GREENHOUSE GAS LEVELS RISING AT FASTEST RATE

GREENHOUSE GASES HIT RECORD HIGH 
AMID FEARS OF CO2 SATURATION POINT

http://news.nationalgeographic.com - The amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a new record high in 2013, propelled by a surge in levels of carbon dioxide, the World Meteorological Organization reported Tuesday, raising the threat of increased global warming. The scientists warn that the Earth's natural ability to store and mediate the gases through oceans, plants, and other means may be approaching a saturation point, which could exacerbate current warming. Not all scientists agree, however. 
The World Meteorological Organization's annual report “shows that, far from falling, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere actually increased last year at the fastest rate for nearly 30 years,” said Michel Jarraud, the group's secretary-general.

Scientists who contributed to the report, called the “Greenhouse Gas Bulletin,” noted that carbon dioxide levels rose more between 2012 and 2013 than during any other year since 1984. The report showed that between 1990 and 2013, the energy in the atmosphere increased by 34 percent. Normally, about a quarter of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere are absorbed by plants, while another quarter dissolves into the ocean. 
But the ability of plants and oceans to keep on absorbing excess greenhouse gases may be slowing as those systems approach what may be a saturation point, the organization's scientists warn. The growing amount of CO2 in oceans has been raising the acidity of seawater, which scientists warn has serious implications for the growth of corals and other marine creatures.

This article, written by Brian Clark Howard, from National Geographic, informs about a surge in atmospheric CO2 saw levels of greenhouse gases reach record levels in 2013, according to new figures. Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere between 2012 and 2013 grew at their fastest rate since 1984. The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) says that it highlights the need for a global climate treaty. Because carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for many hundreds of years and in the ocean for even longer, “past, present, and future CO2 emissions will have a cumulative impact on both global warming and ocean acidification. The laws of physics are non-negotiable,” experts said. As the temperatures continue to rise, the negative consequences of climate change on agriculture will be increasingly serious. Without effective measures in response, by the latter part of the 21st century, climate change could still constitute a threat to the world’s food security. To place where they can graze animals to be killed to satisfy man's desire to eat meat, the forests are removed. When trees and plants are destroyed, the CO2 stored inside them escapes back into the air. Besides that, growing fodder for farmed animals implies heavy use of synthetic fertilizers produced with fossil fuels. While the process of keeping farm animals emits a huge amount of CO2, fertilizer itself releases nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that is 296 times more potent than CO2. We must stop the widespread industrial consumption of meat, a giant factory of mass destruction of animals, with the high cost of causing increased release of CO2 in the atmosphere and the suffering of millions of helpless who are suffering unnecessarily just for the man's desire to taste their flesh. (Editor's note).

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

A 2006 report from the United Nations reveals the surprising fact that ‘raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined.’ Tens of billions of animals farmed for food release gases such as methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide through their massive amounts of manure. Animals such as cows and sheep, being ruminant, emit huge amount of methane due to flatulence and burping. “The released methane,” the report says, “has 23 times the global warming potential of CO2.” It is very alarming to note that the livestock industry alone is responsible for 37% of human induced methane emissions. To make room for these animals to graze, virgin forests are cleared. The livestock industry also needs vast stretches of land to raise mono crops to feed the animals. [...] All that people all the world over have to do is to avoid meat eating. In the absence of demand for meat, there is no more need for breeding millions of animals for daily slaughter. The reversal of global warming is a certainty. If it is too much for one to switch to be a total vegetarian one needs to give up at least red meat eating. This the only option one has.

Śrīla Swami Dayananda Saraswati :
“A Solution for Global Warming”
An interview by Andrew Cohen on Sept 7, 2008 
Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, Saylorsburg, PA 
http://www.arshavidya.org
http://www.arshavidhyapitam.org

Published by dasavatara das - “Vedic Views on World News”
http://www.vedicviews-worldnews.blogspot.com.ar/