CLIMATE COCKTAIL:
The Carbon Drop
CO₂ Reduction

Commercial CO₂

You’ll be unhappy to know that commercial C0₂ is produced from burning fossil fuels (to make ammonia, hydrogen, beer or limestone for example).

But happy to know it is at least made using the by-product of that combustion, which also helpfully stops it from being vented into the atmosphere.

So as you sip your Carbon Drop (or beer) you can fret a bit less about the impact your bubbly drink is having on the planet.

The Problem With Carbon

The crux of the C0₂ emissions problem is that fossil fuels are so deeply embedded in our everyday lives, and the world economy, that we don’t see it, so we don't think about it. And if we don't think about it, we won't do the hard but necessary work to fix it. (And it's urgent that we fix it, just ask the IPCC².

Reducing Carbon,
Singapore style

It always comes down to reducing carbon.  It also comes down to being able to change how we think. Take trees for example. More trees = less carbon, but also less land for farming. Singapore gives us a new model. With 5 million people squeezed onto 710 square miles, Singapore is one of the densest countries on earth. These pressures are sparking new ways of thinking about farms. Instead of spreading out, they are spreading up, into the air. 

Vertical farms.  Think farms inside buildings. Crops growing in vertical stacks or slopes or integrated into skyscrapers. It’s a different way of producing food when land is scarce.  While it’s not a fit for heavy crops like corn, wheat or large animals, leafy greens, row crops, fish and crabs can be produced at scale.  It provides more local food. More space for trees. But requires less shipping. Less carbon is produced all around. A different way to think.

The Greenhouse Effect

The greenhouse effect is a natural process that occurs when gases in our planet’s atmosphere traps the Sun’s heat: it is critical to supporting life.

The problem is by emitting too much CO₂ into the air (more than the safe upper limit of 350ppm²) we've created a heat-trapping blanket that wreaks havoc on...everything.

Q:What's the difference between global warming and climate change?

A: GLOBAL WARMING is the long-term rise of the Earth’s global average surface temperature due to the acceleration of the greenhouse effect caused by human activities, particularly burning fossil fuels and clear-cutting forests.

CLIMATE CHANGE refers to the increasing long-term changes in the Earth’s climate system that creates new weather patterns, including warming and its effects.

Global warming and climate change are not synonymous, though many think they are. You could argue global warming causes climate change and you would be right. But some say global warming is one aspect of climate change and they would be right.

All you need to know is, scientists tend to prefer the term “climate change” to describe the complex shifts in our planet’s rising temperatures, extreme weather events, sea level rise, migration and habitat loss and numerous other important impacts.

FEATURING

REFERENCES
1 List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions. Wikipedia. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions

_{² McKibben, B. (2012, July 19). Global Warming's Terrifying New Math. Rolling Stone. Retrieved from: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-188550/}

_{³IPCC Special Report: Global Warming of 1.5degrees Celsius. Retrieved from: https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/}

_{⁴ Project Drawdown, Solutions. Retrieved from: https://www.drawdown.org/solutions}

^{LEARN MORE}
_{Vertical farming: https://permaculturenews.org/2014/07/25/vertical-farming-singapores-solution-feed-local-urban-population/}

_{More ways to reduce carbon: https://phys.org/news/2018-11-carbon-atmosphere-climate-catastrophe.html}