Environment - Walk the Green Talk

Only when green initiatives are pursued for themselves, with cost being just one of several criteria, albeit an important one, meaningful progress can be expected.

During the latter half of the last century, nightmares of a nuclear holocaust troubled people in many parts of the world. However, over the past decade or two, nuclear threat has been replaced by worries over climate change, particularly human-induced climate change. Extreme opinions have generally been voiced. Climate change, according to one debate, should be dismissed as an over-hyped possibility and people should get on with business as usual. On the opposite end of the spectrum is the contention that climate change is the greatest danger ever to confront humankind and, therefore, should be tackled with all the resources at the command of humanity. The truth, as is often the case, lies in between.

The only certainty is the broad scientific consensus that human activity is, beyond reasonable doubt, the main cause of the current and rapidly accelerating changes in the world’s climate. While the increase in carbon dioxide (CO2 ) levels in the atmosphere due to fossil fuel combustion—so-called Greenhouse Gas emissions (GHG)—are of major concern, other factors like aerosols, cement manufacture, some types of land use, ozone depletion, animal agriculture and deforestation also adversely affect the climate. It would be rather convenient if the consequences of climate change threatened somewhere in the distant future, with plenty of time to prepare and adapt. However, there is increasing evidence that two degrees of warming is all it might take to reach a tipping point. The world urgently needs to take the key decisions that will impact its collective future. Most thinking people are, therefore, veering round to the view that reducing GHG emissions and stopping runaway climate change must take precedence over other priorities.

Emissions cloud the sky

Aviation, in some parts of the world, is the fastest-growing source of GHG emissions. The sustained high growth rate of commercial traffic, attributable largely to the impressive success of budget airlines, nullifies any improvement in fuel burn figures. Aircraft mainly emit CO2, water vapour and nitrogen oxides. They also generate noise and burn non-renewable fuel. Burning a tonne of fuel produces around 3.2 tonnes of CO2. In addition, the harmful effects of aviation-related emissions are intensified because these are released at high altitudes. It has been calculated that the noxious mix of gases in a jet exhaust at height is 2.7 times more deadly than its CO2 content alone.