Climate Change
I saw this documentary on BBC this morning. "The Climate Watch". It rather has some interesting things I had never known existed. As the title suggests, this documentary is about watching the climate and how it had changed in the last few decades.
Well, for once, it suggests that the layer of carbon had already happened, it is part of the natural cycle.But according to some really fancy equipment situated on a mountain in Hawaii (I really can’t recall the name of the equipment nor the name of the mountain). The levels of carbon dioxide we are seeing in our life time, is far beyond the natural cycle. I’m paraphrasing here: the layers of carbon dioxide is the produce of human activities. Mankind has changed the earth; changed it for the worse.. Ok, I know that there is nothing new about this information. Although the next information in the documentary left me almost speechless.
Well, it is a common knowledge that rainforests are the ‘lungs’ of the earth. Yes it is. While it helps reduces carbon dioxide, it is also the highest producer of carbon (actually maybe I misheard it, not entirely sure, but can someone clarify this for me??). But there is something more serious happening to rainforests other than massive deforestation. *sigh*, and all this time I thought deforestation was the worst that can happen; apparently not. The worst thing happening to tropical rainforests other than deforestation is that the older, higher trees are dying; and all because of drought. Yep, drought. Usually the older the trees, the harder it is to actually have them chopped down. But with them dying, it may mean less branches, less leaves, less chlorophyll for photosynthesis, less absorbtion of carbon dioxide, the thicker the layer, the worse the global warming.. This was a shocking fact.
I may not be the best writer around, but I was left spechless at the end of the documentary. Maybe it is time to stop and think our contribution to worsen global warming. I often leace my room with my lamp still on. Since the thickening of the carbon layer is the result of human activiy, it may be time we change it. If we have the ability to change mother earth for the worse, I believe we also possess the ability to affect another kind of change. A change for the better
November 11th, 2007 at 1:31 am
Although one person may not make that much of a difference, we still need to start somewhere, and we can always start by changing ourselves.
Who knows what would happen if enough people start to change themselves as well =)
and hopefully these people would be the next leaders and decision makers of the world…