The Environmental Crisis

Qarib Kazmi

When we think of the word Environment, two words that come to mind in the first place are

Water and Air

The basic most essential requirements for all life on earth

The Atmosphere… AIR

If you take the analogy of the earth being a bowling ball then the atmosphere layer is so thin that it would be equivalent to the thin layer of varnish on that ball.

Lets look at it more closely…

The bath TUB Analogy

The Earth’s atmosphere currently contains about 800 billion tons of carbon as CO2, and combustion of fossil fuels currently adds about 7 billion tons of carbon every year.

Drains are roughly equal to 2 + 1 = 3 Billion tons

The Atmosphere…

CO2 levels and Global Temperature

Interesting Question…

Did you know that burning of 6.3 pounds or one gallon of gasoline produces 20 pounds of CO2…

Can you guess how that can be true ?

The Water Story…

Water seems to be very abundant on our planet earth…

1. Baikal Russia Siberia 23,600 km3

• 3. Superior United States, Canada 11,600 km3 • 4. Michigan-Huron United States, Canada 8,260 km3 • 10. Ontario United States, Canada 1,710 km3

The Water Story…

According to the United Nations 18% of the worldpopulation is without access to proper drinking water. That is 854 Million people.

Numerical population of affected people › Sudan 12.3 million› Venezuela 5.0 million› Zimbabwe 2.7 million› Tunisia 2.1 million› Cuba 1.2 million

Water Situation in Pakistan

Per capita water availability in Pakistan has decreased from 5,000 cubic meters per annum in 1951 to 1,100.

The projected Population figures for 2010 and 2025 have reached 173 million and 221 million respectively.

We are going to slip below 1000 cubic meters of water per capita per year from 2010 onwards.

Freshwater & Toxics Programme, WWF – PakistanPublished 2007 by WWF – Pakistan, Ferozepur Road, Lahore

Our NEED for ENERGY…

And then there is the growing population and the ever growing need for energy and food.

All this is happening because we all need MORE and MORE energy to run our daily lives.

And all this is causing problems to the environment.

I read somewhere.

“ The days of free energy may be 50 years ahead but the days of cheap energy are over ”

Anonymous

“People tend to focus on the here and now. The problem is that, once global warming is something that most people can feel in the course of their daily lives, it will be too late to prevent much larger, potentially catastrophic changes.”

ELIZABETH KOLBERT, The New Yorker, Apr. 25, 2005

Effects of Global warming The predicted effects of global

warming on the environment and for human life are numerous:› Climate change › Raising sea levels › Glacier retreat› Arctic shrinkage › Altered patterns of agriculture are

cited as direct consequences. Secondary and regional effects

include:› Extreme weather events › An expansion of tropical diseases › Changes in the timing of seasonal

patterns in ecosystems› Drastic economic impact

Huge ice sheet breaks loose in Canadian arctic

An 8 square mile

piece of ice shelf broke off from

the Canadian arcticOn July 29 2008

Energy production chart…

The Oil Production curve

The Environment Crisis and us

What can be done?

Princeton University, 2004 Report

A wedge is an activity that creates 1 GTC/Y emission reductions by 2054.

The task for the next 50 years is to achieve about seven wedges by avoiding about 175 billion tons of carbon emissions.

The Report identifies 7 areas that can be tackled using existing technologies to cut down these emission.

Wedge Strategies Currently Available

The Answer…

We need efficient energy generating processes. We Need to sustain the renewable resources, like trees,

fresh water. As individuals we need to make energy efficient life

style choices and put words to ACTION. We need to stop thinking of our immediate individual

benefit.

“Just because we can afford it does not mean wecan keep on using up as much resources as we like. We need to realize that the resources are finite”

The Billion Tree Project The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)

has launched a major worldwide tree planting campaign.

Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign. Encourages to enter tree planting pledges online. Goal is to plant 7 billion trees by the end of 2009.

World Billion Tree Map

Pakistan as you can see is very behind in this Initiative. Only 50,000 to 100,000 trees planted.

Standby Power consumption

This research revealed that 11.6% of Australia’s household electricity consumption is attributed to electronic equipment on standby mode.

It costs $500 million Annually Generating more than

5 million tones of CO2 This figure is increasing

3% per annum.

There are similar studies for other countries too.

Switching to Energy Efficient Alternatives

If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save Enough energy to light more

than 3 million homes for a year, more

than $600 million in annual energy

costs, And prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to he emissions of more than 800,000 cars. incandescent bulbs are

inefficient light sources, converting 90 percent of electricity directly to heat

and only about 10 percent to visible light.

Another Example..

LCD Vs Monitor. Energy savings – LCD At

25 watts, 75-watt CRT monitor. Longer lifespan – LCD

monitors last twice as long as CRT monitors,

Reduced heat output – Decreased cooling loads result in decreased cooling costs.

Space-saving benefits

Health benefits – LCD monitors are flicker-free, anti-static, anti-glare no electromagnetic radiation.

The total Energy saving today may not benefit you immediately but it’s a long term decision that will be beneficial in the long run.

Plastic Bags… Good or BAD?

Factories around the world churned out a whopping 4-5 trillion of them in 2002.

Each year, Americans throw away some 100 billion polyethylene plastic bags. (Only 0.6 percent of plastic bags are recycled.)

Success Ireland instituted a per-bag

tax in March 2002, which led to a 95-percent reduction in use.

Maintain your CAR A misfiring spark plug can reduce fuel efficiency as much as

30 percent. Gas mileage improves 3.3 percent Just

by keeping your tires inflated to the proper pressure.

lower gas mileage by 0.3 percent for every psi drop in tire pressure.

Replacing a clogged air filter may improve fuel economy 2 to 6. A really clogged Filter decrease efficiency by as much as14 percent.

About 66% of the available energy in the fuel is rejected as heat in the exhaust and coolant or frictional losses. Switch off your car during long breaks.

Paper Facts

Producing one ton of paper requires 2-3 times its weight in trees.

Paper production is responsible for about a fifth of the total wood harvest worldwide.

Making paper from recycled content creates 74 percent less air pollution and 35 percent less water pollution.

SOME WORK RELATED ENERGY FACTS & FIGURES

Switching off all non-essential office equipment (computers, printers, faxes, photocopiers and lights) will save enough energy to drive a small car 100 miles.

A PC monitor left on overnight wastes enough energy to laser print 800 pages.

A photocopier left on overnight wastes enough energy to print 1500 A4 copies.

SOME WORK RELATED ENERGY FACTS & FIGURES

Turning your thermostat down by just 1°C can knock 10% off the cost of heating or cooling your office or home and you'll be unlikely to notice any difference in comfort.

Lighting an empty office overnight wastes enough energy to heat water for 1000 cups of coffee.

Conclusion

So you see these little things add up to a lot and it does not cost us much in doing these things, we just need to make a conscious effort on our part to make our lives a little more energy efficient

…. and waste not by extravagance . Verily, He likes not Al-Musrifun (those who waste by extravagance), - Surah Al An’am 6: 141.

What Islam Says about conservation

It is related that the Prophet passed by his companion Sa’ad, who was performing his wudhu’ (ablutions), and said:

“What is this wastage, O Sa’ ad?”“Is there wastage even in washing

for prayer?” asked Sa’ d;and he said, “Yes, even if you are

by a flowing river!” – Ibn Majah

“If any Muslim plants a tree or sows a field, and a human, bird or animal eats from it, it shall be considered as charity from him.” - Sahih Al-Bukhari (Hadith)

“ We did not inherit the planet from our ancestors, we are borrowing it from

our children”

Questions ??

http://www.worldwatch.org

The Answer to the Question...

It seems impossible that a gallon of gasoline, which weighs about 6.3 pounds, could produce 20 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) when burned. However, most of the weight of the CO2 doesn't come from the gasoline itself, but the oxygen in the air.

When gasoline burns, the carbon and hydrogen separate. The hydrogen combines with oxygen to form water (H2O), and carbon combines with oxygen to form carbon dioxide (CO2).

A carbon atom has a weight of 12, and each oxygen atom has a weight of 16, giving each single molecule of CO2 an atomic weight of 44 (12 from carbon and 32 from oxygen).

Therefore, to calculate the amount of CO2 produced from a gallon of gasoline, the weight of the carbon in the gasoline is multiplied by 44/12 or 3.7.

Since gasoline is about 87% carbon and 13% Hydrogen by weight, the carbon in a gallon of gasoline weighs 5.5 pounds (6.3 lbs. x .87).

We can then multiply the weight of the carbon (5.5 pounds) by 3.7, which equals 20 pounds of CO2!