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Here you can ask questions related to emissions of CO2 and climate change. This column is answered by Dr. Hans Olav Hygen, Senior Scientist at the Norwegian Meteorological institute, and Max Hansson, Researcher at Centre for Climate and Safety, University of Karlstad, Sweden.
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please answer this ques..
why have plants and animals have been able to adapt to change in climate in the past?wan amiera aisha wan azizi (03.05.2009 07:40)
As you state plants and animals have been able to adopt to previous changes, and much of nature will adopt to current ongoing changes.
One major tool for adaptation in nature is migration. This tool has two requirements: Time and space. The species need time to relocate to new areas, and they need the space to establish in new locations. Some species live in close connection to other species at their location, thus the whole ecosystem might need to relocate. This might not be possible due to topographic features or human intervention. This might be a frog living near mountain tops, and an new (and warmer) climate hav no mountains with favourable temperatures. Or there is a farmland preventing a certain grass to migrate to new areas.
The other factor was time. The ongoing climate change is fast. If we see a 3 degree temperature increase in this century are there many species that don't have the time for adaptation to a new climate. Previous climate changes has used more time, the fast ones have led to mass extinction, the most famous one is the fall of the dinosours..
Hans Olav Hygen (03.08.2009 14:39) #
can you tell me 1 ton of c02 equal to how many kg of co2?
safwan bin rosani (24.07.2009 09:33)
1 ton is 1000 kg
Hans Olav Hygen (03.08.2009 14:25) #
solar energy
why there is no one use solar panel at the desert,especially desert of sahara?zuramin b tawi (20.04.2009 05:12)
The costs of solar energy has so far been to high. New technology is making solar energy more cost-efficient, and a number of projects all over the world now use solar energy.
Hans Olav Hygen (08.05.2009 13:50) #
what can be done to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in air?
nurainaa izzati bt daud. (20.04.2009 05:08)
It is difficult to make a device that reduces the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. The most effective solution in the long run is to decrease the emissions of CO2. If we cut the emissions of CO2 enough, natural processess will reduce the level of CO2 in the atmosphere. To achive this a reduction of 1-2 tonn CO2 per person is needed.
Hans Olav Hygen (08.05.2009 13:48) #
important matters!!
what is the main objective of the programme?wan amiera aisha wan azizi (03.05.2009 07:33)
Dear Wan Amiera Aisha Wan Azizi,
Some main objectives of this programme are:
- to raise awareness and confer knowledge of the problem of CO2 emissions from transport to young people
- to instill in young people that they can do something about the problem of CO2 from transport
- to provide young people (the decision makers of tomorrow) with democratic skills and to encourage them to use active citizenry with confidence to influence managment practice in their local community
- to collect and present data on transport practices from schools all over the world to get a measurement of CO2 emissions associated with this, which in turn can be presented to decision makers and which, hopefully, may work as a basis for designing new and better policies and thus instigate required systemic changes
- to provide young people with a baseline concept of levels of CO2 emissions, which then may be used to grasp/evaluate/compare how much CO2 is emitted in other contexts
- to generate and share suggestions and climate ideas on what may be done to improve conditions locally
- to serve as a practical supplement to the education for sustainable development that is going on in schools around the world
Best regards,
Gaute Groenstoel (CO2nnect development team) (05.05.2009 14:20) #
calculation of co2 emission
How is co2 emission calculated?savita sharma (04.05.2009 19:48)
Dear Savita Sharma,
The CO2-emission estimates calculated by the website are based on vehicle-specific CO2 multipliers (kg CO2 per passenger per km) that represent mean emission values over a larger sample of vehicles which are weighed against mean passenger occupancy for the different vehicles. Read more about this here:
http://co2nnect.org/help_sheets/?op_id=602&opt_id=98
Best regards,
Gaute Groenstoel (CO2nnect development team) (05.05.2009 13:31) #
Power
What about making more windmills instead of nuclear powerOliver Bust (01.04.2009 15:00)
Use of windmills is one way to generate energy in a fashion that has less detrimental environmental effects than burning of fossile fuel. To cover the world-wide need of energy it is necessary to employ all sources of renewable energy like solar power, wave-pover, and tidal power.
Hans Olav Hygen (14.04.2009 11:05) #
what do you think about the flood that happened in africa? does it have something related to the emission of co2??
Ferra Ardilla binti Fauzi (02.04.2009 02:23)
No single event can be connected to the increase of CO2, but there has been a clear change to a more severe climate (more floods, higher temperature, etc.). This increase in probability of severe weather events is part of how we detect climate change.
Hans Olav Hygen (14.04.2009 11:02) #
ways to reduce dangerous gas emition in certain places
how to reduce dangerous gas emition from vehicles in hot countries?aishah naqiah binti ahmad shazili (02.04.2009 04:45)
The location of the CO2 source is important for the effect of CO2 on global warming. To decrease the man-made part of climate change a world-wide decrease in CO2 production is needed. This means that hot and cold countries have to change the use (and waste) of energy, change from petrol driven cars into e.g. electric cars, and increase public transportation to reduce the need for private cars.
Hans Olav Hygen (14.04.2009 10:58) #
how can co2 affect our daily life although the used of co2 is important for us?
nor diana bt zainal (02.04.2009 02:10)
As you state a certain level of CO2 is important for us and nature. The dangerous part is that we have significantly increased the level of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The result of this increase is that the climate changes. This change manifests as increased temperature, melting ice (glaciers, sea ice ...). There is also a higher probability of heatwaves, floods, droughts, and storms.
Hans Olav Hygen (14.04.2009 10:54) #
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