UP Ibalon Bicol: Fighting global warming and pollution

Fighting global warming and pollution

9/26/2009 | Posted by mesiamd | Edit Post

On my way home this Wednesday, September 23, 2009 from NYU Clinical Cancer Center, I wasn’t able to use my usual route to Queensboro bridge using First Avenue where the UN Headquarters building stands. Many police officers guarded each street corner preventing motorists like me to go close to the United Nations building which was having a general assembly. I almost crossed a red light when a police officer distracted me with the brisk order that I had to change course. In spite of the onset of fall, the weather was hot.

At Third Avenue, it took me almost an hour to reach the bridge to Astoria and I had time to listen to the radio inside my car, one among those that clogged the streets. What was discussed in the airwaves was the climate summit in UN where Pres. Barack Obama warned of worldwide catastrophes if nothing is done on global change. His tone was almost hyperbolic, but an NY tabloid printed alarming articles of the disasters that may befall the city if man-made global warming is not halted.

America is the biggest polluter of the environment. Obama is speaking for planet preservation, but the United States is not among the countries who signed the Kyoto Treaty on the environment. Among the fastest growing economies and significant polluters, China and India ignore their hydrogen fuel and methane gas emissions. Like the US, if they strictly comply with the standards by cutting their emissions, their industries will suffer.

The believers of global warming are as many as those who doubt its existence. The UN scientific panel studying environmental changes said in February 2007 that global warming is real and “unequivocal,” and for the last 50 years, human activity i.e. industrial use of fossil fuel and burning of forests, is likely to have contributed to the alteration the earth’s climate. The UN speakers ominously told the world that time is running out before global catastrophes occur.

“The latest report from the climate panel predicted that the global climate is likely to rise between 3.5 and 8 degrees Fahrenheit if the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere reaches twice the level of 1750. By 2100, sea levels are likely to rise between 7 to 23 inches, it said, and the changes now underway will continue for centuries to come. “ ---New York Times (09/25/09, Science)

I’m reminded by hypocrisy when leaders who support measures to rescue the planet are among the biggest contributors of CO2 emissions and pollution. In New York, the streets are filled with gas guzzlers that give rides to the UN delegates. In their expensive limousines, diplomats and head of states display their disregard of global warming ---their limousines burn lots of hydrocarbons as they idle on the streets.

Former vice-president Al Gore, America’s leading advocate against global warming who was awarded an Oscar for a documentary “The Inconvenient Truth” had been repeatedly criticized for his jet travels that ruin the ozone layer. Senators and congressmen are similarly cited for their lifestyles that contribute to environmental damage. If these guys are serious about cleaning up the pollution and saving the earth, I guess the work on the environment must be done right at their home and backyard. (Photo Credit: freejay3) =0=

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Labels: Al Gore, disaster, environment, environmental stress, global warming, pollution, Totie Mesia, United Nations

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Fighting global warming and pollution

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