Solving climate change may be the biggest challenge facing mankind. There are many people all over the world trying to deal with it in different ways. Some methods may surprise you.
1. Increase female education rate
Increasing the education rate of people on a global scale does not seem to need to be said, but increasing the education penetration rate of girls will not only bring social and economic benefits, but also help fight climate change.
Part of the reason is that the longer girls receive education in school, the later they will have children. If all girls in the world can receive secondary education before 2050, then the world will be less than predicted. 840 million people.
When it comes to climate change, population is indeed a sensitive topic. Compared with rich countries, the carbon footprint of the population of poor countries is relatively small, but the overall growth of the global population will make the earth’s resources increasingly tight.
It is not just population statistics that make girls’ education affected. Educated women have higher chances of employment, business, and politics, and they are a secret weapon to protect the earth’s climate.
Studies have shown that allowing more women to bear more decision-making roles can improve climate policy because female leaders are more willing to listen to scientific advice. This can be seen from the measures taken by countries around the world to deal with the new crown epidemic.
Nowadays, many charitable organizations have invested in the popularization of education, and they have also achieved results. The education rate of girls around the world is increasing. In the 1980s, only 39% of women in Bangladesh received secondary education. Now it has increased to 70%.
2. Bamboo: It’s not just giant pandas who need bamboo
Bamboo is the fastest growing plant in the world. Not only the apical meristem can grow, but each section of bamboo has intervening meristems, and each section grows at the same time. Bamboo absorbs carbon faster than other trees. The hardness of bamboo is even better than that of steel after being processed and remanufactured.
The various properties of bamboo make it a super sustainable material for construction and furniture manufacturing.
In the past in China, it was generally believed that “wood could not be bought, but bamboo was the only thing”, but now bamboo has changed its appearance. Bamboo products are not only sustainable, but also low-carbon alternatives to steel, aluminum, plastics and concrete.
Planting bamboo has other benefits to the environment. Bamboo is more susceptible to pests and can increase soil fertility, avoid soil loss, and reduce the risk of flooding.
Indonesia’s Environmental Bamboo Foundation (Environmental Bamboo Foundation) is a charitable organization dedicated to the restoration of land and the absorption of carbon emissions. The organization plans to establish 1,000 “bamboo villages”.
Each bamboo village has 20 square kilometers of forests composed of bamboo and other crops and livestock. The agency hopes to extend the plan to 9 other countries.
Staff Arif said, “Together, Zhuzi Village can absorb and remove 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year.”
3. Use the law to deal with major polluters
There are more and more environmental and climate lawyers using legal approaches to solve climate change issues. In fact, the legal system is the most powerful weapon against major polluters (whether companies or governments).
Recently, the Dutch court ruled that Shell must comply with legal requirements to reduce carbon emissions and comply with the policy provisions of the Paris climate contract. This is a historic case of judgment.
It is not only environmental laws that can play a role. Innovative lawyers also cite human rights laws, labor and employment laws, and even corporate laws to deal with climate change.
In 2020, a minority shareholder group with only 35 US dollars in shares successfully blocked the construction of a coal factory in Poland. How did they do it? An environmental group used its stake in a Polish energy company and cited corporate law to challenge the company’s support for coal plants.
The court finally found that the process of building a new coal plant was illegal.
4. Eliminate leaky refrigerators
Every refrigerator, freezer and air conditioner contains chemical coolants, such as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).
Hydrofluorocarbons are toxic greenhouse gases, even more harmful than carbon dioxide, posing a huge threat to the global environment.
In 2017, world leaders agreed to phase out this chemical coolant, which would reduce the global temperature rise by 0.5 degrees.
However, the number of existing refrigerators, freezers, and air-conditioners is so large that the hazards of HFCs are still not to be ignored, and refrigerators, freezers, and air-conditioners are likely to leak HFCs when their service life is about to expire. Therefore, recycling and safe disposal of these devices are essential.
There are many professional teams around the world dedicated to recycling refrigerators, freezers and air-conditioners. They will also go to the old factory warehouses to look for scrapped refrigerators and freezers and air-conditioners, and properly recycle them.
5. Slippery vessel
The international shipping industry has a great influence on the world economy. 90% of international trade is carried by ships, and the carbon emissions of shipping account for 2% of man-made emissions, and this number will increase in the next few decades.
We rely so much on the shipping industry, and we also rely on ships, and the tiny marine creatures attached to the hull, barnacles, have caused us a lot of trouble.
Too many barnacles attached to the hull will increase the shipping resistance and waste fuel, so it needs to be cleaned regularly and coated with special paint to prevent the barnacles from adhering.
Compared with “slippery ships”, ships with barnacles can waste up to 25% of fuel, emit more greenhouse gases, and waste 31 billion U.S. dollars in fuel around the world every year.
In order to avoid fuel waste and prevent barnacles from adhering, the shipping industry uses a variety of methods to make the ship slippery, including a special UV coating and the use of machinery to clean the hull.
The basic concept is that prevention is more important than treatment, to reduce the mucus attached to the bottom of the boat, so as to avoid the attachment of marine organisms, just like we brush our teeth every morning and night to prevent dental caries.
6. Super rice
You may not know that growing rice will create a large carbon footprint. In fact, the carbon emissions of global rice production are equivalent to the aviation industry.
This is because most rice is currently grown in paddy fields, but the water in the paddy fields blocks atmospheric oxygen from entering the soil, which is an ideal environment for methane-producing bacteria.
The effect of every kilogram of methane on global warming is 25 times higher than that of carbon dioxide.
In order to alleviate the threat to the climate, scientists are studying a super rice, this new variety of rice can be grown on dry land, saving water and reducing methane emissions.
The International Rice Research Institute (International Rice Research Institute) is studying 650 new rice varieties, trying to breed the most ideal new varieties.
Scientists hope to find super rice varieties within 10 years, so that most rice can be grown in dry fields and reduce emissions.
Picture: The picture for this article was commissioned by the BBC Climate Solutions Project and the Open University.