photo by digicla

This is a post to mark Blog Action Day, where bloggers unite on one day to discuss a pressing issue, this year it is climate change. It is after all important to most students since we are the future, why do we have to inherit the mess?

So, the climate is in turmoil, politicians are talking about change. But will it ever happen or is it a case of too little too late?

My focus of this post is on the problem areas. For sure a lot is being done, but is everyone pulling their weight?

• Car manufacturers are moving towards alternatives to the internal combustion engine
• Oil companies are pumping money into alternative energy sources
• Recycling is steadily increasing
• Household are reducing their “carbon footprint”

This is all well and good but is it solving the problem? Without doubt every little helps. But I can’t help noticing some industries which are hiding in the shadows. These include:

• Steel Manufacture
• Cement Manufacture
• Farm Animals
• Shipping

It may seem to be an odd 4 industries to highlight, for sure there are more which should be on this list.

The problem is the world is still growing.

Therefore if we take the first two, steel and cement manufacture, there will still be a rising demand for these materials especially in emerging economies. These two industries could produce 20% of global output of carbon dioxide. The problem is the chemistry involved leads to a large emission of greenhouse gas. Yet there seems no realistic attempts to find an alternative? Will the media turn a blind eye or encourage research and development?

As for farm animals, there is little that can be done. Unless we all become vegetarian, I’m not a fan of this idea! Research is being carried out to reduce cows flatulence (burping & farting). But I think this is an area which will prove difficult/impossible to cut emissions.

As for shipping, I’m kind of drawing attention to this because I think it gets off lightly compared to the much maligned airline industry. Not that the airline industry shouldn’t get any slack as it is a (unnecessary?) luxury. But the shipping industry which contributes a similar amount to global warming as the airline industry seems to get off relatively lightly. What ever was wrong with sailing?!

Well that’s my rant for one year, maybe this time next year there will be progress in at least 3 of the industries mentioned. Don’t hold your breathe I guess…

Happy emission cutting!

Martyn

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