Temptations & Ambitions

A year ago, Earth Hour was publicised to be international event, and I'd 'partake' sceptically in my post (click to read) on the event. While I do appreciate the good nature of the cause, I could not see this as a real impact on the world apart from creating awareness and education. True, it is after all still an effort, better than doing nothing than crossing their arms, but human beings, as a whole, is a resistant lot. If the figures were true that emission of tonnes of carbon dioxide can be reduced from Earth Hour, have you ever wondered how many hours are there in a year? For your information, there are 8760 hours in a year. Let's give the benefit of the doubt to Earth Hour that they manage to reduce carbon dioxide emission to zero during Earth Hour, then the reduction is only 0.011% of a difference of the world's total emission!

But please mind you that electricity generation is NOT the sole source of CO2 emission. Industrial production next top the list followed by open burning, forest fire, smoking, vehicles on the road, and even humans breathing can contribute to the cause. The neverending list would expand in the face of the threat of extinction of the earth population as more technological inventions are created at the expense of more and more CO2 emission. By then, even Earth Week or Earth Month would not be able to curb the demise of the very existence of mankind and the other inhabitants of the Earth.

So, what do we do then? Is it feasible to just cut down electricty consumption regardless of usage? Yes, we should do it more on a long term basis. Imagine this: Sydney celebrated Earth Hour with fireworks last year. Wouldn't that defeats the purpose of reducing CO2 emission? Nelly Furtado held a free concert in Toronto for Earth Hour, and it sure used up more electricity. There are more to say but I'll leave it that you get my point. Turn off the TV or computer when you are not watching it. I'm sure that would do more in a year than what you did on Earth Hour alone.

The above mentioned is one of the methods of elimination of Co2 emission, one that should be on top of the list in hierarchy. Other ways include curbing on the smoking activities(no medical treatment for them and let Darwin's natural selection does its wonders) and open burning. We cut down anything which is possible. Perhaps we might as well breathe at a slower rate and cut down on exercise. :P (Just kidding on the last part)

Next would be substitution. Electricity consumption can't be avoided at all costs, so research shoud be done to look for alternative sources instead of relying on fossil fuel combustion methods. Solar energy and windmills might do the trick in certain climates with sufficient R&D, but fusion power or nuclear power might be needed in the future. Different industrial materials can be researched to gain the same yield without compromising the pollution factor.

Now and then, I'm seeing myself dwelling into the Medicine and Society syllabus of hierarchy of control which I find useful in all aspects of control at such. I'll stop here while letting you think of other possible solutions. Among them are: (According to hiearachy)

1. Elimination
2. Substitution
3. Isolation
4. Barrier
5. Engineering Controls
6. Administrative Control
7. Personal Protective Equipment

Good luck! :P

P.S: Don't mind me, I'm just blabbing more than I can. n_n