Journey with me for a moment into the next century and meet two children — Clara and Peter. Clara has never seen the sun due to the atmosphere, which is permanently shrouded by a dark grayish brown blanket of poisonous gases like hydrocarbons, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. Peter on the other hand is not allowed to play in the open due to the hole in the ozone layer through which unfiltered ultra-violet radiation of the sun beams down to the earth and causes deadly diseases like skin cancer. These two children have never experienced the thrill of playing outdoor games. “But this is the 22nd century and that’s the way the world is.”
This future world is not an Orwellian fantasy nor is it the world depicted in movies like Terminator; it is a world already in the making. Planet earth is sending distress signals, which carry ominous messages. They tell us about huge holes being ripped in our ozone layer, the vast tropical rain forests being ripped away at breakneck pace and the silent stalker, the acid rain, which is killing plants and fish and threatening human life.
These four phenomenon – all of them the creation of mankind – are a figurative “Four horsemen of Apocalypse” the greenhouse effect created by burning of fossil fuels, acid rain, rifts in the ozone layer and wholesale destruction of rain forests. In view of the above the environmentalists are trying to do their best in stopping the advance of this dreaded future.
The environmental conditions due to the above factors could be as follows in the next century: –
The Essay on Rain Forests
Rain forests occur throughout the world where both heavy rains occur and where forests grow. By definition, a rain forest needs to receive more than eight feet of rain annually. Rain forests cover seven percent of the Earths land surface, and two percent of its total surface. Although they cover only a small portion of the Earth, rain forests are home to over fifty percent of the worlds plants and ...
Beneath the veneer of business-as-usual in the world’s greatest sinks (oceans and seas) a time bomb is ticking. The vast waters lap up carbon dioxide as sand soaks up water and thus delays the much feared global warming. Even the seemingly limitless sea has a saturating point for absorption of carbon dioxide and after that the gradual global warming will commence. The temperatures are believed to rise 6 degrees to 9 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the greenhouse gases get into the atmosphere, they are like ‘the man who came to dinner’ they stay. The global warming is irreversible.
Due to the rise in temperature the earth’s present climatic zones and storm tracks would shift northward driving the entire living habitat with them. Thermal swelling within the seas and water from melting land borne glaciers could raise the sea levels by three feet, wiping out rice fields in Asia, destroying coastal wetlands and drowning several cities like Venice, Cairo, Shanghai, and Florida Keys. Huge amounts would be required to be spent on the construction of dykes.
Northward shifts in rainfall would turn the fertile mid latitudes of the world – the bread basket of the American Midwest – into rangeland at best, dust bowl at worst. Climatic extremes could trigger meteorological chaos like raging hurricanes and profound draughts capable of killing millions of people.
The rising temperatures could cause heat waves unbearable for humans due to their intensities. Several places — example District of Columbia will begin experiencing temperatures above 100 degrees Celsius for twelve days a year and 90 degrees and above for eighty seven days. Places like Phoenix and Arizona could have 122 degrees and above temperatures.
The terrifying pace of climatic changes in the next century could lead to the extinction of several varieties of flora and fauna. Gone in a warming world would be the polar bear, Florida panther, waterfowl, fish and shellfish. The rising temperatures along with the rising sea levels could wipe out entire oceanic coral reef system.
The Term Paper on Ecosystem: Carbon Dioxide
Ecosystem is a community of living organisms (plants, animals and microbes) in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment (things like air, water and mineral soil), interacting as a system. These components are regarded as linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. As ecosystems are defined by the network of interactions among organisms, and between organisms and ...
The chlouro-flouro-carbons (CFC) in the ozone layer are bound to further shred the planets ultraviolet shield with alarming consequences. Excessive ultraviolet radiation destroys sensitive phytoplankton, the main food of krill, a shrimp like creature. Loss of this krill could lead to a loss of all sea creatures, which depend on it. CFC along with Freon from air conditioners and halons from fire fighting equipment undergo a change due to sun’s intent rays releasing chlorine molecules, which destroy thousands of ozone molecules.
Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide present in the atmosphere combine with rainfall and form acidic rainfall, which mobilizes heavy metals like aluminium and causes leaching which leads to eventual death of trees and fish. As acid rain falls in a lake the acid content of lake rises. The deadly aluminium gets into the gills of the fish in the lake, choking them, and then killing them. As the lake’s acidity increases the pH value drops. The lesser the pH value drops the more uninhabitable the lake becomes. Thus the 22nd century will witness the gradual extinction of its ecological system.
The population explosion from the Third World Countries accompanies the gathering environmental tragedies.
We have done so much to damage to our earth that we should be the ones to initiate a way to help our earth by reforestation, complete stop on CFCs and a reduction in the emission of harmful gases from industries and tail pipes of harmful gases from industries and tail pipes of vehicles. If preventive measures are taken soon it will not be long before we follow in the footsteps of our ancestors — ‘the dinosaurs’ – and become extinct!
