"This sounds difficult, because it will be. The world has never done anything quite this big."

Every year, about 51 billion tons of greenhouse gases are added to our atmosphere, with the number still increasing.Zero is the amount we need to aim for in order to stop climate change.

51 Billion to Zero

Contrary to popular belief, emissions caused by car traffic and aviation only make up around 16% of all greenhouse gases emitted.The remaining 84% are caused by the production of food, electricity and building materials, as well as air conditioning.

Causes of Global Warming

Generating electricity causes 27% of greenhouse gas emissions.Today, fossil fuels account for two-thirds of all electricity generated worldwide. Getting all this energy from clean sources requires breakthroughs in science, for example in nuclear fusion and carbon capture.Because the sun doesn't always shine and the wind doesn't always blow, we also need more efficient batteries to store solar and wind generated electricity.

1 - How we plug in

Production of plastics, concrete and steel causes 31% of greenhouse gas emissions.By 2060, urbanization will have approximately doubled. That's the equivalent of putting up another New York City every month.Currently, the only way to make concrete and steel involves tremendous carbon emissions. We need to electrify these processes and use materials more efficiently.

2 - How we make things

Food production causes 19% of greenhouse gas emissions.In agriculture, the main culprit isn't carbon dioxide, but methane. It causes 28 times more warming per molecule than carbon.As funny as it sounds, 4% of global warming is due to cows farting and burping methane - that's the same amount of what ship and airplane traffic causes combined!So, to lower these numbers, we need to eat more plant-based and waste less food.

3 - How we grow things

Vehicle traffic causes 16% of greenhouse gas emissions.For short-distance vehicles, like cars and buses, going all-electric is an efficient alternative to gasoline.Long-distance vehicles, like trucks and planes, might have to switch to advanced bio- or electrofuels. Ships could rely more on atomic energy, like plenty submarines and aircraft carriers do.

4 - How we get around

Air conditioning causes 7% of greenhouse gas emissions.With climate change warming the earth more and more, A/C demand is on the rise.The biggest problem here are the coolants used to transfer the heat. Especially in cheap A/C units, so-called F-gases leak out into the atmosphere, accelerating global warming.Government policies and incentives are needed for more climate-friendly devices to be put in service.

5 - How we keep cool and warm

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical—and accessible—plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe. Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal. He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions—suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise. As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.

Environment

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

They are basically termed the "terrible lizards". Dinosaurs were the land ruling replies whereas only 40% of them were carnivores. The common dinosaurs everyone knows are Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus rex, Parasaurolophus, Brontosaurus, Velociraptor(thanks to the Jurrasic Park franchise, although its body depicted is of a Deinonychus). But we misunderstand the Pterodactyls as dinosaurs whereas they aren't they are the species of the cousins of dinosaurs Pterosaurs. Even the Mosasaurus whereas they are a part of the genus Mosasaurs.

Who were DINOSAURS

These were the flying reptiles dominating the ancient skies. The first-ever discovered pterosaur was Pterodactyl, which was named as per its genus. Their sizes varied from 10 inches to 23 feet. The smallest discovered pterosaur was Nemicolopterus crypticus having a wingspan of 25 cm approximately. The largest discovered pterosaur was Arambourgiania philadelphiae having a wingspan of 12m - 13m approximately.They fed mainly on fishes, small animals, and a few fed on insects. The pterosaur that fascinates me the most is Tupandactylus (cover picture), it bore a semicircular crest over the snout.&nbsp;

Pterosaurs

Well everyone knows the name Owen, who has love from dinosaurs due to the Jurrasic World franchise since the name of the lead male character had the name. Well, we're not talking about him over here, Richard Owen was the one who gave us the name which has been fascinating all the humans' DINOSAURS. He felt the urge of naming the species which went extinct millions of years ago, so he named them <ins>Dinosauria</ins> meaning "terrible lizards".&nbsp;He had a desire to let the public know all his latest specimens and findings and hence it led to the establishment of a museum <ins>Natural History Museum</ins>.

Richard Owen

The Mesozoic Era is also known as the age of the dinosaurs or the age of the reptiles. Although the land was ruled by dinosaurs we had many other reptiles ruling the world. <ins>The Reptiles Ruling the Waters </ins>-<ul><li>The waters of ancient times were ruled by the ichthyosaurus which was alike to dolphins in appearance but was reptiles.</li><li>The mosasaurs were similar to snakes and iguanas, the largest of the mosasaurs was the Mosasaurus. The mosasaurs varied in size, but their body movement is said to be similar to the iguanas, moving their back tail-like structure left and right to move forward.</li></ul>

The Mesozoic Era

Since we discussed a lot about the dinosaurs, so what are the studies related to it. Paleontology is referred to as the study of dinosaurs, but in actual it is the study of the fossils, excavating them and understanding the ancient climate, and so on. There are various branches of paleo, which include studying the vertebrates, invertebrates, microscopic organisms found in the rocks, and much much more. Paleontologists always don't do fieldwork digging up fossils, the major role they play is doing lab work, gather information, present ideas and the research they did on finding the specimen.

Paleontology as Career

My Articles 

Dinosaurs; our love, but we do have wrong notions about them

Throughout history, there have been enormous eruptions of volcanoes. The power of these eruptions is measured using the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI). The classification system was developed in the 1980s. The scale goes from 1 to 8, and each succeeding VEI is 10 x greater than the last.

Volcanic eruptions

The Yellowstone National Park is an active volcano and has erupted three times at a magnitude-8, once 2.1 million years ago, again 1.2 million years ago and most recently 640,0000 years ago. Together, it expelled enough ash and lava to fill the Grand Canyon. The last of the three supervolcano eruptions created the park's enormous crater, measuring 30 by 45 miles across (48 by 72 kilometres).

Yellowstone eruption, 640,000 Years ago (VEI 8)

Huaynaputina, in Peru, is a towering 16,000 feet (4,850 metres). The volcanic eruption sent mudflows 75 miles (120 km) away and may have affected the global climate. After the 1600 eruption, the summers were some of the coldest in 500 years. The ash buried a 20-square-mile (50 square km) area to the mountain's west, which remains covered to this day.

Huaynaputina, 1600 (VEI 6)

A massive eruption took place on 26-27 April 1883 on the volcanic island arc at the subduction zone of the Indo-Australian plate. The explosion created a tsunami whose waves reached 140 feet high (40 metres) and killed about 34,000 people. Tidal gauges over 7,000 miles (11,000 km) away on the Arabian Peninsula registered an increase in wave heights.

Krakatoa, 1883 (VEI 6)

The explosion in Guatemala was one of the largest eruptions of the 20th century and left a crater of about a mile (1.5 km) across. It came after the volcano had remained silent for about 500 years. The tree-covered volcano is one of a chain of stratovolcanoes along Guatemala's Pacific coastal plain. Since the last blast in 1922 (VEI 3), it experienced continuous activity, and in 1929, it spewed out a pyroclastic flow that may have killed about 5,000 people.

Santa Maria Volcano, 1902 (VEI 6)

The eruption of Novarupta was the largest volcanic explosion of the 20th century. Three cubic miles (12.5 cubic km) of magma and ash was thrown into the air and, when it landed, covered 3,000 square miles (7,88 square km) in ash over a foot deep.

Novarupta, 1912 (VEI 6)

When the stratovolcano in the Philippines erupted in 1991, it sent over one cubic mile (5 cubic km) of material into the air. As a result, a column of ash rose 22 miles (35 km) in the atmosphere and fell across the countryside. The blast ejected millions of tons of sulfur dioxide into the air that was spread worldwide by air currents. It caused global temperatures to drop by 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.5 degrees Celsius) over the next year.

Mount Pinatubo, 1991 (VEI 6)

The 257-square-mile (665-square-km) volcanic island is in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The volcano sent a wave of hot ashes and dust down the mountain and formed a caldera (a large depression) 7.5 miles (12 km) wide. The volcano has erupted almost 50 times since 1774.

Ambrym island, 50 AD (VEI 6+)

This volcano has only experienced two eruptions in its history. The first known eruption was huge and covered much of central and western El Salvador with pumice and ash. It destroyed the early Mayan cities as the inhabitants had to flee.

Ilopango volcano, 450 AD (VEI 6+)

Geologists estimated that the Aegean Islands volcano Thera erupted with the energy of several hundred atomic bombs.&nbsp; The Minoan civilization of the island Santorini suspected the volcano was going to blow and evacuated. The volcano disrupted the culture with tsunamis and temperature declines that changed the climate.

Mount Thera, 1610 BC (VEI 7)

The eruption spewed volcanic material about 750 miles (1,200 km) away and created a large caldera nearly 3 miles (4.5 km) across and a half-mile (almost 1 km) deep at the mountain's summit. It is now filled with water and a popular tourist destination. The mountain is located on the border of China and North Korea and last erupted in 1702.

Changbaishan volcano, 1000 AD (VEI 7)

The largest ever recorded explosion is that of Mount Tambora. The volcano is still active and one of the tallest peaks in the Indonesian archipelago. In April 1815, the volcano exploded so loudly that it was heard on Sumatra Island, over 1,200 miles (1,920 km) away. The estimated death toll was 71,000 people.

Mt. Tambora, Sumbawa Island, Indonesia - 1815 (VEI 7)

Some of these cataclysms changed history and climate. 

Stashed ideas

The 11 Biggest Volcanic Eruptions in History

The planet Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos. Many researchers are fascinated with trying to know how and where Mars's moons came from and this resulted to two main theories about Mars's moons: Asteroid Capture Theory and Large Impact Theory. Explorations have been done on the moons of Mars but more information is needed. Yet, researchers believe that an in-situ exploration (sending a probe to land) is needed to grab some soil and rocks for further study.

Mars's Moons

Mars's moons, Phobos and Deimos, share many characteristics with two types of asteroids common in the belt: C- and D-type asteroids. Moreover, by the looks of Phobos and Deimos, we can easily assume that they are both captured objects from the Asteroid Belt, that maybe there was a collision that sent them off into the direction where Mars's gravitational pull would confine them. Many questions still lie with whether they are captured asteroid and their circular orbits over the history of the solar system.

Asteroid Capture Theory

The Large Impact Theory brings upon the idea that Mars has suffered a large collision. Just like how the Earth's moon is the result of an immpact between our infant planet and a planetisimal named Theia. With this theory, astronomers suggest that the composition of Phobos and Deimos may have originated from Mars itself, so therefore this must have happened, but we can only truly say that up until today this is only a theory.&nbsp;

Large Impact Theory

Mars has two moons: Phobos and Deimos. Planetary scientists debate about whether they formed in an ancient collision, or could be captured asteroids.

How Did Mars Get its Moons?

The most obvious effect can be seen in the ocean tides. The Earth's rotation causes the Moon's gravity to pull the water on the closest side of Earth towards it, creating a bulge. The centrifugal force caused by the Earth's rotation makes the sea bulge on the other side too. These bulges of water are high tides. Every 18.6 years, there is a lunar nodal cycle, where the lunar plane tilts away from the equatorial plane, causing tides to grow smaller. When the Moon's orbit is more in line with the Earth equator, the tides are bigger.

The Moon affects the Earth's climate

According to Nasa, the rising sea levels combined with the influence of the nodal cycle can increase the number of high tide floods in the 2030s. These floods could damage infrastructure and change coastlines. In addition, it could be an existential threat to wildlife in coastal ecosystems.

Excessive flooding pose a danger

Tides influence the movement of ocean currents. Warm ocean currents bring warmer, wetter weather, while cold currents bring colder, drier weather. The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (Enso) may be affected by the lunar nodal cycle too. Usually, strong winds along the equator blow warm surface water westward from South America towards Indonesia. During an El Niño event, these winds are reduced or even reversed and can affect weather worldwide. Usually, wet regions may experience drought, while dry areas may experience rain. A La Niña event will have the opposite effect.

The Moon play a role in weather systems

<ul><li>The Moon affects polar temperatures on a monthly cycle. Satellite measurements have shown that poles are 0.55C warmer during a full Moon.</li><li>The Moon creates tidal currents and waves in the ocean that can either melt or break up sea ice.</li><li>Atmospheric tides cause changes in atmospheric pressure. These changes are linked with higher air temperatures, which means the air molecules can hold more moisture.</li></ul>

The Moons effect on ice, land and air

For generations, people have watched the Moon for signs of changes in the weather. The Moon does, in fact, affect the Earth's weather patterns in subtle ways.

natureandenvironment

BILL GATES

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

Who were DINOSAURS

Dinosaurs; our love, but we do have wrong notions about them