Earth\'s Greatest Enemies? Climatologist James Lovelock(http://www.jameslovelock

Question

Earth's Greatest Enemies?

Climatologist James Lovelock(http://www.jameslovelock.org/) (originator of the Gaia_hypothesis ) once said that metaphorically and practically speaking, Earth's greatest enemies were the Three C's: cars, cows and chainsaws because of their contributions to destabilizing planetary climate.

A. In this final Discussion Forum, you will answer the following question to show your ability to find connections among the environmental issues that you have learned about in this course. Number your responses so I can see you have addressed each part. You must cite specific evidence from any Unit of the course to support each of your responses. Each contributor is worth 4 points x 3 = 12 points.

1. Why and what and how do each of these things contribute to the destabilizing of Earth's atmosphere and climate?

1a. cows?
1b. cars?
1c. chainsaws?

Reminders:

Be sure to consider the needs that cars, cows, and chainsaws meet for humans in the "Why?" part of your response.

Loss of land plants because of human activities will not result in a reduction of atmospheric oxygen because most of planetary photosynthesis and its resulting oxygen production is in the oceans.

Be sure to back up your explanations with some research before discussing this topic online with your classmates. Be sure to read relevant sections of your text (and supplementary readings from this Module) and look online. Start with the links in this question and the Resources listed for this Module.

Explanation / Answer

Answer:James Lovelock has predicted some rather troubling facts about the planet that we have overlooked. His prediction of global warming in 2 decades is one of the prime arguments about our future on this planet. By the Three C- Cows, Cars and Chainsaw, he has pretty much summed up the cause that global climate change is not too far away:

Answer 1a:By Cows, James Lovelock actually means the cattle industry. The green house emission from the cattle industry amounts to about 14 percent of the total greenhouse emission from all sources. From this, around 42 percent is by the constant production of methane that cows are constantly producing while fermenting grass in their stomach. Other gap is filled in by the meat and other cattle-dependent industries. This rise in greenhouse gasses causes the atmospheric air to warm which in turn affects the climate of the planet.

Answer 1b: With the advent of urban development, the means of public transport and private mode of transport has become a big part of our idea of the urban life. The roadways are getting broader, car are getting cheaper and faster and everything adds to what we call as the ‘luxurious life’. The emission from all these vehicles is massive when seen on a global scale and along with the emission that is produced during the processing of fuel, the combination increases the shift in global climate. The carbon dioxide produced form vehicles is absorbed by trees but since the tree cover has reduced to a great extent this becomes a serious problem. The oceans also form sinks for carbon dioxide and can dissolve around 30 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted but with the growing rise in vehicles that still are not developed to embrace a cleaner way of operating, the oceans will reach post saturation.

Answer 1c: By Chainsaw, James Lovelock means deforestation of the forests on a large scale. As explained above, trees absorb CO2, release oxygen, check erosion, help the land to hold water and thus support the topography of mountains and slopes by avoiding landslides and also support the ecosystem along with its own unique regional biodiversity which forms the backbone of the planet’s equilibrium. Thus by cutting down trees, we are surely taking a huge chunk out of the earth’s life force itself.

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