What Do We Do?

What have my attempts to obtain a deeper understanding of our ocean and climate systems led me to believe? After a term of trying to tackle and discuss a range of environmental issues and concerns, I am still stumped. There is an array of issues that I am most definitely oblivious to, let alone been able to write about.

As I have implied in previous blog posts, this sudden exposure to the realities of climate change have transmitted various warning signals into my head which got me questioning the status quo of our society. I am not exaggerating when I say that I have never had so much conflict in my mind about the ‘rights’ and ‘wrongs’ of the world we live in. It is driving me crazy that there are multiple grey areas when it comes to things like sustainable development and efforts to ‘save the planet’.

I remember rushing home after our COP21 simulation session to text my mother and tell her that we needed to do everything in our power to reduce CO₂ emissions. Over the Christmas holidays, I recall getting into a tiff with my older brother who was simply expressing his desire to own a sports car (he is a car enthusiast). I told him he should only own one and I even jokingly threatened to never speak to him if he ever broke that ultimatum. I later realised how extremist I made myself sound on my part and I felt bad. However, I have since been continuously thinking about the possibility of our capitalist system being a hindrance to achieving certain environmental targets. Idealistic, I know, but I cannot help it sometimes.

The truth is, I keep going back and forth in terms of whether reaching these different goals and aspirations for the preservation of our Earth for the future generation is plausible. I do not know what to say to people when they ask me if the Earth is beyond repair. After deciding on this blog topic after the first lecture of the module, I went into this believing that oceans and climate systems are in fact serious business, now more so than ever. My opinion has not altered.

My mother sent me a video regarding our planet and how it is changing and there was a line in that video that hit a raw nerve – ‘nature does not need us, but we need nature’. The Earth will keep on evolving, but can we keep up? While we may be able to entertain the thought of a possible mass extinction (based on track record), it is only instinctual to want to be capable of guaranteeing a future for our successors. Ignorance, in my opinion, is a disservice to these successors.

The Tropical Peat Controversy

This blog post has less to do with oceans and more to do with the climate. I found it to be an interesting topic after I had some work experience two summers ago back home in Malaysia. My three-week stint required me to travel across the sea to Sarawak, one of the two Malaysian states on the Island of Borneo to work in a palm oil plantation. The palm oil industry is inevitably of high economic importance to countries like Malaysia and Indonesia, being the two largest producers of palm oil in the world. While palm oil production itself has certain controversies of its own, I will attempt to reason with an important factor in agriculture – the soil.

To put simply, as the agricultural industry in Malaysia grew, the availability of fertile mineral soil declined. The use of tropical peatlands, which happens to be quite abundant in states like Sarawak, proved to be quite successful. However, eyebrows were raised due to concerns about CO₂ emissions from the soil, and parallels were being drawn to temperate peat soil. This prompted the launch of numerous studies to evaluate the amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) released from the various types of tropical peat soils. One of these studies was being conducted at the palm oil plantation that I was sent to.

I worked and helped out with data collection, literally lodging gas chambers on top of gas collars in different plots throughout the plantation every day. These gas chambers were connected to these machines that operated on electronic gas measurement (EGM) data. Soil moisture and temperature were also measured using digital devices, along with the pressure and depth of the groundwater using a piezometer. It was physically tough having to cross over streams with logs as bridges, praying that I would not fall in and embarrass myself, or more importantly destroy the machinery that each of us was assigned to carry around. I also managed to familiarise myself with how easily compressible peat is, having plunged thigh-deep into the soil on my second day. Feeling the entire ground shake whenever one of those load-carrying trucks drove by simply reinforced this characteristic as well.  

I only contributed a minute proportion to the entire study; however, I was made aware that the parallels drawn between tropical and temperate peat soil are still being called into question. Do tropical and temperate peat soil have the same properties when in comes to CO₂ emissions? Is it reasonable to make deductions based on what has been investigated on temperate peat soil?

As we know, peat soil comprises of a lot of partially decayed organic matter, which inevitably labels peat soil as a carbon sink. The main argument is that CO₂ emissions from tropical peat soil will differ from that of temperate peat soil simply due to the different types of organic matter contained in each soil type. Research conducted on tropical peat soil is not as vast and widespread compared to what has been done on temperate peat soil, so many think this method of comparison is unjust.

Here are some points put forward to illustrate a possible disparity in GHG emissions from these two types of soils:

1.              It is stated that the majority of drained tropical peat soil in Southeast Asia are sapric, which means that the organic matter in the soil is quite highly decomposed. This could correlate with the amount of CO₂ emissions being relatively lower since not much further decomposition would occur when the peat is drained.

2.              Soil subsidence plays a role in the release of CO₂. Stephens (1984) states that the type of peat soil, water table depth and temperature of the soil affect soil subsidence. These are factors that vary with different regions and climate conditions.

3.              While moss may be a common contributor to organic matter in temperate peat soil, tropical peat soil consists of more woody material from peat forests and swamps. This woody material may not decompose quite as easily when tropical peat is drained, and hence may not necessarily emit the predicted, extrapolated value of GHGs.

4.              The amount of release of GHGs are linked to the depth of the drainage of peat soil. In plantations such as oil palm, the roots are said to occupy approximately a 50cm depth of the tropical peat soil.

These are the components being evaluated with greater scrutiny. The reality of it all is surely more complex. For instance, a study by Furukawa et al. done in Indonesia state that groundwater levels are inversely related to CO₂ emissions but positively affects CH₄ emissions. Does that mean while less CO₂ is being released, more CH₄ is emitted?

While there is so much to be taken into account before drawing conclusions, economic and social aspects of a certain country come into play. Page et al. (2011) give figures that show how ample tropical peatlands are in Southeast Asia in terms of area and volume, claiming 56% and 77% of all tropical peat respectively. Many of these countries would naturally have the desire to continue with fruitful extraction of these lands; therefore, evaluation of means of sustainable usage should become more vital.

Here is the link to a paper published by Hooijer et al. in 2010 regarding CO₂ emissions from tropical peatlands in Southeast Asia:

http://www.biogeosciences.net/7/1505/2010/bg-7-1505-2010.pdf

Vanishing Islands

Relating back to the effects of climate change on developing nations, I came across this video a while ago. This 7.5 minute-long clip with the same title as this blog post provides an insight on sea level rise in these atolls consisting of the Federated States of Micronesia. We are able to put into context some of the different implications of sea level rise mentioned in my 4^th blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFsZm0ddAL8

I found it quite mind-boggling how for some nations, the consequences of sea level rise have become a vital, increasingly urgent issue to tackle. Will the inhabitants of these islands have enough time to adapt to a potentially adverse scenario? The phrase ‘climate refugees’ mentioned in the video at approximately 5:20, really got to me. 

Climate Change vs. Developing Countries - Close to Home

This blog post is going to be somewhat of a more personal sentiment. I am approaching the tail end of my first term of third year at UCL, and I have been faced with the haunting reality of climate change in the past 11 weeks more so than I have throughout my entire life. To put it bluntly, I was not aware of the severity of the situation, and the impact it has and is going to have on our planet. It evidently took me a long time to understand that while climate change does occur naturally, the alarmingly high rate of carbon dioxide emissions over the past couple of centuries has never happened so quickly before.

The way climate change affects regions and countries differently forces individual nations to keep reorganising their priorities. In addition, further globalization has got these countries having to think about bringing in aid to other countries. As someone who hails from the other side of the fence, a developing country, climate change is inevitably hitting me a little harder.

I come from Malaysia, a beautiful country located in Southeast Asia. My country consists of Peninsular Malaysia, which shares borders with Thailand and Singapore, along with three other states located on the island of Borneo, commonly known as East Malaysia. These two landmasses are separated by the South China Sea. Being in very close proximity to the equator calls for humid, tropical weather pretty much all year around. Malaysia is on its way to become more and more developed, with a large proportion of the economy being focused on business, trade and investments. I live a comfortable life back home, which is the case for a lot of families living in urban areas – we have a strong middle class. I do, however, sense a growing disparity between the upper and lower middle classes, a possible sign of the rich getting richer. Poverty still very much exists, however, being more prevalent in rural areas and coastal towns.

Both the Peninsular and East Malaysia have an abundance of coastlines, and this immediately establishes a connection to increasing flood risks due to sea level rise. Awang and Hamid state that due to climate and topography, the regional sea level is higher than global projections. There are a significant proportion of developing countries that stage similar settings in terms of their land. In countries like Malaysia that regularly experience heavy rainfall, climate change could heighten the probability of more extreme storms and flood events. Sarkar et al., 2014 identified the states in Malaysia that were prone to heavy flooding, and that the 9% of land in Malaysia that carry this risk would affect about 3.5 million people. It also states that 90cm rise in sea level could result in a 1200km inundation of coastal zones in Peninsular Malaysia.

Given what a small country Malaysia is, this largely affects the economy. Through flooding, Malaysia suffers an estimated loss of about MYR100 million per year (slightly less than £20 million) (Baharuddin, 2007, Sarkar et al., 2014). This clearly displays the challenges faced by developing countries, which, while still trying to bridge the economic gap with developed countries, have to take into account the major economic setbacks. M. Mirza states that developing countries have taken in about US$35 billion per year to compensate for natural disasters in the past decade.

We are undoubtedly in a more compromising situation compared to developed countries. I have recently been trying to think of the simplest ways possible that funds in my country can be reallocated, and I do realise that our hands are not completely tied. There are several projects, especially in the more recent years that we need not have spent so much money on. I am no economist, so the financial situation in my country is far beyond my understanding. However, as a common citizen, I have observed that the impacts of climate change have not yet become a critical issue to address. Corruption, fraud, bribery, misconduct, crime etc. are the numerous issues that pay a price, and curbing it would help the economy. Before I pass off as an idealistic, impressionable millennial, I am fully aware that the reality of it all is way more complex. The urgency of this situation is simply not quite understood. I strongly feel that even the smallest changes and collectively make a difference, as cliché as that may sound.

In some ways I want to thank climate change. It has changed my view on many things, and it has made we want to question our current status quo and if we will be able to survive a drastic change. Whether it is prevention or cure, business-as-usual will not be feasible for much longer. My opinions in this blog post might be completely, entirely wrong, and that Malaysia may not necessarily be a benchmark for other developing countries, but the popular consensus is that these countries most definitely have a larger hurdle to leap over.  

Here are the links to some interesting articles on climate change in developing countries:

1.              http://www.climatechangenews.com/2013/09/17/developing-nations-equally-to-blame-for-climate-change-report/

2.              https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/nov/23/paris-climate-talks-developed-countries-must-do-more-than-reduce-emissions

Should We Worry About Sea Level Rise?

Global sea level rise is attributed to a few causes, mainly thermal expansion and melting of ice. These two factors lead back to the phenomenon of global warming, which we know is mainly resulted from the release of heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. It has also become clear to us that this warming is predominantly human-induced in this day and age, escalating greatly after reign of the Industrial Revolution.

Explaining the context of thermal expansion would take us back to one of the basic properties of matter – that it expands when heated. The warming of the ocean has caused seawater to occupy a greater amount of volume and hence space. The melting of land ice, which comprises of glaciers and ice sheets contribute a much greater proportion towards sea level rise compared to ice caps from sea ice. However, the melting of sea ice in areas such as Greenland and the Antarctica indirectly affect sea levels. Land ice that has extended out onto the coast of the particular landmass is termed as ice shelves. The melting of these ice shelves could then potentially cause glaciers and ice sheets to lose its grip on the land surface and get displaced into the sea, hence increasing the volume of the sea.

The main implication of sea level rise is the increase of storms and flooding. As the sea level continues to increase, water moves more inland, thus increasing the likelihood of more and more people being affected by this occurrence. Flooding, the mildest possible phenomenon may simply pass off as an inconvenience to many. However, taken towards the greater end of the spectrum, people’s homes or even lives could be in jeopardy because of this. Past records of hurricanes and heavier flooding show us how detrimental the effects can get.

The areas across the globe where these effects are severe are usually low in altitude, with coastlines tending to be more susceptible. Some examples that are most spoken about are areas such as the east coast of the United States, small islands such as the Maldives, and certain developing countries like Bangladesh. Several factors come into play when taking into consideration these more susceptible areas, the dominant factor being altitude. The rates of sea level rise also vary in different parts of the globe. In addition to that, the geology of a certain area plays a role in this, with its tectonic activity determining the nature of its coastline. Alaska has proven to be a good example of a country where there are variations in sea level change.

Aside from humans, other living beings as well as plants will be affected. Aside from flooding, intrusion of salt water can upset a certain habitat that is not used to salt water, like freshwater swamps and marshes. The influx of salt can alter the chemistry of the soil in that area, and this could cause several plants and other organisms to perish.

How quickly is the sea level rising? Several studies have been carried out to model sea level rise to aid future projections, taking into account the factors that come into play. Levermann et al. state that thermal expansion contributes about 0.4m/°C while the melting of the Antarctic ice sheet contributes approximately 1.2m/°C. After taking into consideration the Greenland ice sheet, the sea level may rise at a rate of about 2.3m/°C. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimated a range of a 28-98cm rise in sea level by the year 2100. Church and White state that from January 1870 to December 2004, there was acceleration in sea level rise of about 0.013±0.006mm/yr² and that sea level would rise by about 28-34cm by 2100 if this acceleration stayed the same.

Essentially, previous studies to project and predict sea level change aim to give us the best approximation of what will happen in the future. Even if serious measures to reduce anthropogenic (human-caused) impacts on the environment, sea level could continue to increase, displaying an inertia towards the implications of this environmental change. The best way to put this issue into context would be to look at some individual case studies on sea level rise to see how it impacts humans and other living organisms on a smaller scale.

Here is a link to an article that provides information on sea-level rise in a very understandable manner:

https://ocean.si.edu/sea-level-rise?gclid=Cj0KEQiAvNrBBRDe3IOwzLn6_O4BEiQAmbK-DtcngVLbm6z17EiBla59kqU94gtzOpnWrHquGsoa2WgaAvZC8P8HAQ