What’s Changing In Climate Change?
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009Scientists have discovered that nitrous oxide, produced mainly in agriculture, is harming the ozone layer more than synthetic chemicals are. Synthetic chemicals are being phased out by the Montreal Protocol treaty, but nitrous oxide is a natural part of the atmosphere. It is produced by microbes in soil; and when fed nitrogen fertilizer, the microbes produce even more of it. Although it’s estimated that nitrous oxide will reduce the stratosphere’s ozone 4% by the end of the century, nitrogen is an essential part of protein and a source of our food. Nitrous oxide can’t be phased out – unless we phase out eating too.
However, the World Agroforestry Center in Nairobi wants to phase in Faidherbia trees. These trees capture nitrogen from the air through their roots and incorporate it into their leaves. Because these trees grow during the dry season, they drop their leaves in the rainy season, when nitrogen-needing plants start to grow. When a crop of corn was grown under Faidherbia trees, the yield was 3-4 times larger. These trees could help poor farmers throughout Africa, South America and much of south and Southeast Asia by providing free, organic fertilizer as a renewable “treetment” for soil.
According to the World Wildlife Fund, 163 new species were discovered in the Mekong River region of Southeast Asia in 2008. Among the 100 plants, 28 fish, 18 reptiles, 14 amphibians, 2 mammals and 1 bird was the Limnonectes megastomias, a fanged frog that eats birds and the Nonggang babbler, a bird that prefers walking to flying. The good news is that these new species were found in regions no longer involved in decades of war and political unrest. The bad news is that their diverse habitats are threatened by droughts and floods caused by climate change – which must change.
According to an editorial in the highly esteemed British medical journal “Lancet”, making contraceptives available in developing countries could help fight climate change by reducing population growth. More than 200 million women worldwide do not have access to contraceptives and that results in approximately 76 million unintended pregnancies a year. The world population is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050 – with more than 90% of the increase coming from developing countries. Increased need for food and shelter will increase carbon dioxide emissions and climate change. It’s hard to believe that there was a time when climate change just meant a vacation.
Knight Pierce Hirst has written for television, newspapers and greeting cards. Now she writes a 400-word blog three times a week. KNIGHT WATCH, a second look at what makes life interesting, takes only seconds to read at http://knightwatch.typepad.com Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/environment-articles/whats-changing-in-climate-change-1284597.html