Black Carbon Emerges As A Much Bigger Enemy
By Nick March 26, 2008
US researchers discovered that soot produced by burning wood, coal, diesel, and dung causes even more damage to the environment than we previously thought. The so-called ‘black carbon’ may be three to four times greater than most estimates, and that would be almost 60% of the current warming effect of carbon dioxide, becoming an important target for the efforts to slow global warming.
Because of dung stoves in developing countries and indoor cooking on wood, statistics show that around 400,000 people per year die due to inhaling soot particles and most of them are women and children. V. Ramanathan, atmospheric scientist, and Greg Carmichael, a chemical engineer from The University of Iowa analyzed data from satellites, aircraft and surface instruments to establish the real threat of black carbon. They could tell that almost a third of the carbon that gets into the atmosphere comes from India and China, most likely from burning coal and wood to heat homes or cow manure.
The soot is very noxious when inhaled, in may cases leading even to the death of the subject. Researchers now try to develop at least a short-term strategy against carbon pollution.
Topics: Dangers |
One Response to “Black Carbon Emerges As A Much Bigger Enemy”
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i can’t believe u are making such a fuss over dung stoves. why dontcha go over towhere they are using these things and educate them on how to cook without using it. u’ll see that a majority of these people are living in abject poverty and wouldn’t be able to afford a source of fuel other than dung. they are also very poorly educated and chances are they’ve been using this method since before the discovery of america. so why dontcha go after the true villains here, the gas guzzling suv’s and rich people toys. now, that’s something we don’t really NEED on mother earth now, isn’t it?