…the Climate Action Tracker (CAT)…focuses on temperature. For example, CAT projects that Biden’s plan would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 75 gigatons of carbon dioxide by 2050 and decrease global warming by 0.1°C by the end of the century… a decrease by 0.1 may seem too insignificant, but in the natural world and maintaining atomic integrity, that is quite huge.
The inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden tomorrow will set the stage for a new era, as the United States of America prepares to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement, whose plan pledges to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Tied to the ambitious plan is a $1.7 trillion investment in clean energy and green jobs, of which $400 billion is set aside for research on climate-relevant subjects in universities, in partnership with the private sector.
The global impact of this policy move of the U.S. would obviously be significant. Already, the launching of “Terra Carta” (Earth Charter) by the Prince of Wales has galvanised more stakeholders from the private sector to facilitate a sustainable planet trajectory.
However, despite the promising impacts of these global shifts and investment, there is still a huge gap in communicating the effect of climate change. Given the notable danger it poses to our survival as human species, a basic understanding of the science of climate change is imperative.
…like most things in the natural world, the impact of even the slightest change in temperature is of such significance that one degree rise in temperature may be enough to end life. You do not see these changes happening in real time because they are gradual. But even tiny chemical changes lead to big changes…
Indeed, a prerequisite to recognising the impact of climate change is an understanding of temperature and its relationship with atoms, the basic unit of matter and the defining structure of all elements, of which all things (solid, liquid, gas, and plasma) are composed. This means that the food you ate this morning; the tissues in your stomach that digest it; the oxygen you’re breathing in to be used in metabolising the food; the carbon dioxide that will be released from that metabolism; the organic matter that will result from this process when you defecate; the toilet seat; the tissue paper; water; the floor you walk on; and the car you drive, are all atoms held together. Everything comprises atoms.
Temperature is a measure of the motion of atoms. This means, for all atoms of ALL the things you see and feel to be in place, they must exist within a temperature (or temperature range). In other words, millions upon millions of atoms of everything are held together by forces that are stabilised by temperature. If a substance exists in a given space and time, increasing or decreasing the temperature within which it exists changes everything about it. With temperature, you can cool or boil water, move or stop engines, burn or accumulate energy, dry or freeze oceans, rub your palms to warm up, rub a tin on a coarse surface to open it, heat and release bullets to kill. It is endless.
But like most things in the natural world, the impact of even the slightest change in temperature is of such significance that one degree rise in temperature may be enough to end life. You do not see these changes happening in real time because they are gradual. But even tiny chemical changes lead to big changes. Imagine how a tiny amount of paracetamol (say 500mg), is enough to bring the body temperature down to save the life of a 70 kilogramme human!
From such initiatives as “two degrees” (of temperature), to Building Back Better, there has been an increased recognition that the threat of climate change we all face as species is real. And there are things we can do to confront that threat. At individual level, we may adopt behavioural patterns that can change thing…
Now, imagine human and non-human activities that have been going on for hundreds of years, leading to changes in the temperature of substances and therefore the forces holding them together. These activities have converged to cause changes in global temperatures, with consequences that are already showing.
Which is why the Climate Action Tracker (CAT), an analysis group that tracks government climate action, focuses on temperature. For example, CAT projects that Biden’s plan would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 75 gigatons of carbon dioxide by 2050 and decrease global warming by 0.1°C by the end of the century. Again, a decrease by 0.1 may seem too insignificant, but in the natural world and maintaining atomic integrity, that is quite huge.
From such initiatives as “two degrees” (of temperature), to Building Back Better, there has been an increased recognition that the threat of climate change we all face as species is real. And there are things we can do to confront that threat. At individual level, we may adopt behavioural patterns that can change things, even as we confront the enigmatic entropy captured in the famous Gibbs free energy equation: DG = DH – TDS
Abdulrazak Ibrahim (PhD), a genetic engineer, writes from Abuja. Email: biorazi@gmail.com. Twitter: @biorazi
