The Planetary Fix

Two of the greenhouse gases that are most responsible for the increase in global temperature in the last decade are carbon dioxide and methane. To study the emission of methane in the Amazon, the “lungs of the Earth” as it is called, the author of this essay went with his colleagues—at an organization fighting climate change and global warming—deep into the forest, whose wetlands and dense greenery made research as challenging as possible.

The Amazonia, as anyone concerned about climate change would expect, has been a severe victim of global warming. More interestingly, the effects of temperature rise on one part of the forest are the exact opposite of that on another: while the northern Amazonia has seen an unprecedented high degree of rainfall, the southern part is experiencing droughts and warming that are, like the rain, climbing higher in severity every year.

It is high time we took steps to prevent global warming—although this sentence is a sort of cliché itself, it holds within it a lot more than what it says. The temperatures recorded across different places, like the Amazon rainforest and other critical parts of the world, have already crossed the bar of the highest temperature humans can endure.

To address this issue, the author suggests starting from our home. The amount of carbon dioxide one person uses every day, excluding that needed to prepare food, is surprisingly high, creating a scope for us to significantly cut carbon emissions simply by shifting to electric ovens from gas stoves.

Despite electric cars not using fossil fuels directly in their process of power supply, widespread usage of them across different continents doesn’t waive the fact that more supply of these electric vehicles leads to more deforestation, more combustion of fossil fuels in the supply chain, and more mining in otherwise natural areas to extract more lithium as the raw material for batteries. Hence, what will make more of a contribution to fighting carbon emissions is using bicycles for short-distance commutes, taking public transport more often, and avoiding motor vehicles now and then without considerable reason.

Methane, interestingly, is an exceptional kind of greenhouse gas that—thanks to its chemical properties—completely vanishes from the atmosphere within one or two decades after its initial release. Here opens another window for industries: if somehow methane emissions by factories can be stopped, we can completely get rid of this dreadful substance from our air.

At the end, the author doesn’t solely suggest a simple target of stopping what, intentionally or unintentionally, pushes our ecosystem to an end that none of us desire, but highly prioritizes the notion of recovering our earth. It is not totally impossible, especially when there exist proven and potential steps for all—from individuals to industries—to address the issue from their own zone.

This summary is based on Rob Jackson’s essay “The Planetary Fix” (Aeon), which explores climate solutions through both individual choices and systemic reforms that can collectively restore planetary balance. Main essay link: https://aeon.co/essays/we-can-still-get-out-of-the-climate-hellocene-and-into-the-clear