Mary Allen
Climate protection means that people work to ensure that the climate does not change so much. The earth has been warming up since industrialization in the 19th century. This is mainly due to greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. If there is more of it in the atmosphere, then it gets warmer: the heat from the sun that hits the earth can no longer leave the earth so easily.
The goal of climate protection is to keep the warming of our planet well below two degrees Celsius. Scientists assume that even more warming would have very bad consequences for our planet and its inhabitants. This goal was set by almost every country in the world in Paris in 2015.
However, the climate has already warmed by about one degree. Warming is also accelerating. Therefore, almost all scientists are of the opinion that one must act quickly in order to still reach the goal.
How can you protect the climate?
Much of what we do on a daily basis releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Many areas of our lives consume a lot of energy: at home when moving around, in factories, and so on. In order to protect the climate, we must on the one hand try to use less energy. On the other hand, we must ensure that this energy is as clean as possible.
At present, a lot of energy is still obtained from so-called fossil fuels. These are energy sources that have been stored underground for millions of years. Huge amounts of carbon dioxide have been stored in them since that time. When they are burned, this carbon dioxide escapes into the atmosphere. Fossil fuels include, for example, crude oil, natural gas, and hard coal.
Instead of these fossil fuels, only renewable energies should be used. Electricity should therefore be produced with wind turbines, solar cells, or hydropower. Researchers are working to improve these techniques and invent new techniques to produce renewable energy. In the future, cars, airplanes, and other means of transport could also run on electricity from renewable energies.
Some fuels can also grow back: they are made from plants, for example. So-called biogas can also be produced in this way, for example, to heat a house. There are also engines that run on hydrogen. Hydrogen is a fuel, the use of which only produces water that is harmless to the climate.
But even these cleaner sources of energy have their weaknesses. Hydrogen must first be produced. This in turn requires a lot of energy. Windmills can be dangerous for many birds and disturb the beauty of the landscape for many people. The production of solar cells consumes a lot of energy. Dams change the natural course of rivers and destroy the habitat of many animals. Many of these energy sources also do not supply the same amount of energy all the time. Solar cells don’t work at night, for example. It is therefore important to store electricity somehow, but this has so far been very expensive.
There is also a problem with renewable energy sources and fuels: if you cultivate something in a field in order to generate energy from it, you cannot cultivate edible plants there at the same time. Or the edible plants are turned into biogas. Even then there is less food.
A lot of things that are good for the climate are not automatically good for the environment as a whole. Climate protection therefore also includes continuing research into these and other clean energy sources. The goal is that they provide more energy and have fewer bad effects on other areas.
Сlimate protection
Climate protection means that people work to ensure that the climate does not change so much. The earth has been warming up since industrialization in the 19th century. This is mainly due to greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. If there is more of it in the atmosphere, then it gets warmer: the heat from the sun that hits the earth can no longer leave the earth so easily.
The goal of climate protection is to keep the warming of our planet well below two degrees Celsius. Scientists assume that even more warming would have very bad consequences for our planet and its inhabitants. This goal was set by almost every country in the world in Paris in 2015.
However, the climate has already been warmed by about one degree. Warming is also accelerating. Therefore, almost all scientists are of the opinion that one must act quickly in order to still reach the goal.
How can you protect the climate?
Much of what we do on a daily basis releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Many areas of our lives consume a lot of energy: at home when moving around, in factories, and so on. In order to protect the climate, we must try on the one hand to use less energy. On the other hand, we must ensure that this energy is as clean as possible.
At present, a lot of energy is still obtained from so-called fossil fuels. These are energy sources that have been stored underground for millions of years. Huge amounts of carbon dioxide have been stored in them since that time. When they are burned, this carbon dioxide escapes into the atmosphere. Fossil fuels include, for example, crude oil, natural gas, and hard coal.
Instead of these fossil fuels, only renewable energies should be used. Electricity should therefore be produced with wind turbines, solar cells, or hydropower. Researchers are working to improve these techniques and invent new techniques to produce renewable energy. In the future, cars, airplanes, and other means of transport could also run on electricity from renewable energies.
Some fuels can also grow back: they are made from plants, for example. So-called biogas can also be produced in this way, for example, to heat a house. There are also engines that run on hydrogen. Hydrogen is a fuel, the use of which only produces water that is harmless to the climate.
But even these cleaner sources of energy have their weaknesses. Hydrogen must first be produced. This in turn requires a lot of energy. Windmills can be dangerous for many birds and disturb the beauty of the landscape for many people. The production of solar cells consumes a lot of energy. Dams change the natural course of rivers and destroy the habitat of many animals. Many of these energy sources also do not supply the same amount of energy all the time. Solar cells don’t work at night, for example. It is therefore important to store electricity somehow, but this has been so far very expensive.
There is also a problem with renewable energy sources and fuels: if you cultivate something in a field in order to generate energy from it, you cannot cultivate edible plants there at the same time. Or the edible plants are turned into biogas. Even then there is less food.
A lot of things that are good for the climate are not automatically good for the environment as a whole. Climate protection therefore also includes continuing research into these and other clean energy sources. The goal is that they provide more energy and have fewer bad effects on other areas.
Plants have always removed carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This happens during photosynthesis. Forests are therefore very important for climate protection and should be preserved. However, we humans are currently releasing more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than plants can absorb. In addition, more and more forest is being cut down. Planting new forests could store more carbon dioxide in the form of wood. We’re talking about reforestation. Some researchers have drawn up plans to bind as much carbon dioxide as possible with millions of new trees.
Algae also play an important role in climate protection. Because there are so many, they bind many tons of carbon dioxide per year. When algae die, they sink to the sea floor and the carbon dioxide with them. Thus, they permanently remove a lot from the atmosphere. In this way, they could also bind more carbon dioxide. However, it is still unclear what consequences this would otherwise have.
Research is also being carried out into technical options for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. So-called artificial trees can filter carbon dioxide from the air. This carbon dioxide can then be used. It can be used as fertilizer for plants in a greenhouse or used to make artificial fuels. However, this technology is not yet sufficient to remove large amounts of greenhouse gas from the air.
Ways are also being developed for power plants that use fossil fuels such as coal to release less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Instead of releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, it is channeled into rock deep underground. So it no longer contributes to warming.
People often say that something is “climate neutral”. On the one hand, this can mean that a product was manufactured entirely with renewable energies and therefore no carbon dioxide actually entered the atmosphere. But it can also mean that carbon dioxide has indeed entered the atmosphere. But the manufacturer has supported projects that save the same amount of carbon dioxide again. So there is no more greenhouse gas in the atmosphere than there was before. This is also called “compensation”. A long flight, for example, releases a lot of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Therefore, some travelers voluntarily pay more money to an organization. This spends the money on projects that save the same amount of carbon dioxide that was generated during the flight. This makes the flight “climate neutral”.
Is the climate protected enough?
In 1990, in the Japanese city of Kyoto, almost every country in the world set targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions for the first time. Since then, some countries have already reduced some of their greenhouse gases. Globally, greenhouse gas emissions have continued to rise.
However, more and more people are now convinced that climate change is extremely dangerous and can already be felt. They want their governments to protect the climate better. Since the end of 2018, the young people from Fridays for Future and many other environmental protection organizations around the world have been campaigning for this. More and more celebrities are also using their level of fame to draw attention to climate change.
In many countries, governments have decided or will decide on climate protection plans. These countries want to gradually release fewer greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Many countries have plans to become carbon neutral or nearly carbon neutral by 2050. To this end, they must implement many measures in the coming years so that this goal can be achieved.
This is often referred to as the price of carbon dioxide. In the future, more and more countries will have to pay money per tonne of carbon dioxide that they emit. It is hoped that the prize will encourage people and companies to reduce carbon emissions.
Climate protection also means that people have to adapt to the changing climate. For example, cities on the seashore have to reckon with rising sea levels. You should therefore start thinking about how to protect yourself from flooding today. Foresters must maintain their forests in such a way that they can survive in a warmer and more extreme climate.
But there have long been more far-reaching plans to combat climate change. Humans would have a major impact on the Earth’s climate. One idea would be to launch certain satellites into space. Like a kind of parasol, these would ensure that fewer sun rays reach the earth and cool it down. Another idea would be to put chemicals in the atmosphere that would cool it down.
However, all of these ideas are very controversial because they would certainly also entail further risks and problems. They could also raise false hope. Most scientists, therefore, think that we should first do everything we can to stop climate change with less risky methods.