So many forces, such little time (Pg. 37-71)

This section of the book made me remember the ending to the classic Playstation 1 role-playing game  Final Fantasy 7. At the end, a meteor strikes the earth, but at the moment of impact, a magical green spirit force envelops the meteor, saving everyone’s lives, and it heals the planet of all the pollution made by The Shinra Electrical Company, which had been killing the planet. We do not have the same luxury as those in Final Fantasy 7 had with their world. As Squarzoni shows us, Earth has remarkable self healing qualities; the vegetation and trees can absorb CO2 and create oxygen and seal nitrogen in the soil. There is also primary and secondary succession, where life can return slowly to lifeless areas. However, our Earth does not have magical abilities and there is a limit, a “ceiling” of greenhouse gas levels, beyond which the Earth cannot cope. In the past ten thousand years, the climate has been stable because that ceiling was not broken through, but that has changed. Even though the climate is influenced by so many astronomical and tectonic factors, the greenhouse effect is the one that is most immediately influential to the human race. Indeed, as the graph on pages 50-51 shows, there is a strong relationship between carbon dioxide levels and temperature.  Many of our activities produce greenhouse gases as Squarzoni illustrates, making climate change an inevitability of the way in which we live.

It was somewhat depressing to read about how greenhouse gases work because it seems so daunting a phenomenon to face. The impression I got from Squarzoni and his interaction with his girlfriend was that he was overwhelmed; I felt the exact same way. We’re in period of transition, and many people will be doing what Squarzoni and his girlfriend do at the end of this section, looking into the night sky, wondering and waiting.