Larger Cities Mean More Carbon Dioxide
As surprising as it may seem, we have to be pretty careful about how we are going to build our cities in the future. Why? Because larger cities mean more carbon dioxide. If we do not manage carbon dioxide well, we are doomed. CO2 is responsible for heating the planet, so the more we exhale, the hotter it gets, but if we manage to control the level, we might survive.
Scientists agree on the fact that humanity has only 1,000 more gigatons of CO2 to spare before we heat things up out of control. Last year we gave out 32,000. So yes, we are “that close” to killing ourselves just by not having properly built cities. Fear not, there is still some hope left for humanity. If we build right, we live right, so wise building is one of our top priorities at the moment.
Larger cities mean more carbon dioxide only if the resources used to build it are not green. Time is ticking however, because if we do not start building with greener resources within the next five years, we might just cross the 1,000 gigaton threshold by the end of 2020. And that’s bad. You might think that it is nothing, but it is really, really bad.
If we cross the line, we risk heating up the planet with an extra 2 degrees Celsius. This would only add to the other numerous factors that are warming Earth. We are talking about wide-scale calamities: pole melting, greater sea levels and the inability to feed the world’s population.
The poles are protecting the planet from getting too heated up by “throwing back” solar rays into space. Greater sea levels would mean that the populations across the world living close to the see are in great danger and not producing enough food would definitely throw the world into chaos.
What makes matters worse is that researchers have identified that 800 gigatons are already appointed for use in the years to come because of humanity’s lifestyle. Gas consumption, improper building and even breathing add to the world’s major heat up.
So we are basically left with 200 gigatons that need to be managed very carefully. We are already at the edge, all that is required is an extra push. We need to act and we need to act fast because if we do not transform this into a collective effort, we will surely fall off the edge.
Photo Credits pixabay.com
