Quamrul Haider

Known for its overwhelming natural beauty and incredible ice formations, Alaska, the largest state (in area) of the United States is home to a multitude of geological wonders.

Alaska may not fit the bill for what most people envision as a vacation, but it has been on my family’s bucket list for a long time.

In an op-ed piece published in this newspaper on August 27, 2019, I discussed a number of methods within the context of Solar Radiation Management (SRM) as a way of mitigating some of the impacts of climate change. They are whitening low-level clouds, thinning the Cirrus clouds, injecting sulphate aerosols into the stratosphere, or putting sunshades (mirrors and/or reflectors) in outer space.

In the Environmental Physics course that I teach from time to time, a student once remarked that we really do not have to worry about the deleterious effects of climate change because technology would be able to solve all the problems we are facing.

Since the Industrial Revolution, we have created a hodgepodge of human systems that are at odds with natural systems that support them. In the process, we are pushing billions of people into a dystopian future by bequeathing them with a climate crisis.

Nick-Named the “Last Frontier”, Alaska is the largest state (in area) of the United States. It is also one of the richest states, thanks to its abundance of natural resources, such as oil, natural gas, gold and fish. The state is home to a vast expanse of pristine wilderness, towering mountains, breathtaking glaciers and big game animals.

The picture is crystal clear. Human activity will soon drive the climate crisis all across our planet to the tipping point unless we rapidly transform the ways in which we produce and consume energy. While renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency measures can help dramatically cut emissions of greenhouse gases, they are not the panacea for the climate change related problems that we have created.

Today is “World Oceans Day,” a day observed worldwide to raise our awareness of the crucial role the oceans play in sustaining life on Earth. It is also a day to appreciate the beauty of the oceans that “brings eternal joy to the soul.”

It is obvious that global efforts to combat climate change—that were agreed upon at the 21st Conference of Parties in Paris—have already gone off the rails.

The temperature of the Earth changes over geologic time. During periods of glaciation, it was about five degrees Celsius cooler and in the interglacial period about five degrees warmer.

Every year since 1995, our leaders or their representatives met at the so-called Conference of Parties, debating climate change, global warming in particular.

Our planet is under tremendous stress. During the last week of January, major cities in the US Midwest and Northeast were colder than some regions in Antarctica.

Climate change has become a political football in the last 20 years. The “un”-stable American genius once mocked climate change as a Chinese hoax.

Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, we have pumped nearly 2,000 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Moreover, in April of this year, the average concentration of carbon dioxide reached a dubious milestone—410 parts per million—according to data recorded at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. Carbon dioxide hasn't been this high in millions of years.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concedes that limiting the rise in global temperature under two degrees Celsius before the end of this century is impossible without reducing emission of carbon dioxide to zero by 2050.

Today, we are witnessing a lively, sometimes acrimonious, debate over global warming. Science, economics and politics are all mixed up in this debate.

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions might be affecting more than just the climate. For the first time, scientists at NASA presented evidence that the orientation of the Earth's spin axis is changing because of global warming.

The world's oceans constitute a vast natural reservoir for receiving and storing solar energy. They take in solar energy in proportion to their surface area, nearly three times that of land. As the sun warms the oceans, it creates a significant temperature difference between the surface water and the deeper water to which sunlight doesn't penetrate.

It is with profound sorrow we write this piece about our dear friend Imtiaz Hasan Habib (1949-2018), who died peacefully while asleep in the early morning hours of August 27 at his home in Norfolk, Virginia.

During a recent trip to Bermuda, what impressed me most about this island nation were the tidy pastel houses with stucco exteriors and artistically built brilliant white roofs with grooves perfectly placed amid the palm trees for which the island is famous.