BioQuakes

AP Biology class blog for discussing current research in Biology

Tag: carbon dioxide emissions

COVID-19 New Target: The Environment

The deadly COVID-19 virus has changed our way of living greatly, including individual human behavior as well as behavior on a larger scale regarding businesses and factories.

National Geographic published an article written by Beth Gardiner surrounding the misconception on how the environment has been impacted by this widespread virus. It is noted that many people assume the environment is in a thriving state due to a major decrease of time humans spent outside of their home. Ultimately this is not the case, the question is what’s really happening to our earth in this time of uncertainty?

The only way to answer this question is to look back on the beginning of the worldwide lockdown. In April 2020, people stayed inside, there was limited traveling occurring, and businesses and factories closed, with this information it imperative to see how this vast change impacted our surroundings. It was found that “daily global carbon emissions were down by 17 percent”. Although seemingly positive, this number is not much higher than that of previous years around a similar time. This means that with a complete lifestyle change from every single person and cooperation in the world, we still are unable to show a substantial amount of beneficial actions towards the environment to save it.

Now we all may know that carbon is released into the air in a variety of ways, however it is important to distinguish the differences in these ways. One of the most known, harmless ways is how living organisms release or interact with carbon. As we breathe we inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, releasing it into the atmosphere, however plants and trees can use this CO2 to preform necessary tasks such as photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the process where “plants use the energy from sunlight to produce glucose from carbon dioxide and water”. This process is crucial to support the life of a plant and provides their “food” to keep them thriving. Once the glucose is produced in the plant, pyruvate can be created. Pyruvic acid provides energy, ultimately allowing the increase of ATP production during the cellular respiration process.

ATP is energy used to power different processes such as forms of active transport allowing substances to move from a low to high concentration, unlike passive transport. ATP is not required when passive transport is occurring. As ATP is produced, it can be stored to be used later for processes such as cellular respiration and photosynthesis which are crucial in maintaining healthy plant cells, however, ATP can not be stored in its usual form, it must be in the form of storage molecules such as the carbohydrate glycogen. Carbohydrates function to store and release energy, once ATP is needed, it will be transformed out of it’s storage form back to ATP.

Now why is this background information important? Now that we see the good natural carbon dioxide does, we need to focus on how a certain type is damaging our planet. Carbon dioxide is emitted through the usage of gas from cars and factory productions, things so normalized on a daily basis. When these machines and vehicles release carbon, it has no where to go besides the atmosphere and plants can only take in so much carbon, ultimately its just pollution. This pollution now sits in our atmosphere and builds up as more time goes on. Carbon is needed to regulate and take in the inferred energy the earth releases, otherwise known as heat. Although carbon absorbs this energy, it still needs to go somewhere and one of those places is back into the earth’s environment. The excess amount of carbon in the atmosphere leads to something called climate change ultimately the more carbon released and built up, the hotter the earth will get which can make the earth inhospitable if we make no change. Another negative of the carbon build up in the atmosphere, is the effect is has on marine life. Carbon can make water acidic which damages the habitats and living conditions of underwater life.

Now that Carbon emission is fully explained and exemplified, lets answer our initial question. How has COVID-19 played apart in environmental issues. As mentioned there is evidence in a decrease in carbon emissions when human behavior was significantly changed, however the decrease barely surpassed that of previous years when life was ‘normal’. As things began to open up and manufacturing continued, it was found that the amount of carbon emissions went right back up to where there initially were. “In China, traffic is back to pre-pandemic levels”, and “factories pushed to make up for lost time, pollution returned in early May to pre-coronavirus levels, and in some places surpassed them”, disproving the idea that COVID-19 has been beneficial to our environment. Ultimately we have shown no progress in improving our environment even when almost every aspect of typical life was shut down. COVID-19 instilled panic in everyone including factories that are now just working to pollute the atmosphere more while they still can.

The Climate of COVID-19

COVID-19 has opened the door for speculations about the trajectory of climate change. Although initially I would have expected the pandemic to solely have beneficial impacts on climate change, there are plenty of negative developments as well.

The pandemic decreased in transportation and industrial activity leading to a 17 percent drop in daily global carbon emissions in April. But…

“CO2 levels in the atmosphere reached their highest monthly average ever recorded in May — 417.1 parts per million. This is because the carbon dioxide humans have already emitted can remain in the atmosphere for a hundred years; some of it could last tens of thousands of years.”

Some long term issues COVID-19 may cause in terms of climate change include…

Amazon Deforestation:  The Amazon rainforest absorbs two billion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere a year and is one of the most effective ways of mitigating carbon in the atmosphere. While Brazil was focusing on controlling the virus, illegal loggers were taking advantage of the forest: 464 square miles of the rainforest was destroyed. 

Climate policies: Countries and companies are inclined to delay or cancel investments in climate action policies if their income has been impacted by the pandemic. 

For example, President Trump has weakened the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to speed construction permits. 

Scientific research: Quarantine and travel bans have restricted scientists from traveling to do their fieldwork, and there’s a limit to how much can be accomplished with data and computers alone. 

COVID-19 may result in an approximately five to eight percent reduction in average global emissions for the year, and while this is a small amount in the context of the whole system, it offers a rare opportunity to see how Earth responds to cuts on carbon emissions.“

Plastic: COVID-19 has increased the need for plastic gloves and masks, and plexiglass dividers in public spaces.

This results in more litter, particularly gloves and masks. Covid related waste is already washing up on shores around the world. The use of plastic packaging and bags has soared because restaurants rely on take-out and delivery food. Ordering all sorts of other items online has also resulted in more packaging materials, increasing the carbon footprint of e-commerce. 

More cars: The CDC has urged companies to offer incentives to encourage people to ride or drive alone to minimize contact with others. These guidelines are prompting more individual car use, which will cause traffic congestion and air pollution, and increase greenhouse gas emissions. Also, people are moving out of cities and to suburbs which result in more driving. 

Looking at the positive climate outcomes of the pandemic…

Green recovery: “The European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, has put forth the world’s greenest stimulus plan — a 750 billion euro ($825 billion) economic recovery plan with the goal for the EU to be carbon neutral by 2050.”

The U.S. Treasury Department has given renewable energy projects more time to take advantage of tax credits.

Transportation: To give alternatives to public transportation, cities have closed off streets for pedestrians and increased bike lanes.

Travel: Transportation is responsible for 23% of global carbon emissions, with 11% of it’s greenhouse gas emissions due to aviation. The decrease in international air travel due to COVID-19 has reduced CO2 emissions.

With people working from home, there will continue to be less international business travel. International trade may also decrease as countries recognize the need to produce more goods domestically.

Living simply: The pandemic has restricted eating out, also restricting the processing, packaging and transporting of food that add to our carbon footprint. More people may be trying to eat less meat, eat more locally or grow a garden, and stay away from processed foods to maintain a healthier immune system. With the scary reality of empty shelves in stores at the beginning of the pandemic, there is a lasting inclination to not waste food. 

In AP Bio class, we recently learned about the internal effects of eating unhealthy, even comparing two lifestyles in a lab. We found that a person’s food choices directly correlate with the demand for insulin. When a person eats more unhealthy food, they gain more glucose than they would eating healthy food as seen in the chart. When a person had two unhealthy meals they gained 40 glucose and used 18 insulin while when they had two healthy meals they gained 20 glucose and only used 8 insulin. They have to regulate the glucose in their body much more when they eat unhealthy rather than when they eat healthy. In learning about the immune system,  in order for the system to protect the body from pathogens, cellular defenses benefits from healthy cells. The different systems of the body are all connected, when you eat healthy, it benefits your systems at a cellular level.

There has been a drop in the production of consumer goods which contribute to climate change with raw materials extraction, processing, logistics, retail and storage. 

With “normal” sources of daily entertainment shut down, people have been spending more time in nature, potentially growing an appreciation for nature. Hopefully people will protect and care more for the environment.

Global Warming is now affecting the next Ice age

Carbon dioxide emissions in our atmosphere are not only creating global warming but are disrupting the earth’s environmental cycle. Ice ages  occur very rarely in the earths history but it is essential to the earths environmental cycle. According to a study done at Cambridge University, University College London, the University of Florida and Norway’s University of Bergen, the high levels of carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere has disrupted this cycle and the next ice age is delayed to at least 1500 years

An Ice Age is a period of time where the earth’s temperature is consistently low resulting in ice sheets and glaciers. Long-term reduction in the earth’s surface temperature and atmospheric temperature creates ice sheets and glaciers. The glaciers reflect the suns energy and absorb less energy. Earth is currently in an interglacial period, warm period, for 10,000 to 15,000 years.

The study was conducted at Cambridge University, University College London, the University of Florida and Norway’s University of Bergen; they used rock samples and information about the variations in the earths orbit. Through research they figured out that the next ice age will not be until 1500 years. However, it will only occur in the next 1500 years if carbon dioxide emissions do not exceed 240 ppmv and we are currently at 390 ppmv. Carbon Dioxide emissions are rising not decreasing so the next ice age might be delayed longer than 1500 years if we do not reduce carbon emissions.

Link to article

Other Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_age

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide_emission

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/9002131/Carbon-emissions-to-block-next-ice-

age.htmlhttp://www.voanews.com/english/news/environment/-Global-Warming-Could-Delay-Next-Ice-Age-137029543.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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