British geochemist E. Hamilton and others found that the content of more than 60 chemical elements in human blood is related to the content of these elements in the earth’s crust through blood analysis of human organs. Harmony and unity of human material. In the final analysis, human beings are the product of the long-term evolution and development of the earth’s environment, and are inextricably linked to the earth’s environment. This is one reason why universities in many western countries have placed the subject of environment in the category of earth sciences.
Although the earth environment and life on earth have been constantly evolving and evolving in the course of hundreds of millions of years, compared to a certain species or relative to the life of human beings, the earth environment maintains a kind of A state of stability and balance. The evolution of the earth’s environment is extremely long compared to the life span of a human being. In this way, one will naturally understand that the environment is the basic condition for human existence, and that human life and health are closely related to the surrounding environment.
Today, the concentration of N2, the main component in the lower atmosphere of the earth, is 78%, and the concentration of O2 is 21%. There is a fine balance between the various components in the atmosphere. The state of the earth’s environment today is also regulated, controlled and maintained by life activities in the biosphere. It is necessary for the biosphere to maintain the equilibrium state of this environment, and to destroy this equilibrium state is to destroy the foundation of life.
(1) Atmospheric greenhouse effect
Studies have shown that the main culprit causing the greenhouse effect is the CO2 emitted after the use of fossil fuels, which of course also include chlorofluoride, CH4, O3 and N2O. According to calculations, their “contributions” to the greenhouse effect are as follows: CO2 accounted for 50%, chlorofluoride accounted for 20%, CH4 accounted for 16%, O3 accounted for 8%, and N2O accounted for 6%.
The above gases form a glass cover like a greenhouse on the surface of the earth, which allows visible light and infrared rays in sunlight to pass through, but when these rays are reflected from the ground to the atmosphere, the CO2 and other gases in the atmosphere will prevent the heat from dissipating, just like the surface of the earth Was wrapped in a “hot barrier”. This effect that does not prevent solar radiation from reaching the ground, but prevents the earth’s reflected heat from spreading to space is called the greenhouse effect.
Since the Industrial Revolution, human activities have continuously increased the content of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and have also produced greenhouse gases that were not in the atmosphere and discharged them into the atmosphere, thus intensifying the greenhouse effect. Compared with before industrialization, the concentration of CO2, CH4, chlorofluoride, tropospheric O3, N2O and other greenhouse gases has increased significantly.
Taking CO2 as an example, the natural circulation of carbon in the earth’s atmosphere keeps the average CO2 content in the atmosphere at 300×10-6. Due to the mining and burning of fossil energy, as well as large-scale deforestation and marine pollution, the global CO2 concentration is seriously unbalanced.
(2) Low-carbon greenhouse gas emissions directly lead to the concept of “low-carbon economy”
The term “low-carbon economy” first appeared in the “Energy White Paper” published by the British government in 2003, entitled “Our Future Energy: Creating a Low-Carbon Economy”. Since then, “low-carbon economy” has become a hot topic that has attracted increasing attention from all over the world. At that time, the “Energy White Paper” did not have a precise definition of this new term and related methods and standards. Although the world is talking about “low-carbon economy” recently, its concept is still not very clear, and it is constantly being updated and developed. The more mainstream understanding is that “low-carbon economy” refers to an economy that emits the smallest amount of greenhouse gases possible. When the UK first proposed a “low-carbon economy”, the scientific community and the public were more convinced that the current excessively high concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have a direct effect on global warming, and it was confirmed that these excessively high concentrations of greenhouse gases are human beings. The result of economic activity, production, and life. Therefore, advocating a low-carbon economy on a global scale is a necessary means to avoid catastrophic climate change. Almost all countries have realized the urgent need to transition to a low-carbon economy. Countries seeking low-carbon economic development have become an important part of their long-term strategy to alleviate global warming. At the same time, increasingly depleted non-renewable energy resources, rising energy demand and energy prices will also promote the global transition to a low-carbon economy. Regarding carbon emissions as a limitation, its meaning is to “stabilize the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at a level that prevents the global climate system from being threatened” (Global Climate Convention goal), no matter what development path, development speed, or development humans choose All scales must consider the constraint of carbon emissions. The “low-carbon economy” revolves around the entire economic activity, and aims to comprehensively consider greenhouse gas emissions in all aspects of production and consumption. It is mainly reflected in more efficient choices for energy production and consumption in order to achieve the smallest greenhouse gas emissions. . Specifically, as a new economic model, “low-carbon economy” is fundamentally different from the traditional economy of high consumption, low efficiency and high emissions. Mainly reflected in: ①Industry, high-efficiency production and energy utilization; ②In terms of energy structure, renewable energy production will account for a very high proportion; in terms of transportation, the use of high-efficiency fuels, low-carbon vehicles, and public transportation will replace private Transportation, and more use of bicycles and walking; ④In terms of architecture, both office buildings and family housing use high-efficiency energy-saving materials and energy-saving construction methods. In the final analysis, it is the result of systematically adjusting the system to stimulate energy-saving technology innovation, low-carbon emission technology application, and improve energy efficiency. As the economy continues to develop, gradually reduce carbon emissions per unit of GDP, break the old high correlation between traditional economic growth and total greenhouse gas emissions, and establish a new low-carbon living environment and lifestyle. The concept of low-carbon economy covers almost all industries, and the connotation extends to low-carbon production, low-carbon consumption, low-carbon life, low-carbon cities, low-carbon tourism, low-carbon culture, low-carbon philosophy, low-carbon art, and low-carbon survivalism.