Planet Earth has been showing her frustrations with the activities of man by giving subtle hints over the years.
What more does she have to do to get man to listen and take action?
The activities of man have increased the rate of climate change in recent times.
From the high rate of drought to the change in weather patterns which have resulted in the submerging of coastline communities and loss of farmlands.
Though numerous factors contribute to climate change, a major reason for this is the increase in the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere which include methane, carbon dioxide, ozone and so many others.
Our focus here is on carbon dioxide.
Carbon neutrality occurs when there is an equal rate of carbon emission from the atmosphere and absorption by the environment (carbon sink). A carbon sink is any system that soaks up carbon more than it emits.
In other words, carbon neutrality occurs when there is a balanced chemical equation between carbon emission and carbon absorption.
For a chemical equation to be balanced, the input and output entries must have similar entries. This is the same with carbon neutrality, where the focus is on ways carbon is added to the atmosphere and subsequently removed from the atmosphere.
It’s no news that world leaders have set up strategies and conferences such as the Paris Agreement, Kyoto Protocol and The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to change the narrative.
With consistency, carbon neutrality can be reduced by:
1. Increasing The Number of Carbon Sinks
A carbon sink is anything that absorbs carbon from the soil; examples include the forest, oceans and the soil.
Since we can’t increase the soil and the ocean, we can maintain them but the focus should be on maintaining the vegetation around us by saying no to bush burning and saying yes to the planting of trees.
2. Use of Renewable Energy
Climate change enthusiasts and experts have been clamouring for the use of renewable sources of energy in power generation.
This is because the amount of carbon emissions from these sources is lower than the existing power plants for electricity generation.
Though countries like China, the USA and Denmark have achieved significant progress here, other countries are yet to make a move on this.
3. Change in Existing Processes
To reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere, manufacturing companies and industries have to cut back on processes that add more carbon dioxide to the environment.
Some of these include; advising their staff to make use of public transportation, switching to renewable sources of power generation, setting up climate-friendly policies and modifications to industrial processes.
4. Carbon Offsetting
This is a means used to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by storing carbon in another location. It’s no secret that developed countries have less land space and more industries, hence they add more carbon to the atmosphere.
Likewise, developing countries that have more land space can focus on planting more trees and restoring their lands to make up for the lapses gotten from the developed nations.
5. Reduce Emissions
What can you do in your space to decrease the emission of carbon dioxide?
Something as little as switching off that electrical appliance when you are not using it, sharing a vehicle with your spouse instead of using two vehicles and proper disposal of your waste.
The key to achieving carbon neutrality requires all hands to be on deck as the safety and health of planet Earth depend on it.
