Wastewater Worldwide, Fossil Fuel, fluoride: is it goodbye to Safe and Just Climate Limit?

With safety limits in relation to climate breached, what can this mean in the long term?

Carbon emissions from fossil fuels, Credit, United States Environmental Protection Agency

Scientists set the safe and just climate boundary at one degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial temperature levels, but the 2022 surface temperature recorded 0.86 degrees Celsius warmer than the 20th century average of 13.9 degrees Celsius and 1.06 degrees Celsius warmer than the pre-industrial period of between 1880 and 1900. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) set the safe and just arsenic contamination boundary of groundwater at 10 ppb, but estimations by experts show that close to 108 countries got affected by arsenic contamination in groundwater, the highest of this in Asia (33) and  Europe (31), followed by Africa (20), North America (11), South America (9), and Australia (4). 

Scientists set the safe and just freshwater quantity at three percent of the earth’s water, but globally, at least two billion people live in water-challenged countries, consuming water contaminated by feces, filled with chemical risks arising from arsenic, fluoride or nitrate, pesticides, as well as microplastics. 

These are just three of the eight scientific limits established by scientists in relation to safe and just safety limits, but nations of the world breached them, and it’s no surprise that a recent report states that humans breached four more of the limits, with hotspots of the problem found at areas throughout Eastern Europe, the Middle East, southeast Asia, parts of Africa, and much of Brazil. 

Experts say the burning of fossil fuels adds enormous quantity of greenhouse gases to those naturally occurring in the atmosphere, increasing the effect of climate change, yet about half a trillion tonnes of carbons got consumed since the industrial revolution, with about a trillion tonnes of carbon likely to create a warming of between one degrees Celsius and 2.6 degrees Celsius, with a most likely two degrees Celsius increase.  

Experts state that leaking fuel tanks or toxic chemicals affect groundwater quality, through the release of harmful pollutants into the ground and natural underground water, yet many countries’ continue to support fossil fuels, with 51 countries worldwide almost doubling their commitment to $697.2 billion in 2021, from $362.4 billion in 2020, with the consumption subsidies anticipated to grow even further due to high fuel prices and energy usage. 

Experts say that freshwater pollution originates from among other things wastewater from fossil fuel production, yet a large quantity of wastewater gets generated in the oil and gas sectors on a worldwide level, with the sector in the United States generating around 150,000 cubic meters (260,000 metric tonnes) of wastewater per year, with the average radium concentration on a scale estimated to be at 17.76 Bq/a (480 pCi/g). 

From the above, the limits set by scientists for safe and just limits on the scientific parameter get breached through the great amount of carbon produced by the fossil fuel sector since the pre-industrial times, the large amount of pollution caused by leaking fuel tanks or toxic chemicals produced in the fossil fuel industry, and the great quantity of wastewater dumped into fresh and ground water supplies through the activities in the fossil fuel sector. 

With a rise in temperature of two degrees Celsius, 36 percent of land could face extreme rainfall, and an average rainfall to rise by four percent, while the length of droughts could double, affecting biodiversity in a negative way through temperature increase and habitat destruction. 

With consumption subsidies anticipated to grow even further due to governments' production plans and projections, this could mean 240 percent more coal, 57 percent more oil and 71 percent more gas in 2030 than would be consistent with pegging global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, meaning millions of people worldwide suffering from the negative effects of climate change in a greater dimension. 

With wastewater production expected to increase by 24 percent by 2030 and 51 percent by 2050 over the present levels, this could mean the world creating an unsafe environment for marine and human life, reducing the capacity of many to cope with the challenges caused by climate change. 

With just three of the established safe and just limits causing so much problems, the continued breaching of the remaining four could lead to serious challenges throughout Eastern Europe, South Asia, the Middle East, southeast Asia, parts of Africa, and much of Brazil. 

According to a report, the world needs to decrease fossil fuel production by six percent per year to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Nations need to decrease the production of wastewater to prevent the loss of the planet's remaining wetlands. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 2018 report indicated that CO2 emissions needed to be cut 45% by 2030, compared to 2010 levels, something critical to meeting the Paris Agreement goal of limiting temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the twenty first century and preventing the terrible impacts of climate change, including numerous and severe droughts, heatwaves and rainfall. The failure to achieve these objectives could mean greater challenges going forwards.

What to Eat

China Vegan diet; Credit, Insanely Good Recipes