is only 500 million tons of food to be filled in the global hunger eradication, while the world's food used for feed purposes reaches 760 million tons. Third, deforestation and grassland degradation are important reasons. More than 70% of the Amazon rainforest is cut down to produce meat products. According to the report of the Center for International Forestry Research, the deforestation of Brazil's cattle industry is six times that of soybean production, and 80% of the growth of Brazil's 654.38+0.7 billion cattle comes from the Amazon rainforest. During the period of 1990-2000, the area of rainforest cut down for raising cattle in Brazil increased from 41500,000 hectares to 58.7 million hectares. The important reason of grassland degradation in Inner Mongolia is also the serious overload of livestock for a long time. During the period of 1989-2006, the number of livestock in Inner Mongolia increased from 50 million to10 million, and overgrazing led to grassland degradation and desertification.
The second factor: large-scale industrialization accelerates global warming. The ecological balance of the earth has been maintained for 4 billion years, but it has been seriously damaged in the nearly 200 years since the rise of the industrial revolution. Developed countries have successfully industrialized by invading and plundering global resources, sacrificing and destroying the global ecological environment. Developed countries set off a wave of anti-pollution in 1950s and 1960s, and made brilliant achievements in ecological environment construction, and the ecological environment in some areas began to be improved. However, due to the huge economic scale of developed countries and the ecological crisis of transferring to developing countries, they are still the destroyers of the global ecological environment. For example, the United States is the country with the largest greenhouse gas emissions in the world. However, developing countries are still taking an extensive industrialization road of pollution first and then treatment. While China has made remarkable achievements in reform and opening up, it is also paying a huge environmental price.
The third factor: luxury lifestyle leads to global warming. The earth's resources can fully satisfy all mankind to live a dignified life and meet the sustainable development of mankind, but they can't satisfy the greedy and extravagant lifestyle of mankind. On the eve of India's independence more than 50 years ago, Mahatma Gandhi was asked whether India could reach the standard of living in Britain after independence. Gandhi replied: "Britain consumed half of the earth's resources to achieve prosperity." So how many earths does a country like India need? "According to the population of India at that time, eight earths were needed. A western scholar has a more accurate estimate of this problem: "In order to maintain the enviable consumption level of American residents who account for 6% of the world's population, it needs about 1/3 of the world's mineral resources output. Assuming that 80% of the world's population has nothing, the current energy flow can at most make 18% of the world's population enjoy the consumption level of the United States. "
Third, the hope of saving the earth.
1. There is a wave of vegetarianism to save the earth all over the world. Scientists have proved from both theory and practice that vegetarian diet is beneficial to health and environmental protection, while meat brings ecological disasters to human beings and threatens human health. China health survey report shows that animal protein (especially milk protein) can significantly increase the incidence of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, kidney calculi, osteoporosis, hypertension, cataract and Alzheimer's disease. What is even more shocking is that these diseases can be controlled and treated by adjusting diet. Medical research shows that the more countries eat meat, the higher the proportion of civilized diseases; The more dairy products are consumed, the more osteoporosis there will be. Facts have proved that even if there is no meat, eggs and milk in food, it will never lead to protein's lack and malnutrition. Protein required by human body is very low, vegetables and fruits can provide sufficient and high-quality protein, and plant foods are mostly "unsaturated fat" with zero cholesterol. Today, 25 countries around the world, including 50 states in the United States, participated in the "Meat Free Day" in 2008, encouraging friends and neighbors to switch to vegetarian food to promote human health and protect the earth's environment. Dr. Drnovsek Janez, the former Slovenian President, is a vegetarian. He advocated the establishment of a "citizen movement for justice and development", called on people to pay attention to climate change and animal protection, and suggested that people stop eating meat. At present, many meat shops in Germany have turned to vegetarianism. Vegetarian catering in China is also developing rapidly. The Vegetarian Association of Peking University promotes vegetarian culture and has a student vegetarian restaurant. There are many signs that there is a vegetarian trend in the world.
2. Humans have realized the important role of animals. Humans began to re-recognize the importance of the idea of "the unity of all things" and "the unity of man and nature" in saving the earth, and truly realized that animals are friendly friends and companions of human beings. Humans and animals share the same earth, and humans can't be above animals, let alone regarded as an element of economic laws. Eating this kind of food produced in a cruel way is not in line with human values. This marks the re-awakening of human beings and their return to nature. Modern meat food manufacturing industry has been developing in the direction of profitability and enterprise, but it has brought great pain to animals. The cruel treatment of animals by modern industrialized farming farms violates the basic needs and instincts of animals, and also violates the interdependence between people and animals. In recent decades, most animals raised in the United States have grown up in miserable conditions, in order to obtain the supply of meat, milk and eggs. In order to maintain their lives and make them grow rapidly, more and more chemicals, hormones, pesticides and antibiotics are used. When people eat meat, they destroy the earth and their bodies unconsciously. The large-scale breeding of animals itself is an act of destroying the earth's ecosystem and life system.
3. The research and development of sustainable energy has become the consensus of governments all over the world. At present, the energy crisis and the rapid warming of the earth are bringing devastating disasters to mankind, which has attracted great attention from governments all over the world. In order to seek alternative energy, governments all over the world have set off a research and development upsurge of sustainable energy such as solar energy, wind energy and tidal energy, and solar power generation and wind power generation have entered the practical stage. China has included "the integration of solar power generation and solar building" in the priority field of "the international scientific and technological cooperation plan for renewable energy and new energy".
Fourth, the key strategy to deal with global warming.
The government is the core force. The government holds huge resources, and it can also use and organize huge resources. We can use our strong appeal and strong media advantages to guide the consumption patterns and eating habits of the whole people, formulate and adjust the tax policies for agriculture and animal husbandry, and mobilize the whole people to actively respond to global warming. The government is the core leading force to deal with global warming.
Mobilization of the whole people is the source of strength. To deal with global warming, it is far from enough to rely solely on the appeals of scientists and NGOs. It needs the government to promote and mobilize the active participation of the whole people to succeed. China is the birthplace of the idea of "harmony between man and nature" and vegetarian culture, and it is a big country with a population of 65.438+0.3 billion. The improvement of people's awareness and concept of environmental protection and the change of lifestyle will play a great role in curbing global warming. The government should take advantage of the powerful media to publicize various operational measures to deal with global warming through television, internet, newspapers and magazines, mobilize the whole people, start from small things, and lead the world into a new era of ecological civilization.
Promoting vegetarianism is the key. In fact, everyone plays a very important role in the fight against global warming. People's diet can save the earth or destroy it. As the British physicist Allen Carvert said in the article "The Fundamental Way to Solve the Kyoto Problem" published in Physical World in July 2007, the fundamental way to solve global warming is to stop eating meat. Pachouri, winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize and chairman of the United Nations Panel on Climate Change, pointed out that not eating meat, riding a bicycle and spending less money will help curb global warming. China government leaders at all levels take the lead in promoting vegetarianism, which is a simple, scientific and effective way to curb global warming. If everyone is a vegetarian, we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% immediately!
Verb (abbreviation of verb) strategic measures taken as soon as possible at the national level
First, the whole people mobilized to promote vegetarianism. The government should raise the national mobilization and promotion of vegetarianism to the height of national strategy as the most effective measure to reduce carbon and the starting point of industrial optimization. First of all, the government should try to mobilize the whole people to promote vegetarianism. Second, government leaders should take the lead in promoting vegetarianism. Third, gradually adjust and optimize the agricultural industrial structure. First of all, we should stop subsidizing meat production and guide animal husbandry to change production. Secondly, the breeding of unnatural livestock should be banned immediately, the number of livestock should be reduced, and the natural breeding in rural areas should be mainly reserved for the breeding of draught animals. Finally, the industrialization and large-scale feeding of all kinds of livestock are prohibited by stages and types. First, large livestock were banned, then small livestock were banned, and then poultry and fish farming were banned. This is the simplest and most effective way to save mankind and the earth, and it is also the least valued method at present.
Second, governments at all levels should continue to increase energy conservation and emission reduction. The task of energy conservation and emission reduction in China is still very arduous and has great potential. We should strengthen international cooperation and strive to make all walks of life meet the most advanced energy-saving and consumption-reducing standards in the world. Mankind is facing the same survival crisis, which provides new opportunities for China's international cooperation. All walks of life should try their best to use the most advanced energy-saving and emission-reducing technologies, and at least formulate policies and standards for using the most advanced energy-saving and consumption-reducing technologies in China in the near future.
Third, fully implement the energy substitution strategy. The government should formulate preferential policies to encourage the research and development of sustainable energy. On the one hand, we should increase support for wind power generation and solar power generation and encourage people to use new energy sources. On the other hand, it is necessary to strengthen the research and development of sustainable energy, strengthen international research and development cooperation, and strive to make a major breakthrough in sustainable energy research as soon as possible.
Scientists have warned that at the current rate of global warming, the Arctic will be completely ice-free in the summer of 2040. Now, new research has found that the ice melting speed in the Arctic is much faster than previously predicted, and the above situation may appear as early as 20 12 years!
According to the latest satellite detection data of NASA, the amount of sea ice in the Arctic at the end of this summer is only half that of four years ago. The melting speed of the Arctic makes scientists worry that global warming has reached a critical point. Biz, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Washington in the United States, and Holland de of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in the United States only reported last year that global warming will continue, and by the summer of 2040, the Arctic ice will completely melt.
This week's new report greatly advanced the prediction of this situation to 20 12. After reviewing the latest NASA, "At this rate, by the end of the summer of 20 12, the Arctic Ocean will be almost completely ice-free, much faster than previously expected. 」
According to the latest satellite data of June 5438+February, 2007, NASA announced that the Arctic ice was melting much faster than previously predicted. At this rate, the arctic ice will melt completely before the summer of 20 12!
Chain effect caused by ice melting and sea ice melting;
Sea ice reflects 80% of the sun's heat energy. After the sea ice disappears, 90% of the heat energy from the sun will enter the ocean, and the warm sea water will accelerate the melting of the ice, forming a vicious circle.
In this way, the sea level will rise sharply, the ocean will warm, and then a lot of hidden toxic gases will be released.
We will be poisoned by inhaling toxic gases from the ocean. These will bring fatal disasters to mankind all over the world.
Abodah Ratti, head of the cryosphere science department of NASA, said, "I usually don't pay much attention to a certain year ... but this year has changed so much, especially the Arctic sea ice, that you have to pay attention to what happened?" He said, "This must be a watershed year. 」
This summer, Greenland's ice layer melted 552 billion tons, which was 15% more than the average amount of ice melted in previous summers and1900 million tons more than the record in 2005. This year, the degree of sea ice reduction around Greenland is four times that of 15 years ago, which is more than the worst in 2005 12%. Greenland's ice layer accounts for112 of the global total. If it melts completely, the global sea level is estimated to rise by 6.7 meters.
Zwali said; "The situation is worse than the computer model predicted. 」
At the American Geophysical Congress to be held in San Francisco this Thursday, Han Sen, the chief climatologist of NASA, who is known as the godfather of global warming, will announce that the earth has reached the so-called critical point of global warming according to the melting ice in Greenland. In an email interview, he said, "We haven't reached the point of irretrievability. We can turn back in time, but we need to turn around quickly. 」
Due to the increasing demand for meat and milk and the rapid development of animal husbandry, the greenhouse gases produced by livestock have exceeded those produced by cars.
It was found that for every 1 kg of meat produced, 36.4 kg of carbon dioxide would be emitted.
Energy required for feeding and transporting 1 kg of cattle, sheep and pork,
A 100 watt incandescent bulb can be lit for three weeks.
If measured by the amount of carbon dioxide released, livestock emit more 18% than cars.
It accounts for 37% of methane emissions, and its impact on global warming is more than 20 times that of carbon dioxide.
If measured by nitrous oxide, 65% of nitrous oxide released by human activities (including raising livestock) comes from livestock.
The "global warming potential" of nitrous oxide (abbreviated as GWP) is 296 times that of carbon dioxide.
37% of methane produced by human activities (commonly known as "biogas") comes from the digestive tract of ruminants.
The greenhouse effect of methane is 23 times that of carbon dioxide.
64% of ammonia produced by human activities comes from livestock. Ammonia is one of the important causes of acid rain.
AFP, Paris, June 5-4, 2008. The leader of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), who won the Nobel Prize, said that not eating meat, riding bicycles and spending less money would help curb global warming.
At a press conference in Paris, Patrolli, the leader of IPCC, pointed out that their report released last year emphasized "the importance of lifestyle change".
He said: "This is a concept that the IPCC did not dare to express earlier, and it is now open. 」
The vegetarian Indian economist called on people all over the world to curb the urge to eat meat; It also shows that meat is a commodity with high carbon emission.
He warned: the reality is cruel. If mankind does nothing, climate change will have a great impact.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pleaded at the Bali Climate Change Summit: "Time is running out. I hope you can make a wise decision." Human beings should be rational enough to be responsible for their own future.
Commentary: A few days ago, I saw on Xinhuanet that scientists from NASA said that due to the serious greenhouse effect, by the end of this century, the global population may decrease by 90% and the temperature of the earth's surface will rise by 4. By then, most of the land on the earth will become arid deserts, and some will be submerged even more than sea level rise. Only about 6,543.8+billion people still live in areas where ice and snow are melting, such as Canada, Siberia, Greenland, Antarctica and several "oases" with small median in the earth's desert.