Act Green Blog

Archive for the ‘Global Warming’ Category

Collecting rainwater is one of the most important facts that should never go unappreciated. This is a natural resource and it is the only source of uncontaminated water. Quite a number of us have the urgency the collection but the idea is not sunken to their minds.

The reason why people seem to have realized the need and not yet taking the issue seriously is evidenced in deforestation. This has an awful effect over the monsoon waters. Rainwater harvesting should be understood as the process of capturing rainwater from a catchments surface and precipitating it.

The accumulation of natural water is evident in the rural areas, contrary, in the congested urban centre, this seems not much appreciated. There are two different ways of harvesting water and these include the runoff water harvesting and the rooftop water harvesting. The method of collection and storage is determined by the purpose of the collection.

Global warming occurs when due to green house effect the earth’s radiation is not able to escape into atmosphere thus causing rise in temperature on the earth. The global warming is the result of green house effect which is mainly caused by human activities. The global warming has disturbed the balance of nature and many natural calamities have become a regular feature. The temperature on the earth has increased manifold and the glaciers are melting. To fix or reduce global warming, all need to go green so that the life on earth can be saved.

• Increase energy efficiency.

• Reuse and recycle more with less wastage of resources.

• Utilize solar and alternate sources of energy.

• Stop the wastage of water and reuse the water through rain harvesting etc.

• Use less paper and send emails for sending messages and data.

• Plant trees on all family occasions like birthday, anniversary etc. Afforestation is the key to stop global
warming.

Imagine solving (okay, curbing) both global warming and the public health issues related to indoor pollution with just $20. It could be as simple as converting indoor cooking stoves in places like rural India to existing, cleaner technologies at the cost of $20 per stove—and would reap immediate results that would put a dent in worldwide global warming levels.

This article, Third-World Stove Soot Is Target in Climate Fight, examines black carbon, triggered by “recent studies estimating that it is responsible for 18 percent of the planet’s warming, compared with 40 percent for carbon dioxide.” Reducing black carbon emissions is one example of “low hanging fruit” to seize because there are relatively inexpensive and accessible measures that could rapidly decrease the amount of black carbon in the atmosphere. Unlike carbon dioxide, which lingers for years, black carbon (or “soot”) disappears within weeks.
The New York Times article explains that while it travels in the air, soot radiates heat, and then lands on ice caps (like Himalayan glaciers), for example, and the dark matter accelerates the melting of these bodies of ice. So, soot generates heat, thereby contributing to global warming. But the article paints a clearer, more complete picture of the problem by taking readers into a village, and into a home in that village. A mother cooks roti for her family in Kohlua, India and the open fire releases black carbon into her own home and her children cough and wheeze—the effect of black carbon is immediate and extraordinarily hazardous.

Replacing mud cook stoves with alternative stoves (some models are solar-powered, all are more efficient) would cut soot by 90%, and cost about $20 per stove. Project Surya, a pilot program, is testing different models in villages in India, and balancing sensitivity and understanding of the cultural impact with urgency on taking action.

In the United States, Congressman Inslee (WA-01) introduced the Black Carbon Emissions Reduction Act of 2009 in March, which will require an assessment of the impact of black carbon and enforce regulations in the U.S. and spur the State Department and EPA to provide international assistance to further reduce black carbon pollution. We applaud this bill for its swift call to action, and it has been included in the Congressman Waxman and Congressman Markey’s recently released American Clean Energy and Security Act, a comprehensive piece of clean energy and global warming legislation.