Greenhouse Gases

“Does man-made really affect the environment?” Well, there are so many articles stating that we affect the environment and we need to make changes for better living. But “do you really know how mankind really affects the environment?” Each day, man-made greenhouse gas pollution traps the same amount of heat energy that is equivalent to 400,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs if it is released.

Before we explain more about greenhouse gases and their adverse effects, let's know what are the common gases that can cause dangerous effects on our environment.

1. Carbon dioxide (CO2): it is the primary greenhouse gas that is responsible for about three-quarters of emissions and can remain in the atmosphere for thousands of years. Carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere through burning fossil fuels, solid waste, and the result of certain chemical reactions (manufacture waste).

2. Methane (CH4): the main component of natural gases, methane usually released from natural gas and petroleum industries as well as agricultural practices (waste landfills and organic wastes).

3. Nitrous Oxide (N2O): Nitrous oxide is emitted from industrial activities such as the combustion of fossil fuels and solid waste. This gas could last centuries in the atmosphere.

4. Industrial gases (Fluorinated gases): Industrial gases that include hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, sulfur hexafluoride, & nitrogen trifluoride, are powerful and potent greenhouse gases that are emitted in smaller quantities from a variety of industrial processes.

Source: Enerdata 2019

In Indonesia, the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities is from burning fossil fuels and agricultural emissions. These gases trap heat radiating from Earth toward space, which causes heat to increase in our atmosphere. Our atmosphere is covered by 70% of the oceans and 90% of the heat will be absorbed by the oceans, thus, rising sea levels will also increase as heat in the atmosphere increases extremely. Due to a dramatic increase of heat, the oceans evaporate more moisture into the sky, which affects the increase of water vapor and energy in our atmosphere, leading to various climate problems such as extreme floods and stronger storms. However, higher evaporation of moisture may not be evenly distributed around the world due to the El Nino (favor drought in many tropical and subtropical land areas) and La Nina (promote wetter conditions) events, thus, there are some areas that experience heavier rainfall, and other areas may become prone to droughts. Short-term climate change may enhance the intensity of rainfall and droughts in some areas. However, if the heat keeps on increasing extremely, climate changes could affect new areas.

Besides an extreme change in climate, overproduction of greenhouse gases have far-ranging environmental and health effects. It may cause respiratory disease due to air pollution, food supply disruptions, pandemic diseases, and the disruption of biodiversity in Indonesia. Indonesia ranks in the top 10 countries most responsible for producing greenhouse gas emissions with 615 million tons of CO2 in 2019 and 95,000 people die in Indonesia every year due to stroke, heart disease, and chronic respiratory diseases which are the effect of outdoor air pollution.

Source: Nurhayati-Wolff, 2019

Now the question is, “does our government act to overcome this problem?” They are working their best to develop and revise energy and mineral resources regulations, a strategy for land use and forestry emissions, development to various public transportations, and development of renewable energy. However, the government bailouts of coal-heavy electric utilities. Furthermore, the passing of the Omnibus Bill of Job Creation and Mining Bill weakens environmental regulations that were already in place. Hence, as citizens, we must encourage everyone to start caring for our environment, as it is for our sake too. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to addressing climate change. Nonetheless, nearly all of these solutions are already in place, and many of them rely on humans changing their behavior and shifting how they produce and consume energy. For instance, reducing our food waste can decrease the production of methane, as rotten food releases methane gas. Other easy practices are by managing our own house wastes, reducing greenhouse emissions through recycling, and right wastes treatment. Changes in technology, behavior, and policies are all needed to encourage less waste and better resource management.

By protecting and preserving our environment, we can protect humanity and our future generation to continue living sustainably. As the Earth is our only place to live, we should treat it with care and respect as it is our obligation.