Environmental Engineering and Global Warming

Global warming is a crisis we are in the midst of. How can environmental engineering help to reduce and control this crisis?

An issue that has had a global reach and has gripped activists, politicians, governments and people around the world in this century is global warming. Human activity, which includes primarily fossil fuel burning (release of carbons and hydrocarbons) and deforestation (human logging) is causing damage to the natural habitat, biodiversity and the climate of the world. The temperature of the earth is said to have increased from 0.74 ± 0.18 Celsius between the start and the end of the 20th century.

Global warming

In the simplest terms, global warming is a result of the increased discharge of greenhouse gases (GHG) from vehicles, industrial plants, forest burnings, smoke stacks. The carbon dioxide released traps the heat which the earth absorbs from the sun and blocks it from being released back into space. This causes extreme weather – severe heat, more rain, more draught, intense flooding and more storms. At this rate, the planet is said to be facing extinction of several species, ecological systems, poor health of human beings and a complete reorientation of agricultural patterns.

Effects of global warming in India

Global warming is predicted to cause natural and economic disasters in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Although India at the Copenhagen Climate Summit proposed to keep the rise in temperature within 2 degrees Celsius of preindustrial times, the failure of the talks has kept the world on its toes.

The Himalayas are said to be warming at a rate higher than the global average. What this translates into is that if the glaciers, which supply water to 500 million people, melt and the oceans get warmer then environmental disasters such as coral bleaching in the Andamans and Lakshwadeep islands will become common. Apart from the disruption of the reef ecosystem, Bangladesh will suffer from fresh water non-availability, disturbance of morphological processes, and higher intensity of flooding, to name a few.

Economically, the region will witness a large scale migration from Bangladesh to Meghalaya. A mainly agricultural economy, flooding and submersion will cause Bangladesh’s already unstable economy to languish further.

India’s Gross Domestic Product is estimated to fall by 9 per cent in the event of severe climate changes that will affect the production of staple crops like rice. It is also predicted that Mumbai and Chennai will be partially submerged with a rise in global temperatures.

Although India is not one of the biggest dischargers of greenhouse gases in the world, the thick smog and pollution of the urban and industrial areas in the country are affecting the surrounding ecology. Carbon and dust travel with the winds to higher altitudes of the Himalayas and heats the area over the Tibetan plateau. Burning biomass in northwestern India is another factor which contributes to the problem.

Enter the environmental engineers

Environmental engineers are the professionals in charge of tackling this catastrophe in waiting. Apart from normal urban planning, their expertise is now required in dealing with the waste and toxic output of localities and countries at large.

Environmental engineers are supposed to assess the potential and extent of the hazard in question. They are supposed to offer analysis on the treatment and containment of the problem. On completion of the required task at hand, the engineers are supposed to develop long term plans and regulations to prevent any further mishaps. On a larger scale, environmental engineers are also entrusted with the job of designing municipal water supply and industrial waste water treatment system. Along with it is part of their responsibility to reduce the effects of acid rain, global warming, automobile emissions, ozone depletion, and even protection of wildlife.

Contribution to a possible solution

The Journal of Environmental Engineering on 16th November, 2009, published a recent discovery to a new form of renewable energy which can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save landfill space for non-biodegradable materials. Municipal Solid Waste was made to undergo biodegradation and was converted to methane which is a valuable energy source. This study which was conducted in the United States promises that the conversion of 15 billion KWh/year of renewable energy can annually supply electricity for 1.3 million households in United States. This whole process will also reduce greenhouse gas emission to 146 million CO2 per year because of diminished landfill activity and use of biogenic methane instead of fossil fuels for the production of electricity.