Climatic changes: what if the global increase of CO(2) emissions cannot be kept under control?
Climatic changes threaten the planet. Most articles related to the subject present estimates of the disasters expected to occur, but few have proposed ways to deal with the impending menaces. One such threat is the global warming caused by the continuous increase in CO2 emissions leading to rising ocean levels due to the increasing temperatures of the polar regions. This threat is assumed to eventually cause the death of hundreds of millions of people. We propose to desalinize ocean water as a means to reduce the rise of ocean levels and to use this water for populations that need good quality potable water, precisely in the poorest regions of the planet. Technology is available in many countries to provide desalinated water at a justifiable cost considering the lives threatened both in coastal and desertified areas.
Castro
L A Barreto de
LA
Ministério de Ciência e Technologia, Brasília, DF, Brasil. lbarreto@mct.gov.br <lbarreto@mct.gov.br>
D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity*; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000633:toxicity*; D004190:Disasters / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D057232:Global Warming / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D014872:Water Movements; D014881:Water Supply
D000393:Air Pollutants; D002245:Carbon Dioxide