Global warming, Coal Power and the Port of Call

 Global warming, Coal Power and the Port of Call

The port of call for Thaprobane in another half a century perhaps may be closer to Gampaha or near about! This was a prediction I made in 1989 on the dark days of violence and mayhem.

I was working for an internal organization and my commitment to them was round the clock especially because of the then prevailing conditions and for my recuperations I dropped into their small library when ever I had free time. Fortunately I was working with young and middle age adults and they were healthy. Apart from their children’s illnesses and an occasional call for a delivery (child birth) or an acute appendix I was relatively free. Unfortunately for me the foreign consultants especially Americans needed up to date medical information and I did not have simple medical books to  give them and I decided to order some books on Tropical Medicine. When I received them they did not have enough and relevant information for Sri-Lanka. Japanese B Encephalitis, snake venoms and many other trivial things. There was nothing on those topics in the books I received.Finally I decided to write an introductory note for all the visiting consultants and the management was pleased to see that I was so inclined.

I forged ahead with my secondary intentions not declared as such i.e. reading all American publications including Scientific American which I loved more than the medical journals. It was like fish back in calm waters and reading for leisure was something I cherished during the dark days of internal violence(1989. Fun while on the job was quite unexpected.

No sooner I got bored I picked up a non medical book and in one of these sporadic episodes I happen to find a book with contour maps of Sri-Lanka. My first perusal was the contours of the North and East where LTTE was dominating and then the Western Coast where the politicians of the South were dominating. The gut reaction and aberration in mind of some significance was enough to lead to new frontiers. I got the librarian who happened to be one my wife’s friends to photocopy several of those contour maps. There after I went home and coloured them according to the elevation from the sea. My finding lead to the above prediction with a certain level of rise in sea level the land would be encroached by certain distance and ultimately at a certain level of see rise the port of call would be nearer to Gampaha with Colombo completely submerged. I cannot remember the figures since the notes were thrown away subsequently but the punch lines remained in my mind.

For the same reasoning the 90% of the land controlled by LTTE would be under water and it is an aberration of history in the making. Thanks to tsunami now that all Sri-Lankan including the LTTE are aware of the might of the ocean and Water Power the punch line resurfaced with Coal Power Plant in the offing and Water Day celebrated recently. All of us fear the sea and the LTTE is especially investing considerable amount of resources on sea faring because of this awareness.

That brings me to the point of relevant discussion of global warming and the contribution of coal power to that scenario. There is direct and indirect link of CO2 with global warming and coal power plant and vehicles produce excess of CO2 that cannot be mopped up readily by the photosynthesizing plants. Small island countries like ours would be better off asking bigger countries to cut down on coal power. The irony is we go for coal power not only one unit but two on the trot.

Very clever aren’t they?

The historical fact would be that the grand children of the present day planners would face the curse of the raging sea.

Tsunami that comes asunder in waves would pale into insignificance with the magnitude of the rising sea with melting of ice from the polar caps.

A recent study and a prediction differ with the earlier estimates of the sea level rise by five times. What the prediction states is that not only surface warming but the warming sea currents have an effect in magnitude much more than surface warming. In the not so distant future we are going to experience catastrophes of nature not experienced before.

The freaks weathers we are experiencing are partly the result of global warming and even though pointing a finger is difficult for most scientists some of them are becoming vociferous and alarmed. These changes are irreversible and if the mankind is not going to heed wiser counsel and become proactive much more calamities would ensue. Ad hoc environmental advice is counter productive in the long run especially in terms of energy policies.