Carbon footprints

Carbon footprints 

On the occasion of the 2017 Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank Group, Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina, the President of the AfDB Group invited the delegates to the closing luncheon in honour of the Governors at Hayatt Regency, Ahmedabad, yesterday. 

During the meetings at Mahatma Mandir Gandhinagar, the delegates were served with the vegetarian lunch. Dr. Adesina was explaining that when the lunch was served to him on the first day,  somebody asked his people whether he will like it or not. His people said no, but they served him the lunch and with utmost surprise to his staff he ate all the items of the plate and enjoyed the vegetarian meal. You people are cooking many varieties of tasty dishes of vegetarian food, his wife immediately remarked. In fact when he saw the location of Gujarat for the meetings on map, looking at it's position surrounded by the sea, he presumed that his delegates would enjoy plenty of sea food during the meetings. Therefore, to ease out the desires of the delegates he kept a menu of non veg dishes in the lunch yesterday. Dr. Adesina explained.

You have mentioned that Climate Change is an important issue for the development of Africa in your Annual Review Report 2017, I started the dialogue with the base line. He immediately replied, yes. Then do you know that the non vegetarian people are one of the reasons of Climate Change? I add on a sentence to his curiosity. How? Please elaborate, he became curious. Red meat contains more carbon, therefore, those eat non veg food, emit more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. And therefore, they are one of the reasons of climate change on earth, I argued with the support of Carbon footprint statistics. He and his wife were so much convinced that he mentioned our conversations in his closing speech at the luncheon and assured that he will add vegetarianism as one of the objectives of the AfDB programmes. 

Sun has a family of 9 children (planets) and three four more, yet to be included. But all of them are the sons except one daughter, that is our mother, Mother Earth. She has delivered lives on Earth. What a creation of the Almighty, that the gases Nitrogen, Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide, Hydrogen, etc, are placed so well in proportion that life exists on earth. And the Almighty has created a greenhouse rooftop to keep us alive in the warmth. The most abundant greenhouse gases responsible for the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. CO2 is the major player, the roof of the greenhouse. If there was no greenhouse effect, the planet would be uninhabitably cold – more than 30C. During the day, the Sun shines through the atmosphere. Earth's surface warms up in the sunlight. At night, Earth's surface cools, releasing the heat back into the air. But some of the heat is trapped by the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Clouds are over cooling agents holds some of the heats and their bright surface reflect some of the Sunlight back to space.  It has created the warm womb of Mother Earth that has delivered and sustained the creatures on Earth. 

Greenhouse keeps our Earth a warm and cozy 59 degrees Fahrenheit, on average. But if the greenhouse effect is too strong, the earth becomes warmer and warmer. That is what we the humans have done in the in the name of development. We are changing the strength of the greenhouse effect by increasing the proportion of greenhouse gases in the air. Industrial revolution started from 1850 marched a long way by burning natural resources emitted CO2 a lot in the atmosphere. Population increase (the CO2 producer machines) and reduction of the green cover (trees are the consumer of CO2) of the earth (to feed human population) have worsen the situation. The warmth of the earth is increasing day by day. It has made the water of Ocean more acidic. 

18% of global emission results from the livestock. Food system emissions could account for as much as quarter of all human emissions. That is 12% from agricultural production, another 9% from farming induced deforestation, and a further 3% from things like refrigeration and freight. Red meat (beef) is the most carbon intensive way to get food energy, followed by dairy, and chicken. Cereals, oils and snacks are the least carbon intensive. These factors are the reason why foodprints gets smaller as less red meat, dairy and chicken are consumed. Shifting some of  our diet away from these foods towards cereals or in-season fruit and vegetables is a very effective way to shrink individual carbon footprint. Our ancestors might have kept away beef from our dishes to reduce our carbon footprints. 

Grow more oxygen cylinders (trees), reduce consumption of luxury of life to reduce demands of products so that production of CO2 reduced, and reduce carbon footprint by turning vegan or vegetarian. It is good for longevity of life and health as it keeps the Alzheimer away. Gujaratis are peace loving and non violent people. Is it not because of their food habits and the culture?

Dr. Adesina has agreed to reduce his carbon footprint. Are you ready to do so? Do it fast😀

Punamchand

26 May 2017