What will the world look like if we don’t take climate change seriously and reduce the level of CO2 that mankind has produced.

Well the worst vision is that of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse; Earth bathed in a never-ending sea of havoc-wreaking black blizzards, man and beast choking across water starved land, famine, pestilence, all life, and humanity reduced to nothing but extinction. Could Man really be eviscerated from the planet if global temperatures, rise just single digits above normal? Could this dramatic tragedy really lead to the end of mankind?

Humans entered the age of industrialization only 200 years ago; creating electricity, global communication, nuclear power, sophisticated medicine, and space travel. But will this wondrous progress lose us our planet?

The price of building Man’s future on a carbon fuelled/dependent economy, has been generating CO2 and endlessly pumping it into the Earth’s atmosphere.  For the last 10,000 years, the atmospheric abundance of carbon dioxide (CO2) was at a constant 280 ppm (per parts millions).  Check out your meters now!   CO2 levels have just gone over 400 ppm.  That ppm increase has seen the planet warm up by nearly 1.34 degrees.

Is CO2 good for us?  Yes, up to a point! Plants use CO2 for the process of photosynthesis; taking CO2 from the air, converting it into sugar and giving us oxygen into the bargain. But the problem is that as CO2 is a heavier gas than air it acts like a blanket around the planet, keeping the warmed-up air from the sun inside and thus warming up the earth, rather than enabling it to escape and cool down.

From our busy cities, all this talk about climate change may seem imperceptible and a long way off.  But because of what appear to be just mild changes in the Earth’s carbon cycle biosphere, environmental scientists have recorded a dramatic and unprecedented warming of the Artic, rising sea levels year on year and changing weather patterns.  The planet is experiencing enhanced droughts, catastrophic Polar ice loss, and ocean acidification. Heatwaves and hurricanes have all increased in number, duration, and intensity.  Reduced crop yields, and coral-reef mortality are equally part and parcel of our carbon fuelled, so-called economic progress.

Broadly speaking the current increase in CO2 levels have been attributed to anthropogenic processes, namely the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.   Geologically speaking CO2 levels haven’t been this high on Earth for millions of years. Our planet is in fact facing the biggest environmental challenges it has ever seen.

So, what is the definitive answer?  By 2050 the UK must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80%.  Whether it likes it or not industry globally is having to scramble forward in every way it can, too seriously reduce its carbon footprint – and that includes mobile phones. Although a mobile phone is one of the 7 wonders of the technological age, it is not quite as innocent as it might first appear!

CO2 is of course generated through the manufacture of mobile phones. It is also created through their marketing, their administration and the global base stations which are switched on 24 hours a day.  That is to say nothing of calls, texting, and internet use, including using Apps and surfing the net.  Given that a mobile is used on average for 2 hours per day, one person generates over 2 tonnes of CO2 per year.

With over 7 billion mobiles on the planet and more to come, the amount of CO2 expended is hugely significant.  Every tap or search term on a mobile brings us towards a warmer world.  The growth in mobile data, has seen a boom in server centers, where all that stuff you find on web browser is held there and getting bigger. And have a guess, as to how many times you will recharge your mobile during its lifetime, or even during your own lifetime!?

So how can environmental telecommunications reduce the carbon impact of mobile phones? In other words, what can you do to make your business calls CO2 free?  Business calls must be made, but they need to be CO2 free.

The solution is first to find an eco-friendly network partner who will support your CO2 reduction plan – that means an energy-efficient network partner.  It also means a supplier who understands the implications of climate change, and who will expend all its efforts to help you to use your mobile phone in an environmentally friendly way. By choosing greener communication you are showing leadership in working towards a cleaner Earth and proving your love for our planet. 

It must be a lot better than seeing the 4 horsemen.