ARTICLE 1

Environment Conservation and Climate Change Resilience (overview)

Rise of the industrialization era, followed by a series of anthropogenic activities, has led to environmental degradation at global level. It is significant to appreciate as well as pity mankind's inventions that has both saved and destroyed our environment. 

National Geographic describes conservation as “The act of protecting Earth's natural resources for current and future generations”.

Following methods can be practiced at an individual level:

1. Following the principles of waste management – 5R’s (reuse, reduce, repurpose, refuse and recycle)
2. Planting trees for oxygen production and groundwater management
3. Proper disposal of non-renewable waste such as plastics
4. Adopting a green lifestyle such as switching to a vegan diet
5. Checking for leaky taps
6. Carpooling, use of electric vehicles and bicycles
7. Maintaining two separate dustbins for disposing dry waste and wet waste

Other methods that can be followed at institutional levels are as follows:

1. Adoption of mandatory rain water harvesting system in all apartments
2. Adoption of renewable sources of energy ie solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, biomass, tidal energy, etc.
3. Conducting awareness programs and workshops on environment conservation
4. Demand for using paints of light color on buildings in urban areas, this helps to prevent extreme heat waves
5. Green tax on old vehicles
6. Ensuring proper disposal of nuclear waste
7. Strong push towards afforestation and opposing deforestation

'Center for climate and energy solutions' defines climate change resilience as “The ability to prepare for, recover from, and adapt to these impacts”. Some of the following methods can be adopted by the governments in near future,

1. Construction of 'Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage' plants (BECCS), it extracts carbon dioxide from power station chimneys and pumps it into rocks underground
2. Adoption of NASA's planned 'earth shade’ or 'solar shield' in order to reflect or deflect incoming sun rays; it prevents excess energy from the sun into Earth
3. Adoption of fake volcanoes to reflect sun rays; volcanoes release sulfate aerosols into the atmosphere and these molecules reflect rays
4. Covering the Greenland ice sheet with some kind of reflective blanket to protect the ice sheet as well as attain the albedo effect
5. Adoption of 'Ocean Fertilization; in this process, nutrients are added to the oceans for enhancing the growth of phytoplanktons (aquatic plants that store dissolved carbon dioxide) and after phytoplanktons respire, carbon dioxide settles in the ocean bed
6. Conversion of artificial trees into charcoal and biochar before these trees release carbon dioxide through decomposition
7. Adoption of DAC (Direct Air Capture) to extracts carbon dioxide from the air where the gas is extracted using chemical reactions and is stored underground
8. Adoption of CarbFix's project; it involved pumping of dissolved carbon dioxide into basalt rocks that lie underground and years later, the nutrients in the rock react to the dissolved element to form limestone

Hence, practice of conservational methods and use of climate engineering along with stringent environmental policies could help decrease the rate of climate change.