3 Measures for the Environment (Short version)

3 Measures to mitigate the environmental hazards awaiting the coming generations by 2050

Dedicated to

His Majesty the King of Bhutan,
Jigme Singye Wangchuck, a visionary, who has
shown the rest of the world what is possible in
the face of the all-around vandalization of the world environment.

His Majesty had ushered in the concept of
Gross National Happiness for His people in
the place of Gross Domestic Product.

Bhutan is the only carbon-negative nation in the world.

Sections

1. A new outlook: Every individual is personally responsible; proposed 3 Measures
2. Can’t help telling the following too
3. First Measure: A no-cash-transaction USD 20 trillion Annual Awareness Drive
4. Second Measure: Adoption of two new units: (1) HABE and (2) Boltzmann (Bz)
5. Third Measure: Supply CKD metal parts from space

A poem

I love to sit in silence
Beneath the shady trees
And listen to the song of birds
And to the buzz of bees.

I love to sit in silence
And watch the clouds roll by
Then read a book or sing a song
And hear the wild bird cry

I love to sit in silence
When the day is almost done
And see behind the distant hill
The paint glow of the sun

I love to sit in silence
In the evening twilight
And listen to the whippor-will
Singing with all it’s might

I love to sit in silence beneath the starry sky
And pray to all in earnest
To live in silence all the while

-Anonymous

Now, because of Radiative Forcing from the tropopause, more than 200 kW of heat is raining down upon the earth because of each one of us on average! Instead of leafy boughs overhead, shedding wild flowers think of a 200 kW heater hanging over each of our heads.

No doubt there is global warming. Wheels of karma grind slowly but surely. This time it seems to grind exponentially faster. Makes me weep to remember the poetry of Lord Byron, Mayadhar Mansingh, Rabindranath, and Gangadhar Meher. And many many from our movies.

So, we’ll go no more a roving
So late into the night,
Though the heart be still as loving,
And the moon be still as bright.

For the sword outwears its sheath,
And the soul wears out the breast,
And the heart must pause to breathe,
And love itself have rest.

Though the night was made for loving,
And the day returns too soon,
Yet we’ll go no more a roving
By the light of the moon.

-Lord Byron (George Gordon)

Section 1

A new outlook:

Every individual is personally responsible

Today the individual, as a conspicuous consumer of scarce Earth resources, has the power to destroy the Good Earth.

Hence, today, the individual must assume the responsibility to preserve the Good Earth for one’s children and grandchildren.

The average individual is contributing the following thermal and CO₂ (GHG) pollutions to the environment:

1. For every USD spent today anywhere, 0.4 tonne of ice melts at the poles and glaciers (also 0.4 kg CO₂ is emitted into the atmosphere for each USD spent) <for currencies in different nations, use PPP mode for conversion>. This is the same as melting a tonne of ice for every 2.5 USD. Convert to other currencies in PPP mode (World Bank). For example, 1 USD = 1.4 CAD; 2.5 USD = 6.25 CAD; one tonne of ice melts for 6.25 CAD spent
2. More than 4 tonnes of CO₂ is emitted into the atmosphere in the year 2020 on behalf of the average individual
3. 200 kW of heat is raining down because of Radiative Forcing (RF) from the tropopause, 10 km above the Earth’s surface on behalf of the average individual. (Think of a 200 kW heater overhead instead of shady boughs or an 80 W ceiling fan!)

In a year’s time, this heat amounts to about 10% of the heat content of the Hiroshima atom bomb! (In 10 years this is an entire Hiroshima atom bomb on behalf of the average individual!)

The first of an irreversible breakdown of the environment is looming before us by the year 2050. All of the Arctic ice will have melted by then. Half of the ice has already melted.

The average individual must feel responsible for one’s contribution towards (i) Radiative Forcing (RF) resulting from Green House Gases (GHG) and (ii) the Local Heat Islands (LHI) formed around cities representing Anthropogenic Heat Forcing (AHF).

Detailed studies have been carried out by experts but no dents are visible in the exponentially increasing disorders of the environment. There is no proof of the pudding in terms of eating. This is threatening humankind with the first irreversible change by 2050: the complete melting of Arctic ice.

When the last tree is cut down, the last fish eaten, and the last stream poisoned, you will realise that you cannot eat money.

– Native American saying.

Note, “0.4 tonne of ice melt per USD” is the same thing as saying “1 tonne of icemelt per 2.50 USD”. PPP conversions shall apply for other currencies. For example, we may also say, “1 tonne of icemelt per 50 INR”

First Measure for mitigation:

A cash-less 20 trillion USD Awareness Drive

A core idea of this paper is an annual 20 trillion USD worth of awareness drive to be undertaken by the individual citizens of the world as a whole for learning and propagating knowledge and trends in environmental disorders and their root causes.

<Please see Annex-ONE in the Long Version >

A law for limited planet resources: No matter how large, no limited natural resource of a planet can withstand an exponentially increasing demand on it for any great length of time.

(Engineers, scientists, and mathematicians familiar with the exponential function shall find the above statement quite rudimentary.)

Second Measure for mitigation:

Entropy Assessment and Audit

The engineers (which term includes all applied scientists and mathematicians) must immediately start using ‘entropy’, a two-century-old concept in physics, as a uniform basis, to evaluate all engineering proposals, ‘green’ or not, and stop the execution of engineering projects which add entropy beyond budgeted amounts and are likely to aggravate disorders in the
environment.

Entropy is, as a scientific concept, closest to disorders of the environment than mere heat in the forms of RF or AHF.

Negligence of application of this single two-century-old well-known concept of entropy will go down in the history of mankind as the greatest blunder by professionals that brought the species to near extinction.

Had this concept been practiced over the past few decades, we might well have averted the pitiable fate awaiting our children and grandchildren in the coming few decades.

Third Measure for mitigation:

Supply ‘Completely Knocked Down’ (CKD) metal parts from space

The spaceship is our future vehicle. Not the bullock cart. Not even the automobile or airplane.

Starting with mining and mineral processing mankind must aim to establish supply chains of metal products in CKD mode from space.

Space will help us leave the Good Earth alone for meditation, performing and other arts, fundamental sciences, and mathematics.

The three measures proposed in this article shall work just fine out of the self-interest of the individual. This will call for self-study on the part of the individual, of ‘entropy’ as a popular concept to relate to the environment degradations. In this age of the internet self-study of this concept, or for that matter, other useful concepts is eminently possible.

The effort of acquiring knowledge is the price of freedom to discharge one’s responsibility towards one’s family.

The Three Measures are further elaborated in the Long Version of this document later on.

Section 2

Can’t help telling the following too

This presentation is made with the impatience of a maintenance engineer. The classical dilemma for the maintenance engineer is that there is never enough time for a major breakdown to be fully studied before undertaking a corrective activity. A good deal of faith, guesswork, grit, commitment, leadership, and mid-course corrections, must be resorted to.

The first of an irreversible breakdown of the environment is looming before us by the year 2050. All of the Arctic ice will have melted by then. By Arctic Amplification, AA, there shall be a temperature rise of 2 to 7 °C, Half of the ice has already melted in the last four decades.

Look at the loss of tree cover and global warming within our single lifetime. Many disorders have never been seen before, many increasing exponentially, some reaching a point of no return by 2050.

At present we are consuming the planet’s resources at nearly double the sustainable rate (www.theworldcounts.com). Eating up our innocent children’s future. The rate of consumption will be 3 times (www.upi.com) before 2050. By then, we shall be eating up our grandchildren’s future as well.

Many of us have heard the touching story of how the parents used up all the colored pencils leaving only a few black pencils for their children to paint scenery.

We have no more than a 30 years window before the first irreversible change sets in in the environment, leading, finally, to the eventual extinction of ours and most other species. Including our grandchildren.

As good and responsible parents let us leave the Good Earth in a better condition than we received it for the sake of our children and grandchildren.

Auguries of Innocence

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower 
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand 
And Eternity in an hour

A Robin Red breast in a Cage
Puts all Heaven in a Rage 
A Dove house filld with Doves & Pigeons
Shudders Hell thr’ all its regions 

A dog starvd at his Masters Gate
Predicts the ruin of the State 
A Horse misusd upon the Road
Calls to Heaven for Human blood 

Each outcry of the hunted Hare
A fibre from the Brain does tear…..

– William Blake

Please read or see the following concurrently:

• David Attenborough’s ‘A life on our planet’, (Netflix)
• The book ‘Sapiens’ by Yuval Noah Harari
• The website ‘www.theworldcounts.com’ (alongside, please see, ‘Don’t Panic’ by Hans Rosling, on YouTube, on future population increase)

A summary of the proposed three measures follows in the following three sections: 3, 4 and 5

Section 3

First Measure:

A no-cash-transaction USD 20 trillion Annual Awareness Drive

Texting should also serve equally.

Please add your own endearing words and text your near and dear ones. Count the hours spent on reading this very document itself. Also count hours spent in preparing translations from this document in to your regional language and publishing articles. Please take care to enlist assistances of a linguist and an environmentalist locally available to you.

We do not recommend printing as a way to gift these cards.

Texting should also serve equally.

Section 4

Second Measure:

Adoption of the two new units of measure in physics

Thermal and entropy footprints

Entropy signature is used as a technique to locate technically advanced civilizations in the cosmos. Recall, dS ≡ δQ/T: entropy footprint increases with additional heat in the biosphere contributing to disorders. We may call this entropy footprint in the context of our planet Earth.

Just like pollution level figures are made public in different cities of the world, details of the Anthropogenic Heat Forcing creating Local Heat Islands (LHI) around the cities must also be made public. The citizen, thus, shall be empowered to undertake corrective action at individual levels to reduce thermal pollution in his area.

Rising temperatures and cumulative entropies shall be useful in predicting trends of environmental disorders.

<Please see Annex-THREE in the Long Version>

Section 5

Third Measure:

Supply CKD (Completely Knocked Down) metal parts from space

The spaceship is our future vehicle. Not the bullock cart. Not even the automobile or airplane.

We cannot, and, should not, attempt to rewind the clock. Starting with mining and mineral processing we may aim to establish supply chains of metal products in CKD mode from space.

This will help us leave the Good Earth alone for meditation, performing and other arts, fundamental sciences, and mathematics.

The environmental scenario of our and the neighboring planets

We have three planets in the Circumstellar Habitable Zone (CHZ) of our star, the Sun.

Gift the Good Earth to your grandchildren in a better condition than you received it.

—End of Short Version—

Long Version follows in the next post