Carbon dioxide, a miscreant posing hazard to Earth’s ozone layer, is one of the major constituent gases of the “Green House Gasses”. Carbon dioxide is a gas that is emitted while burning fossil fuels or through cars and other modes of transportation or as industrial effluents that cannot escape from our atmosphere and thus gets trapped. Although carbon dioxide is required and utilized by plants to manufacture oxygen besides biosphere, the oceans account for removal of about 57% of human emitted carbon dioxide.
Huge quantities of carbon dioxide due to industrialization and cutting down of trees affect the carbon dioxide ratio and causes the phenomena of “global warming”. This “global warming” thus caused, melts polar ice caps and in turn affects rising water levels. These factors further cause extinction of birds and animals and submersion of land, countries and cities into water. Besides, increased carbon dioxide lead to acid rains and smog, which is a combination of fog and suspended gas together with other air pollutants, which cause respiratory diseases and other ailments.
Stringent procedures have been employed to curb the emission of this gas world over, yet a lot needs to be done in this regard. Carbon dioxide is primarily emitted through the exhaustion pipes of our vehicles. Thus, a careful analysis and shift in our paradigm is the need of hour. Switching over to alternative fuels sources, economizing on travel times and choice of modes of transport as well as a more responsible attitude towards this ever growing threat would in the long run save our Earth from imminent disasters. One of the major fallout of increased carbon dioxide emission is depletion of ozone layer and global warming.
One of the main cause of carbon dioxide emission is through our transport systems. Adopting some elementary steps that can assist us in reduction of carbon dioxide emission is by effectively scheduling and managing our transport systems.
1. Transportation by land:
Clever and planned usage of private vehicles is one major step towards minimizing carbon dioxide emission. Car pooling whereby many people use one car on the same route rather than using multiple individual cars, switching over to electric cars which can be run by wind turbines, or using alternative technologies such as fuel cells and hydrogen to provide energy to the car are some important initiatives that can be taken. Besides, effective regulation of traffic and taking strict actions on polluting vehicles as also emphasizing and encouraging use of alternative renewal fuels are some policies that could be taken by the local authorities and government as a whole. As individuals, we by being more accommodative and vigilant can at least reduce the share of emission that we cause by using public transports, bicycles and walking whenever we can although providing a better public transport system is equally a responsibility of the government. Replacement of commercial diesel vehicles with small gas based or electric based vans is another efficient way to reduce carbon dioxide emission at the industrial front.
2. Transportation by sea:
Shipping accounts for about 90% of global transportation especially of oils and goods. Effective legislation and understanding between various countries can lead to reduction in carbon dioxide emission. Scheduling logistics, planning routes and using better propellers can help cut emissions by about 15%. Use of alternative energy sources such as solar and wind power to propel the ship are some conscientious options available while we still have time to save our earth form the manmade impending threats.
3. Transportation by air:
Again a global understanding is warranted with regard to air transportation. Reduced flight speeds, decrease in waiting time at the airbase as well as before landing, use of solar energy to power the craft, converting shorter air routes to high speed electric train routes and replacing fossil fuels with bio fuels to run the airplane are some constructive positive steps to reduce carbon dioxide emission. Research on use of unique and innovative materials that can be used to make the airplane lighter and reduce air drag would also prove to be an effective premise in this direction.
A better understanding of issues and taking onus on ourselves for the fate of our misdoings has never been as mandatory as in today’s times. The indescribable threats industrial revolution has brought in its garb is something we have to mitigate with an astute and responsible approach. We require to understand that what we do today just for convenience and comfort sake has the potential to be a major cause of destruction to Nature.
