Black times for the blue planet

By Luise Hakasi

At present the biggest part of our blue planet is still blue; just wondering how much longer. The scientists around the world are concerned about environmental pollution, the greenhouse effect, natural catastrophes and the eradication of mankind. It is in our hands to pull the emergency brake and to take care of our home planet Earth.

This book deals with important topics such as recycling, energy saving, alternative energies, garbage, environmental toxins, biodiversity, general welfare, etc. and awakens awareness.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookRix
• Release date: Jan 16, 2017
• ISBN: 9783739692920

Book preview

Foreword: Black times for the blue planet

At present the biggest part of our blue planet is still blue; just wondering how much longer. The scientists around the world are concerned about environmental pollution, the greenhouse effect, natural catastrophes and the eradication of mankind. It is in our hands to pull the emergency brake and to take care of our home planet Earth.

This book deals with important topics such as recycling, energy saving, alternative energies, garbage, environmental toxins, biodiversity, general welfare, etc. and awakens awareness.

Blue and beautiful: our home planet Earth

Our home planet Earth looks blue and incredibly beautiful from afar distance. Just take a look at satellite photos; you hardly get out of the astonishment.

So here we live; and here you will probably remain for the rest of your lives, you and your children ... unless the scientists discover another habitable planet nearby; But these are, of course, future dreams, Science Fiction, as one says. For a long time, scientists have been using telescopes, rockets, spaceships and space satellites, which are becoming more and more perfect. But so far we do not even know our own solar system exactly. We look for a planet like ours: with oxygen, with water and with life.

For our earth remains as long as possible like this, so that we can live on it, we have to take care of it like your parents care about you, the house, the dog, etc.

The members of the international organizations are concerned about our environment and about nature. In the meantime, there are countless organizations, meetings and declarations. Researchers fear an earth with many deserts, useless water, deforested forests, and without living conditions; neither for us, nor for you nor for plants and animals.

This means for all of us in the clear text that we have to protect our currently unique habitat. We must use the reserves of our planet intelligently, because they are limited. We must fight for a clean air without exhaust fumes and for clean drinking water.

Our planet is very generous with us: It gives us water, clay, iron, copper, aluminum, coal, oil and, especially important: water and food. Actually, it should be clear that we should neither pollute nor destroy this source of food. Our planet has taken millions of years to become what it is today; we must therefore not destroy its equilibrium. We must try to live in harmony with the planet and all living creatures, including plants. We must learn to understand nature and learn with it. Therefore we need scientists, politicians, teachers and you. Everyone can learn something from others. Now you might think: This is not my business. But it is. Here everyone must help. So that our most precious heritage, our home planet Earth, remains as it is today: blue and beautiful!

Scientists confirm: alarming melting of the poles

Summer in the northern hemisphere, the season of the year, that becomes in global warming even more visible. Scientists worldwide were meeting to discuss the release of a huge iceberg from the Greenland glacier.

Polar caps are melting

The scientific consensus began with the most disturbing news that the polar ice caps of the Arctic melt at a rate that has not yet been seen in the history of mankind. It has been a matter of time until the entire region has melted, according to the leading researchers.

Polar Explorer Pen Hadow, who headed the Catlin Arctic Survey Project, analyzed the behavior of the Arctic ice for three months and is convinced that there is only a decade left until the current North Pole becomes a large open ocean. Even more discouraging, however, is the forecast by NASA scientists who claim that the ice caps could melt completely in the summer of this year...

A scenario that seemed unlikely a few years ago will become more real from time to time, with a sustained impact on human development.

Alarming, says Martin Sommerkorn from the WWF, because the Arctic Ocean has a central function in the climate system of the earth. Each region directly affects other regions; the whole planet is connected. He adds: This process can lead to floods, with a negative impact on a quarter of the world's population, as well as to significant emissions increases of greenhouse gases (which are usually included in the ice) and can lead to extreme changes in weather conditions.

Gigantic iceberg comes off from Greenland

In 2010, an iceberg of 250 square kilometers detached itself from the North Pole; Larger than Manhattan Island in NY. Also currently a huge iceberg is breaking off.  

A significant event, but not a collapse, claims NASA researcher Erich Rignot. However, other experts see this completely differently, e.g. Andreas Muenchow from the university in Delaware: Since 150 years, all the information is collected in a database; but we have never seen anything like this before.

And greenhouse effect and increase of the oceans

One of the main concerns of the environmentalists is the methane gas released during defrosting the ice caps, about 20 times stronger than carbon dioxide. The scientists concluded that the glaciers serve as a super-gas tank; they disappear, accelerates the process of global warming. The release of methane may even be so big that it mixes with water, forms bubbles on the surface, and is immediately released to the atmosphere. Study results show a temperature rise of four degrees in recent years, caused by the greenhouse effect (carbon dioxide and methane prevent the heat generated by sunlight from leaving the earth's atmosphere).

Solution not in sight

Furthermore, the irreversible melting of the Arctic glaciers would allow the oceans to rise faster than expected.

Solution: Not yet in sight.

Maximum CO2 emissions measured so far

Burning fossil fuels as well as human activities such as motorists release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. These emissions lead to the known greenhouse effect, which causes climate change. As the concentration is increasing, scientists have been performing appropriate measurements on the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii / USA for about 50 years. This is the oldest measuring station in the world and probably one of the most important references.

CO2 emissions tripled in the 10 years!

In the past ten years, the values have tripled! For scientists, such a rise is not a big surprise due to the increasing CO2 emissions caused by the burning of coal, oil and natural gas. During 800,000 ice ages the values were constant by 180 ppm (parts per million). When the global CO2 average was still at 280ppm in the 19th century, the industrial revolution reached 400ppm in May 2013 for the very first time.

Temperature rise, ice melt, sea level rise and radical planet changes

An average global temperature rise of three to four degrees, even ten degrees, was recorded at the poles. According to the scientists and experts, ice melting and sea level rise are pre-programmed. The extreme speed of the CO2 concentration increase is shocking. If the emissions remain at the current level, our descendants would have to live on a radically altered planet.

Concrete information, measured values, graphics and photos on several internet-places with permanent updates.

The blue planet is supposed to remain green: everyone has to cooperate

In the preservation of our planet all must help and contribute their part. Together we can make it!

Our planet is sick and crying for help. Let's take a look at his future. Waiting to better, waiting for government action or do we begin to act ourselves? Let us look at the natural cycle, the effects of human actions on the plates, the predictions of the experts, and we voluntarily begin to recycle and make a small contribution to our green planet remaining green.

Once upon a time there was a blue planet called Earth. It was full of wonderful things and paradises like the Alps in Switzerland, Kenya in Africa, the Yosemite National Park in the United States, Patagonia in Argentina and the Fujiyama in Japan. There were numerous animal species, such as whales, insects and more, jacaranda trees in Pretoria / South Africa and waterfalls as well as plants, paradise fruits and much more. But as time passed, and people destroyed, the poor planet warmed. This planet still exists. But does he have a future? What future could that be?

The prediction of the scientists is not particularly colored, actually it is extremely dark, more precisely almost black. It is a nightmare.

Meanwhile, it is proven that human activities warm the planet, and the consequences can be dramatic for the next generations. Let's take a closer look at this.

You've heard of the greenhouse effect, haven`t you? This natural phenomenon allows the existence of a life on the planet Earth. The whole thing works like this:

The sun radiates its powerful energy in the form of energy into the space. 30% of this radiation energy is used. Air, the earth and the water absorb about 70%. The heated surface (earth) then emits infrared radiation (heat). A small portion of this thermal radiation enters space, but most of it is removed in the atmosphere, the protective layer of the earth, absorbed by water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane and other gases of the greenhouse effect. Contamination, i.e. pollution, prevents this process!

Changes in this gas mixture also change the way the planet exploits the energy of the sun: the nights in the desert are cold because the greenhouse effect is too weak to keep the accumulated heat without humidity during the day. Remember: In 1991, tons of gases and Philippine volcanic ash reduced the ozone