In the first decade of the 21st century, the human civilization, from infants to the older generation, must face an inconvenient truth: the global warming. Owning to the powerful communication media, the reason and the seriousness of the global warming are widely separated. Now, we can hear it easily not only on the science discussion but also the street gossips.

More and more science researches showed that a series of extra greenhouse gases have been discharged in a great amount and caused the climate to become warmer. This unnatural intervention may cause unusual weathers in local or global, and even the sea level ascends. After estimating the direct and indirect losses it may cause, the experts predicted that the whole world will go bankrupted in 2045 if we keep doing nothing to it.
To save the earth, we must know who we are going to fight against: the extra artificial greenhouse gases. Until today, more types of artificial greenhouse gases have been confirmed. The scientists and the governments put most of their attention on the carbon dioxide and methane; they believed the usage of the fossil fuels raised the emission of the carbon dioxide while the agricultures released the methane into the atmosphere.

２.So, what is to be done?

The Kyoto Protocol and the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference tried to stipulate the emission of the greenhouse gases not only from the high developed nations but the developing countries such as India and China. But, eventually, the meeting came to a failure ending. Though the governments couldn’t make it, we can do it by ourselves.
Apparently, we don’t have much time to hesitate; we should use the most efficient solutions to solve the problems. At the beginning, everyone should cultivate the idea of protecting the earth. It’s a good idea to buy an eco-friendly appliance instead of the traditional one. However, there are too many products on the market claiming that they are eco-friendly. For instance, a packaged water company propagandizes that their new-designed bottles are able to make place for other garbage and reduce the emission of the carbon dioxide. The truth is, manufacturing a plastic bottle wastes plenty of energy, which will accelerate the global warming. Therefore, it’s necessary to learn how to differentiate the real eco-friendly product from the pseudo one.
Saving the earth from the global warming may also save our own precious money! It is well known that most of our energy came from fossil fuels, especially in Taiwan. Thanks to the high pressures from the anti-nuclear organizations in Taiwan made the traditional coal power plants stand in great numbers. Indirectly, these power plants emit large amounts of carbon dioxides as well as other pollutants into our daily environment. If we remember to take some easy actions like turning off the unused electric appliances, using energy saving appliances, we can not only save the earth but block the big hole on the pennies. Take a public transportation or bike instead of driving alone; drive every drop of fuels into the best efficiency.

A reasonable “carbon tax” is acceptable. It can slow down the usage of the fossil fuel, and these founds can be used on the invention of new carbon-less technologies, such as solar energy, fuel battery and even the nuclear fusion reactor. Nowadays, these technologies are still premature. Let’s talk about the fuel battery. Unlike other chemical batteries, fuel battery needs fuels. The well known fuels for it are hydrogen and oxygen; some portable computers will equip methyl fuel battery during these years. The hydrogen-oxygen fuel battery produces electricity and water; it’s a clean way to provide energy. However, not everyone can afford it, because the expensive proton-exchange membranes need to be exchange after using for a while. On the other hand, the methyl fuel batteries emit carbon dioxides; what’s more, the production of the methyl also discharges carbon dioxide and wastes our precious food. It’s still not a clever energy resource today. Next time when you are picking up a laptop, for the sake of the earth, just leave the methyl battery along.

Does vegetarian really saves the world? Scientifically, on the bio-energy tower, each lower level could only provide 10% of its containing energy to the upper level. That is, if we use 100 calories of crops to feed a cow and eat it, it could only provide us 1 calorie while we could get 10 calories if we just eat the crops. The original spirit of vegetarian is to cut down on the unnecessary energy losing; it does help us fight against the global warming. Strange enough, many vegetarians in Taiwan eat “artificial meats” instead of the real one. Although their diets are “meatless”, the process of producing the fake meats needs extra energy, equals to emit more carbon dioxides. Furthermore, the modern way we used to plant crops and vegetables harms the earth, the water and the air. It costs a great quantity of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, machines and transporters to grow those products. To save the earth, being a vegetarian isn’t enough. We should become a “wise vegetarian”, eat organic vegetables and buy the products from the farm nearest to the market.

When it comes to food, we can’t leave soya behind. Soya used to be added in to the feed for livestock, today it is widely used in Bio-fuels and other foods. The soya related products we have today mostly come from Brazil and the US. In Brazil, in behalf of expanding the land for the soya farm, the crop enterprises destroyed the Amazon Rain Forest, threatened not only the climate but also the bio-diversity. Today, some countries use recycled cooking oil to replace it. So, why not put down the artificial meat on your chopsticks and stop adding the bio-fuels made from raw materials?

3.Can we make it a better tomorrow?

In the end, the readers must understand an unacceptable truth that we cannot reverse the bad climate immediately. Even if we achieve “0 emissions” right away, the greenhouse gases will last in the atmosphere still until their lifetimes come to an end. Yet we cannot give up. If we have no actions, no miracles will happen. During the UN Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, a young Indian girl addressed to the leaders around the world: “I’m so much concerned about the climate change, because I don’t want our future generations to question us just as I’m questioning the need for more concrete actions for the climate change today.” Indeed, even if we this generation escaped from the big collapse, what about the next, and the next and the future generations? We should not leave this shambles to our sons and daughters. On the contrary, we are able to give them a better chance to win this war struggling for survive. A wisely, efficiently using of energy can low down the emission of greenhouse gases. Change the way we manufacture and consumption, don’t waste any energy. We can equip the future generation even ourselves with renewable, carbon-free energy resources. Until then, we can live with all living creatures peacefully on the planet earth together.