Global Warming likely to increase hunger: Hits the poor hardest

· Impact for Christians
· What is global warming?
· What you can do
· Key Resources and Organizations

What is global warming?

"The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all, our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope." Wendell Berry

Our only hope. Our only hope in a world where every five seconds a child dies of hunger related causes. Our only hope in a world where our neighbors, struck by natural disasters, wait until death for hands to reach out to them. Berry is teaching us that God’s gift to man was a creation full of all we need for life. And when that creation aches with mismanagement in a way that causes others death, we as Christians should open our eyes.

Global Warming is partly a natural phenomenon as a result of variations in the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. These naturally high and low levels are thought to be responsible for the ice ages and the warming trends throughout the record of time. The uncertainty over how humans have affected the carbon dioxide levels has been the cause for much of the bantering that divided scientists, politicians and family members for decades. Yet, now scientists almost all agree that although the flux in global warming is natural, the levels of carbon dioxide currently in the air are not. In fact, these levels are responsible for the melting of our polar ice caps, the warming of our oceans and the increases in the storms and intensities of storms.

How?

To understand Global Warming you must understand the Greenhouse Effect. Anyone who has grown flowers or exotic plants in a greenhouse understands the incoming sunlight brings warm radiation into the greenhouse where it is trapped, and thus maintains a warmer temperature than outdoors where the sunlight’s radiation is not contained. The Earth’s atmosphere does the same. Of the 100 percent of the incoming solar radiation into the atmosphere only 30 percent is reflected out to space.

Where does the rest go? 45 percent of the heat is absorbed by the Earth. The dark surfaces of our oceans, which cover most of the planet act just like your black shirt on a hot summer day. The remaining 25 percent of the radiation is absorbed into the atmosphere. Four main factors determine the temperature at or near the surface of the Earth.

1. The amount of sunlight Earth receives;
2. The amount of sunlight Earth reflects;
3. The amount of heat held by the atmosphere;
4. Evaporation and condensation of water vapor.

Global Warming comes into play with number three — the amount of heat held by the atmosphere. The Earth’s atmosphere consists of numerous chemical compounds. It has been this way for millenia. However, since the last century, the rise of the industrial revolution injected many more chemicals than previously present. Carbon dioxide (CO2) levels today do not even compare with the levels of the past. Natural amounts vary from 180 to 300 parts per million (ppm.) Current levels are around 380 ppm. This exposes a 25 percent increase than the highest levels on a record spanning 650,000 years. This same record tells us that higher CO2 levels bring higher average temperatures.

Thus, Global Warming is not something humans have created. Rather, we have sped the process dramatically by our rising carbon dioxide levels. As carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere it stays present, trapping the sun’s heat. Each year the Earth’s temperature increases. Each year more and more of the polar ice caps melt, increasing water levels. As these waters warm they provide the exact temperature shift for oceanic storms to intensify. Two areas are responsible for this extra heating: carbon emissions from our power plants and vehicles. With available technology and strict emission standards, viable solutions are present.

We must be willing to use less energy, buy local produce and other products, walk, bike, take the bus and, when necessary, drive efficient automobiles. We must consider our carbon footprint.

Each person in the United States emits 60 tons of carbon dioxide each year; 60 tons by our choice of energy and driving. We must be willing to hear the ache of creation. We must be ready to change our management practices and insist others do as well. For without opening our eyes, we will continue to see neighbors struck by natural disasters, people starving, more children dying of simple thirst. God’s gift to humans was an life interwoven with all creation. How we live it is our choice.

Written by Beverly Jewell, Savannah Presbytery

What is a carbon footprint?

Your carbon footprint is a representation of the effect you, your congregation or your organization have on the climate in terms of the total amount of greenhouse gases you produce (measured in units of carbon dioxide). Many of your actions generate carbon emissions, which contribute to accelerating global warming and climate change. By measuring your carbon footprint through such tools as the SafeClimate Carbon Calculator, you can get a better sense of what your individual impact is and which parts of your lifestyle deserve the greatest attention. Armed with such information you can more readily take effective action to shrink your carbon footprint, thereby minimizing your personal impact on the climate.

For example, when you drive a car, each gallon of gasoline you burn produces carbon in the form of carbon dioxide. Depending on the fuel efficiency of your vehicle and the miles traveled, a gasoline-powered car can easily generate its own weight in carbon dioxide each year. The average American is responsible for about 20 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year, a far greater per capita number than that of any other industrialized country. In fact, the US accounts for more than 20 percent of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions. You can reduce your carbon footprint by driving a more efficient car, or driving less. You can also plant trees or help preserve forests to offset your emissions, since trees are a sink for carbon.

The carbon footprint calculator estimates CO2 emissions for energy use and transportation, and for organizations paper use, because these types of activities are responsible for a significant percentage of U.S. emissions, and are measurable based on readily available information. Your total carbon footprint would account for the energy used to produce all the products and services you consume, as well as all your other activities, and would be substantially larger. Home energy use and transportation represent approximately 40 percent of all U.S. emissions, so for an average person the emissions from these two activities would have to be multiplied by 2.5 to determine the person's total carbon footprint.

Guide to Carbon Dioxide and other Greenhouse Gases

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is not the only man-made greenhouse gas — it is simply the one that has accumulated the most in the atmosphere and is presently having the greatest cumulative warming effect on our planet. Human sources of carbon dioxide primarily include the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas), and deforestation. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased 30% since pre-industrial times.

SafeClimate typically quotes greenhouse gas units in terms of carbon dioxide (1lb carbon dioxide = 0.2729 lbs of carbon), as well as converting other greenhouse gases into units of carbon dioxide based on their relative global warming potentials. This standardized approach simplifies things and makes for easier and more meaningful comparisons.

Other greenhouse gases, produced by human activities, include:

• Methane (CH4), emitted by agriculture, ranching, landfills, and energy exploration. Human activities have increased the concentration of methane in the atmosphere by about 145 percent.
• Nitrous Oxide (N2O), produced by various agricultural and industrial practices, including the use of nitrogen fertilizers, nylon production, and the burning of organic material and fossil fuels. Human activities have increased the level of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere by about 15 percent above natural levels.
• Tropospheric ozone (O3), ozone in the lower part of the atmosphere, created by the reaction of sunlight with human-produced pollutants from vehicles and power plants. Tropospheric ozone has probably doubled in the Northern Hemisphere since pre-industrial times.
• Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and other halocarbons such as perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) — chemicals used in refrigeration, air conditioning, and other industrial processes. The production of chlorofluorocarbons is rapidly being eliminated because of their destructive effect on the ozone layer. Yet other halocarbons, such as HFCs, are now being produced as substitutes, many of which are also greenhouse gases. PFCs are used in semiconductor manufacturing and are a byproduct of aluminum smelting. SF6 is an insulating gas used in the transmission of electricity. SF6 is the most potent greenhouse gas ever measured, roughly twenty-five thousand times more powerful than carbon dioxide.

All of these gases, aside from the halocarbons, are also produced by natural causes — but it is their rapid build-up in the atmosphere over the past few centuries, due to human activities, that is now causing global warming.

What is the Ecological Footprint?

There are many other ways to visualize our individual and overall human impact on the environment. Some environmental and government groups feature a broader concept than the carbon footprint — the ecological footprint, which is an estimate of how much land and water is needed to produce all the resources an individual consumes, and dispose of all the waste and pollution he or she generates. Because of increasing population and levels of consumption and pollution, human beings are leaving bigger and bigger ecological footprints — at a rate that is increasingly harmful to the planet.

For example, Redefining Progress estimates that the typical American uses 25 acres to support his or her lifestyle, almost five times more than is sustainable. This non-profit group provides tools to calculate your own ecological footprint, and links to many other such calculators. [Thanks to SafeClimate for Business for this explanation.]

Educate Yourself on the Ecological Footprint

Draining the Champagne Glass
Provocative two-page think piece on our lifestyles, the distribution of wealth (i.e. the Champagne Glass image), and one's ecological footprint from Eco-Justice Ministries.

Contact Andrew Kang Bartlett to borrow the DVD "The Ecological Footprint: Accounting for a Small Planet" which is a 30-minute educational video for a church or community gathering. Appropriate for high school, college and adult.

See the complete list of videos on hunger, poverty, food systems and globalization.

The Ecological Footprint: Accounting for a Small Planet

This 30-minute film on DVD can be borrowed from the Presbyterian Hunger Program by contacting Andrew Kang Bartlett.

Humans are the most successful species on the planet. But our growing economy is placing unprecedented demand on the planet's limited ecological resources. How can we assure our future well-being? "We can choose to live on a depleted planet or we can choose to live on a rich, biologically diverse, more stable planet" proposes Dr. Mathis Wackernagel, co-creator of the Ecological Footprint. He suggests that an essential step in avoiding depletion is to track ecological assets, allowing us to make more informed choices. In the film, Wackernagel introduces the Ecological Footprint, a resource accounting tool that measures human demand on the Earth. Footprint accounts work like a bank statement, documenting whether we are living within our ecological budget or consuming nature's resources faster than the planet can renew them. In just thirty minutes, the film paints a picture of our current global situation: for the first time, humanity is in "ecological overshoot" with annual demand on resources exceeding what Earth can regenerate each year. Most countries are running ecological deficits, with Footprints larger than their own biological capacity. Wackernagel explores the implications of these ecological deficits, and provides examples of how governments, communities and businesses are using the Footprint to help improve their ecological performance. For Wackernagel, "Sustainability boils down to how we can all live well, how we can all have great lives, within the means of one small planet." He concludes on a hopeful note, showing how a new organization, Global Footprint Network, is partnering with government agencies, businesses, universities and NGOs to support the use of the Ecological Footprint and to help turn this vision of a sustainable future into reality.

The Ecological Footprint resource accounting tool works like a bank statement, documenting whether we are living within our ecological budget or consuming nature's resources faster than the planet can renew them. Sounds complex, but the documentary makes it easy to understand while it grips you with the urgency of our planetary situation. The 30-minute film on DVD can be borrowed from the Presbyterian Hunger Program for use with your congregation or community by contacting Andrew Kang Bartlett [Read more about the film at Bullfrog Films