What is El Niño; how does it work?

Normally, currents in the Pacific Ocean bring warm water currents towards Asia and Oceania and moves cool currents towards the western shore of America. However, the tides change every few years, due to differences in temperature and pressure, bringing warm water eastward to the Americas instead. This warms the whole planet up and changes the weather of both sides of the ocean for about a year. This is called El Niño, which somewhat means “the winter boy” in Spanish. When it gets reversed, the situation is called “La Niña”, which means “the girl”, with the name reflecting how it mirrors the events of El Niño, although reversed.

When El Niño happens, the global temperatures rise by a bit from the trapped heat inside the ocean. The weather changes too—America gets wetter, there are higher flooding chances, and precipitation is much more likely. Meanwhile, Asia and Oceania get drier and droughts are more likely to occur. But how does this have to do with the climate crisis?

When the effects are too strong

If the climate crisis (as mentioned in GHG Facts) makes temperatures warmer and El Niño causes warming too, it’s all fun and games until El Hombre (“the man”) walks in. We do recommend reading GHG Facts first before you proceed.

A thing to note about El Niño is that it’s heavily reliant on temperature changes to act the way it is. When the climate crisis strengthens that temperature difference, El Niño events get stronger, leading to stronger events related to humidity and temperature. First of all, droughts in Asia & Oceania can get more severe, while floods grow much more intense in the Americas, reflecting the humidity change. The Americas also get a lot hotter, but on the other side of the Pacific, it gets much cooler. Cool, dry winds occur in Oceania and parts of Southeast Asia, while America has more precipitation and storms. And they can cause severe damage, including reducing food supply, destroying homes, villages, and even some towns, and causing uncomfortable and unsuitable temperatures worldwide.

Steps toward Better Times

Some things we can do to help out include mitigating the effects like helping provide food, water, and shelter for people affected by severe El Niño storms and other situations while also preventing the causes by replacing certain practices with greener technology and switching to green energy instead of relying solely on fossil fuels. Check out the solutions list in GHG Facts!

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If it’s not your first time reading Terra Knowledge (we’re sure it’s like that for at least 30 of you), yes—we’re starting a new series. You might know Where Power Comes From as the original Energy Explainer 1, but we decided it’s a better idea to make the explanation a lot more clearer. This is a much larger topic and will focus on the general public instead of just personal actions you can take, so take your time reading these.

When we burned fuel for energy: Fossil fuels

Before fossil fuel usage, wood and coal were burned only to warm people up and cook food. Since the usage of oil in the 1850s, fossil fuels are now commonly used to power the whole world. Fossil fuels include petroleum, natural gas, and sometimes coal; each of them have their own uses and efficiency, but they mainly have the same usage. Extract (mine/drill), then burn, then use.

Each of them kind of peaked before the last. Coal outranked wood during the 19th century. However, coal was not as efficient as oil, used in specific cars due to its energy yield. These days, natural gas is used in gasoline, gas stoves, and general energy efficiency and transportation ability.

Another thing to know about is hydraulic fracturing, also known as just fracking. Fracking involves drilling into shale—a type of rock—containing oil or natural gas and puncturing holes in the shale, and using a water-based chemical solution to extract the fossil fuels.

Why fossil fuels don’t work so well

Firstly, fossil fuels emit greenhouse gases, also known as GHGs. Excessive amounts of GHGs can cause issues like global warming, humidity changes, wildfires, ocean acidification, and much more. You can find more information about this in GHG Facts. This is one of the primary reasons that advocate against fossil fuels.

Besides, fracking has its own issues apart from releasing GHGs. Since the solution used in fracking is largely made up of water, local water may be used up. Used fracking solution is also toxic, as it contains radioactivity, toxic chemicals, and other unsafe substances. If neglected, it can seep into groundwater, poisoning local water supply. Still other concerns include the fact that fracking operations including drilling can cause tremors and earthquakes.

Other problems beside the climate crisis and fracking involve constant cost and usage, human life, fossil fuels not lasting forever, and how communities very reliant on them can shut down. First off, fossil fuels need money and effort to extract. Coal needs to be mined, Oil and gas has to be dug up or drilled. Plus, not all of the energy in fossil fuels get turned into usable electricity. Most of the energy is converted to heat. About coal mining, it needs active workers. Mining can be unsafe at times, and coal miners can get injured or even die in dangerous conditions.

On a more long-term basis, fossil fuels can and will eventually run out. It will take centuries for the world to completely run out, but local supplies can run out anywhere between days and years. This can be a problem for fossil fuel-dependent communities, cities, and even nations—if they run out of fossil fuels or don’t receive imports, they can decline or even shut down.

Steps toward a greener and cleaner direction

The biggest thing that can be done is the direct switch to green energy sources and renewables. Wind, solar, and tidal/hydropower (through hydroelectric dams) are the most mentioned renewable energy sources, but there are also things like geothermal (heat from the ground), hydrogen (reaction with oxygen to create water and energy), and nuclear fusion. They provide more energy overall, don’t need high fuel production costs, and are generally cheaper. Nuclear fission can be another option as well, though mining and waste have to be considered.

Well, some of you may feel like objecting to that. Wind turbines can hurt birds due to low visibility. Solar takes a lot of land. Hydropower blocks rivers, and nuclear fission deals with radioactive uranium and thorium, which has to be mined before usage and disposed of safely after then. This is why although green energy can help, it should be treated with care and not just eco-friendly place-everywhere. Wind turbines require black lines and good positioning to prevent disturbing wildlife. Solar and hydropower require considerate placing too. Nuclear waste has to be stored away appropriately.

Actually, you might have some other questions, too.

• If you are concerned about jobs over fossil fuels, job offering in other fields or green energy that work well can and will eventually pop up due to job supply.

• About the fact that green energy still causes emissions, the GHG Facts Q&A states that these emissions are 10 000s and 100 000s of times less than fossil fuels do.

• Concerning how green energy is more expensive, it’s actually only more expensive in the initial funding phase before it gets relatively cheaper in the long term. Plus, no extra money spent on extracting fuels for renewables.

Although they are cheaper in the long run, green energy needs an initial push. And it’s hard to get rid of already-existing fossil fuels. So if we want green energy but still want to have something similar to fossil fuels, what do we do? Enter biofuels.

Fossil fuels are made of dead plants or other organisms that did not get decomposed and were instead preserved into coal, oil, and gas trapped under rock. However, today’s bacteria don’t allow this to happen anymore—they’d decompose it before it can get fossilized. Biofuels are non-decomposed “fossil fuels” using wood, plants, algae, poop, and manure. They can be grown in fields and labs or collected from sewage. They do produce emissions, but extraction does less harm and it’s totally renewable, so it won’t run out.

Remember the part we mentioned earlier about how this is more of a public topic? Although we can help save our own water, energy, and resources, choosing where our energy comes from has to be decided by us collectively and affect us all together. So although it helps that now you know, we can help society switch for better energy and a better future by letting them know too. Consider sharing to others to do this! That’s all, so make sure to stay tuned and subscribe for the next part!

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Here are some other series about actions you can take! Saving Anything describes some details about saving and breaks it down into 4 sections for you: saving water, food, power, and stuff.

We also recommend subscribing to Terra Knowledge to stay updated for more posts like these! Consider joining the subscriber chat and refer a friend if you would like. Thanks for reading Terra Knowledge—take care and see you soon!

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As listed in GHG Facts, a side effect of the climate crisis is ocean acidification. This is part of a series where briefly-mentioned topics will get their own information and Terra Knowledge articles.

What Is Ocean Acidification?

When carbon dioxide gas emitted by activity like fossil fuel burning and concrete making is absorbed by the ocean, it reacts with water to form an acid called carbonic acid. Carbonic acid eventually breaks down to make things like hydrogen cations, and hydrogencarbonate; the ocean gets acidic.

Another thing that the hydrogen cations do is react with carbonate from minerals and rocks and form more hydrogencarbonate, which will be relevant soon.

How Ocean Acidification Hurts

Oceans and water bodies that are more acidic are prone to corals dying due to the conditions. Furthermore, the loss of carbonate for shellfish and other marine life with shells or skeletons to form their shells and skeletons. This causes less marine life to live, which in turn affects such marine life’s predators, secondary predators, and keeps going up through the food web, ultimately causing environments to collapse. Fewer fish can be caught and the ocean acidification can pose a threat to public health through respiratory issues and poisoning.

What We Can Do

As mentioned in GHG Facts, some things we can do include reforestation to absorb such carbon dioxide, green energy and clean concrete for fewer emissions, and other sustainable technology to reduce the impact and sources. Go check the main story out on the actual article!

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Everything needs money. You pay for water and electricity. You buy food from markets or stores and you buy stuff online or through shops. And there are the effort and things used to create things. Every time you waste things, you end up wasting your money, precious effort and material, and could even hurt the environment (explained later in the article or in GHG Facts—will be explained at the end). You also waste the item itself. So saving things saves your money, effort, and materials while keeping that item and helping protect the environment.

How to Save Things

There is 1 general rule: RETHINC before you throw or use. REuse, REduce, REcycle, REpair, REfuse, REcover, REsell, REnt, roT, sHare, apprecIate, owN, upCycle, Choose, Compost, and Consume. Make use of what you have and don’t use things you don’t need. However, it’s easier to say it than do it. So here is a collection of some specific tips.

Saving Water

Reducing shower time is one of the most commonly-known methods to save water. If you reduce your shower time for 5 minutes, you save 17 170.628 L (4 536 gal) of water. Assuming that 1 L of water costs US$0.003, US$51.511 884 will be saved annually. This is one of the simplest and most efficient water-saving tactics alongside proper dish-washing and turning off the tap when brushing teeth.

On the other hand, you do want to be careful for leaks. Even a 1 mL/s leak could lead to 86.4 L (22.824 5) of wasted water per day and 31 536 L (8 330.929 84 gal) a day. That’s about US$94.608 wasted per year. These water leaks can be found in toilets, sinks, pipes, outdoor hosing, and showers. Do be aware of them and fix them as soon as you find one.

Saving Food

A thing to know about food storage is where it belongs. Most foods belong in the fridge. However, raw meat, frozen foods, and bread should be stored in the freezer to prevent microbial growth and for the best quality. Many fruits and vegetables belong in low-moisture drawers in fridges. Foods like tomatoes and leafy plant foods such as basil belong on the kitchen counter. As for basil, it is recommended to be stored in a pot with some water.

To store leftovers, the WHO (World Health Organization) recommends something known as the 2-2-4 rule: store 2 hours after preparation, use a maximum 2-inch deep container, and eat the food within 4 days. In genera, keep your leftovers cold and eat them before they spoil.

Saving Power

Idle devices use up energy. This includes chargers, PCs, hair dryers, kettles, microwave ovens, televisions, and more. If you won’t be using them for a long time, unplug them to save on power and electricity bills.

Most cares are most for 4 or 5 people, but most of the time, it’s just 1 or 2 people that use it at a time. If you can, consider carpooling to save on fuel. If available, also consider public transportation, rideshares, and self-transport methods like biking, scooters, or walking.

Saving Stuff

When saving stuff, reject what you don’t need and reduce your consumption to what’s needed. Choose more efficient items, and consider the secondhand market. This includes renting and owning used items.

On the topic of physical products like appliances and furniture, furniture can be repaired if not damaged too harshly. Reject products you can’t recover and recover those you can. Rent and share tools you won’t need a lot to avoid excessive spending.

A Global Sidenote

When saving things, you end up saving the planet long-term. Most products emit greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere; too much GHGs cause excessive temperature changes, humidity changes, ocean acidification, sea level rise, wildfires, and disease to spread. This guide is for short-term but global activities anyone can do. Consider reading GHG Facts for more information about this and long-term ways to help out.

With that said, we hope you got to know some ways you can help out yourself save money and even help the world in a way. Make sure to subscribe to Terra Knowledge if you want more posts like this!

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Q1: Why should I know this?
A1: Every day, more and more people talk about things related to carbon, climate, and environment. Buzzwords and jargon doesn’t help either. This guide is made for you to know and understand what’s going on and act about it.

Q2: How do I know if I can trust you?
A2: Most information is sourced from NASA, NOAA, and the IPCC—all of which are government agencies or international organizations. Before you say anything about a scheme, social experiments can’t last for decades without whistleblowers, and this article isn’t sponsored by anyone or marketing anything.

Q3: Are GHGs good guys or bad guys?
A3: Neither. GHGs are not intrinsically good or bad. They’re unalive, they can’t choose for themselves. They just do what they do: warm the planet. Depending on your context, it can help or hurt. But in the meantime, they have no morality. They’re just there.

Q4: Isn’t it all just carbon?
A4: No. There are GHGs like water, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, and halogenated gases. It’s like calling oranges and bananas the same as apples because they’re fruits. Most people say carbon for convenience instead of specification.

Q5: Aren’t green energy and fossil fuels just as bad for emissions?
A5: Green energy emits hundreds of thousands of times less than fossil fuels. Before you mention the fact that halogenated gases are ten of thousands of times stronger, statistics already accounted for that. Besides, fossil fuels continually emit per amount of fuel burned.

Q6: Why haven’t I been told this before?
A6: Some people don’t know. Some people don’t care. Some people don’t want to know. Some people who know think everyone knows. But it doesn’t matter now. You’ve found a base to understand climate basics before you explore the open world.

Thank you for asking. Now with those questions answered, let’s get to know what GHGs are.

Basic Concept of a GHG

GHGs—short for greenhouse gases—are gases that indirectly transfer heat to the planet. Photons are light particles that deliver heat to the planet. Sometimes they get accepted, sometimes flung straight back into the atmosphere. GHGs prevent most of these rejections by sending the photons back. This is actually crucial for the planet.

Too few GHGs (especially water) can cause the planet to freeze. But too many, and it basically cooks itself. So managing the amount of GHGs in the atmosphere is the way to go. Hopefully that answers Q3.

Different GHGs have different levels of strength. Water (H2O) comes at 0.000 5, with carbon dioxide (CO2) at 1. Methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) are 27 and 265 times stronger than carbon dioxide, respectively. Ozone (O3) at 510, and the wide list of halogenated gases ranging from hundreds to tens of thousands.

Sources of GHGs

 Except for water and carbon dioxide (partially, by breathing), most greenhouse gases come from human activity. The biggest source is fossil fuel usage. Fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas contain hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, which in turn lead to creation of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Each of these 4 GHGs have their own secondary source.

Carbon dioxide also comes from manufacturing of concrete and other materials made of fossil fuels (like plastic). Methane is more localized to agricultural emissions. See, it’s not just “cow farts”, but more focused on rice paddies having microbes known as methanogens producing methane. About cattle, these same methanogens live in their stomachs. Nitrous oxide’s name suggests nitrogen, which is found in fertilizer. Excess fertilizer usage can lead to the production of nitrous oxide. Finally, ozone is produced through car exhaust, although indirectly.

As for halogenated gases, halogenated gases are a large category for various GHGs. They mainly come from refrigerants in coolers or freezers and electronics or photovoltaics such as phones and solar panels.

A Crisis in the Climate

Remember the issue about if the planet gets too cold or too hot? It’s what’s happening when people talk about “climate change”, “climate crisis”, “climate emergency”, “global warming”, “global heating”, or something like that. Too much GHGs in the atmosphere can cause the planet to get too hot for living normally. But that’s not the only issue.

Global warming can also lead to other issues like overcooling, excessive change in humidity (too wet or dry), dangerous wildfires, ocean acidity than can cause marine life to get hurt/die, easier spread of disease, and floods. These have their own causes linked to this that even include chain reactions.

About chain reactions, positive feedback loops—basically loops that lead to more of itself—can happen with greenhouse gases. When ice melts, it causes flooding and sea level rise, which can lead to more melting. With wetlands, wetlands can start thawing, releasing methane trapped inside them. The methane causes more heating, leading to more wetland thawing until the wetlands have entirely thawed.

Speaking of wildfires, deforestation for wood and forests burning can be harmful. Firstly, it’s a fire hazard. It can burn people. Secondly, the environment gets destroyed. Wildlife lose their homes and can’t really live anywhere else. Trees that prevent too much GHGs are burned and can cause more GHGs to be emitted (feedback loops again).

Some of these GHGs are toxic. Nitrous oxide is impossible to breathe. Ozone can pollute ground-level air. Just 2 sentences from GHG Facts 5 are needed to describe this:

In 2019, about 365 000 deaths have been caused by this issue alone. And the consequences are that millions of people in urbanized regions can suffer trouble breathing due to lots of car and factory emissions.

That isn’t all. Halogenated gases are harmful in a unique way. The same ozone that can cause pollution in lower layers of the atmosphere can protect the planet from ultraviolet light higher up in the air. Ultraviolet can hurt skin and even cause cancer if exposed to for too long. Ozone prevents this by letting ultraviolet hit and break them instead.

But when halogenated gases are emitted, chlorine atoms could be hit off from their parent molecules and destroy lots of ozone, nullifying their effect. Areas affected by this ozone hole are exposed to ultraviolet, exposing organisms below to ultraviolet and potentially harming them. (These holes were found in or near polar regions of the planet.)

So what can we do about this?

Don’t Just Open the Drain—Stop the Tap

Many might mention using things like carbon capture (capturing and storing GHGs) to prevent these problems. However, here’s a psychology: when the bathtub overflows, don’t just open the drain. Stop the tap. In other words, preventing problems from being caused could be equally, if not more important than stopping the problems themselves.

Green energy and electric vehicles are the simplest method to prevent GHG emissions. Sustainable farming practices and green technology can also help prevent emissions from sources like rice paddies, cattle farming, and concrete production. Trees are naturally a source and storer of carbon, so reforestation helps prevent trees from being cut down and releasing carbon while also allowing planted trees to absorb carbon. Finally, as a method to prevent environment destruction, wildfire prevention and knowledge can help prevent wildfires from harming wildlife or forests.

Summary: A Big Topic with a Little Guide

Greenhouse gases are gases that come both naturally and artificially. They help regulate our temperature, but we also need to know that an excess can lead to real issues. Real solutions and real knowledge can be found, and we can decide what to do and say knowing this information. Consider reading Saving Anything next for information on how individuals like you can do to help out.

We hope this helped you get an understanding of the climate crisis and are ready for discussions about the climate and environment. Subscribe to Terra Knowledge for more information like this and share this post to a friend who might need it. See you soon!

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An important thing to know is that whenever you save stuff, you also save the money you spent to buy it. You also end up saving effort and resources from going to waste. Most of all, you can keep using it over and over.

Pillar 1) Before you throw it, RETHINC it. REuse, REduce, REcycle, REpair, REfuse, REcover, REsell, REnt, roT, sHare, apprecIate, owN, upCycle, Choose, Compost, and Consume.
Pillar 2) Know unique tactics to save specific things.
Pillar 3) Spread the word. When you save stuff, you don’t just help yourself—you help the whole world.

Pillar 1) RETHINC before you throw

RETHINC is a simple way to describe many ways we can save things from the landfill. It isn’t just recycling, nor is it just reusing and reducing. It also contains repairing, refusing, renting, reselling, recovering, rotting, sharing, appreciating, owning, consuming, choosing, and composting. There are 4 layers to this.

The market layer (buying and selling)

Before we wear clothes and use devices, we first buy them. Refuse products you don’t need and reduce your consumption—it prevents any unwanted things from even being in your possession. You can also choose greener products and consider renting and owning things you wouldn’t need too long or to use secondhand items.

The usage layer (consuming and giving)

After buying, appreciate and consume (use) your products. Well, what after? Some products that seem one-time can be reused, like plastic and paper bags to carry things or bag waste. If you haven’t been using something much, consider reselling it. Reselling can even earn you money! Sharing is another way to prevent unnecessary spending. Instead of everyone having their own, groups can share tools/equipment like drills, hammers, and irons.

The fixing layer (repairing and upcycling)

After time, things break. Clothes wear out. Devices become outdated and glitchy. Furniture can creak and break. Packaging wears and tears. There are 2 main ways to prevent this. You can fix stuff like sewing clothes, screwing back furniture, and more. Or you can do something called upcycling. Upcycling takes old items and makes new uses of them, such as a plastic bottle turned into a pot for plants.

The disposal layer (recycling and recovering)

At some point, stuff will break to a point it can’t be used any further. But it doesn’t mean it will go into the trash. Recycle recyclable materials and recover batteries and devices to producers or designated bins. On the long term, recover recyclable waste and recycle it. If your waste is organic (as in made from plants or food), consider rotting and composting it, basically returning the items to nature that produces it.

Pillar 2) Know unique tactics

You might be thinking “Okay, great. RETHINC is nice and all, but it’s pretty generic for something that promises to prevent stuff from ever being wasted. I want to see REAL things I can do.” Which is exactly what this pillar is about. Know and use specific ways to RETHINC items lying around in your home.

Look around you. There’s probably a plastic water bottle somewhere that has a chasing arrows (♻️) symbol with maybe a number like 1 on it. You might think every time the symbol appears, the thing can be recycled. But that’s not the case for all materials. Remember the number? Every number corresponds to a specific material and status of recyclability.

#1: PETE, polyethylene terephthalate. Found in plastic bottles. RECYCLE.
#2: HDPE, high-density polyethylene. Found in bags and bottle caps. RECYCLE.
#3: PVC, Polyvinyl chloride. Found in chemical bottles and pipes. CANNOT recycle.
#4: LDPE, low-density polyethylene. Found in bags and buckets. Maybe recycle.
#5: PP, polypropylene. Found in CD holders and plastic cans. Maybe recycle.
#6: PS, polystyrene. Found in plastic cups and styrofoam. CANNOT recycle.
#7: OTHER, other plastics. Found in toys, toothbrushes, and shoes. Depends, but mainly cannot recycle.
#8–14: Batteries. Found in vehicles and electronics. CANNOT recycle, but can be recovered and recharged (at least for #12: lithium-ion).
#20–23: Papers. Found in paper bags, boxes, and newspapers. #20 & #21 (paper and mixed papers) are COMPOST. RECYCLE #22 and #23 (cardboard and fibreboard).
#40 & #41: Metals. Found in cans and steel. RECYCLE.
#50–69: Textiles. Found in clothes, bedsheets, and mats. Recycle if not contaminated.
#70–79: Glasses. Found in wearing glasses, electronics, bottles, and cups. Recycle if not broken.
#80–99: Mixed material. Found in packaging. Depends, but mainly cannot recycle.

The Platinum Rule of Recycling: If you see a chasing arrows symbol (may or may not be crossed out) labeled with “how2recycle.info” and instructions, it directly tells you what to do to recycle it and if it can. Crossed out means no. Remember the water bottle from earlier? Chances are, it’s labeled with a chasing arrows and “empty bottle and replace cap”.

The Iron Rule of Recycling: When you recycle, you’re basically gambling. Not all recycling systems actually recycle stuff; some systems around the world throw the recycling away, and others may not even have recycling. And any 1 small contamination can cause an entire batch in the landfill. This is about the riskiest RETHINC methods, but it still helps a bit.

Clothes are a big thing when coming to saving stuff. Many of the early RETHINC rules apply here. Choose your clothes and consider secondhand items. Also, a small hole doesn’t lead to an immediate toss. Sewing and fixing helps a lot. And if you don’t use them a lot, resell or donate.

Tools can be shared with small communities and rented for brief periods. Refuse devices and products that cannot be fixed, and repair furniture. Consider recovering defunct devices for new ones or to recycle materials.

Finally, back to the water bottle. It helps to reuse reusable water bottles and reuse paper, plastic, or tote bags for shopping. It’s cheaper and more convenient than having a bunch of bags lying around.

Pillar 3) Spread the word

In the real and outer world, things are messy. Some phone companies can’t or don’t recycle phones. Recycling systems are poorly handled or contaminated. They are this way because people don’t know yet. Spreading the word is the way to solve this. Here’s a short and easy method—we’ll cover how to do it in detail soon.

Step 1) On a mention of a topic or a question related, ask them kindly. If you hear “I don’t want to see trash anymore… throwing stuff away makes me feel bad,” you can respond and ask, such as “I get it too. How’s it been these last few weeks with it?”
Step 2) Listen to their responses, and reflect on it to get an understand of what they’re saying.
Step 3) Agree on something and share your thoughts, such as this guide.

And that’s it for tips on how to save your stuff, and even helping others know. If you want more information like this, remember to subscribe and stay tuned to Terra Knowledge.

What are GHGs, though? To summarize, GHGs—or, greenhouse gases—are gases that warm the planet. You can find more information about them in GHG Facts 1 and GHG Facts 2. Compared to carbon dioxide, the most common GHG, halogenated gases are thousands or even tens of thousands of times stronger.

Another thing to know is that this time, instead of just 1 GHG, it’s plenty of them under a trenchcoat of various names. NF3, SF6, CFCs, HCFCs, HFCs, Freons, PFCs, halocarbons, and F-gases all refer to it. There are 3 main types, though.

Nitrogen trifluoride, which is nitrogen bonded to 3 fluorine atoms, 16 100 times stronger than carbon dioxide. Sulfur hexafluoride, sulfur bonded to 6 fluorine atoms, 23 500 times stronger. And the wide range of halocarbons that go under various classifications, basically alkanes with hydrogens replaced by halogens. Each of them have their own sources, which we’ll get into right now.

Where Do Halogenated Gases Come From?

Nitrogen trifluoride is used in many electronics and even wind turbines. It’s often used to clean off any dust from these products, though if it leaks out, it could cause nitrogen trifluoride emissions.

It’s similar with sulfur hexafluoride. Sulfur hexafluoride is used to clean any dust in photovoltaics and semiconductor products, which can include phones, computers, and solar panels. Sulfur hexafluoride is also used to etch semiconductors.

With the rest of the halocarbons, they’re more often found as refrigerants. Not just in conventional fridges, freezers, and appliances, but also in commercial cooling racks and other frozen storage. Many halocarbons escape during manufacturing, causing emissions.

A Tale about Ozone, and a Beyond We Can Achieve

We must first know ozone in order to know the unique thing about what halogenated gases—especially halocarbons—do to the world. Ozone is another GHG that forms a layer around the globe, known as the ozone layer.

Ultraviolet light that hits halocarbons can separate chlorine atoms from their parent molecules. Chlorine is very reactive on its own, and it can break up to 100 000 ozone molecules per lone chlorine. Enough lone chlorine, and it can rip a hole in the ozone layer. This happened from the 1970s to the 1990s near polar areas, then when lots of Freon refrigerants were used.

Ultraviolet actually damages the skin and could hurt life exposed to it. The ozone shields the planet from that same ultraviolet light. When the chlorine atoms create a hole in the ozone layer, ultraviolet can easily pass through it, harming life underneath the hole.

The main way we can solve this is by using less halogenated gas refrigerants/substituting them for more eco-friendly ones and making sure we can control it without having it leak off into the atmosphere.

Wait. Hang on. Yes, there is a final halogenated gas we didn’t talk about. Sulfuryl fluoride, sulfur bonded to 2 oxygen atoms and 2 fluorine atoms. It’s 4 090 times stronger than carbon dioxide, but we didn’t cover it since it’s obscure, weak, and not as important.

Conclusion: When Cold Is Hot

Halogenated gases is an umbrella for lots and lots of gases. But they share a few things in common. They heat up the planet, they could harm ozone, and they are to be managed carefully. This isn’t it for GHG Facts, though. There is a final summary for all of the GHG Facts. Only time will tell, so make sure to subscribe to Terra Knowledge to get informed about its arrival and more knowledge about the world.

Every time you save power, you save the money used to buy it. Saving power indirectly saves money. Wasted power, well, wastes power, meaning you pay for using power that didn’t do anything. There are 2 core things to saving power.

Pillar 1) Minimize energy usage. A basic way is by turning off things you don’t need.
Pillar 2) Maximize the efficiency of appliances by setting and using them properly.

Big footnote here. Some people might mention AI or power sources when describing energy usage. However, this guide is intended for everyday life instead of global issues. If you want to know more about this, you can read Energy Explainer 1 or do some research yourself. We’ll cover this in the last section.

Pillar 1) Minimize energy usage

The 1st thing that comes to mind when thinking about electricity might be lighting. Incandescent lightbulbs are not very efficient when compared to CFLs and LEDs. Firstly, incandescent lasts only 1 200 hours. CFL and LED can last for about 6 and 41 times, respectively. Secondly, for every 60 watts used by incandescent lightbulbs, CFLs use 13–15 watts, and LEDs 6–8. Thirdly, the energy used might be lost to heat. Incandescent and CFL lose 85 and 30 British thermal units per hour to heat, while LEDs only lose 3.5. Furthermore, CFLs are toxic (risk of mercury), and both incandescent and CFL bulbs are prone to breakage. If you can, switch to LED light bulbs for better efficiency.

Another thing to note is that idle devices can use energy. Plugged but off chargers, PCs, hair dryers, kettles, TVs, microwave ovens, basically anything can and will use energy, even when off. If you’re not using them but they’re still plugged in, make sure to turn them off and unplug them. That way, no power goes to waste.

We’ve heard this before. “If you’re not using the lights or don’t need them, turn the lights off.” Compared to other tips, this is the simplest to explain. The power saved also saves the money used to buy it, and the electricity doesn’t get wasted on light you didn’t use.

Pillar 2) Maximize efficiency

It helps to set your laundry machine from hot mode to warm or cold modes. Although they might be slower, most modern detergents are designed to dissolve and spread through these temperatures, even if it takes longer. Less energy would be used on heating the laundry, and when taking the laundry out, it won’t feel too hot.

Most cars are designed to hold 4 or 5 people. However, they’re often used by 1 or 2 people at a time. This means more fuel—and power—being used. To solve this, you can carpool, basically riding with other people and even taking turns. Rideshares also exist, allowing you to travel with other people. There are also public transportation and self-transport methods like walking, biking, or scooters.

We’ve said this before in the water-saving guide, and we’ll mention it again. Water heaters. Set them to 323 K (50°C, 122°F) instead of 333 K (60°C, 140°F). It saves power from being wasted on unnecessary heat and doesn’t waste water as water too hot for use. You also won’t burn your fingers.

And, as a final tip, power is embedded in everything. Food, beverages, clothes, tools, packaging, and so much more are all created using energy. Which means wasting items can and will waste the energy used to make it. Besides, there are other missed opportunities that we’ll cover in another guide someday soon.

Sidenote: Energy Sources and AI

Many people emphasize having to change energy sources for greener, cleaner, and more powerful ones, such as fossil fuels and biofuels into ones like wind, solar, and tidal. However, this guide is for you, and it’s important to know not everyone had their own or can control where their power comes from.

And about AI, it is true that AI does consume lots of water and power. We should also know that although the water can and will go elsewhere through the water cycle, energy will be used up once. We can talk about these topics in their own respective articles, but in the meantime, the guides can help. Well we have a final topic coming soon….

An important thing to note is that saved food is saved money. Whenever you save food, you save the money used to buy it. Besides that, wasting food also means less to be eaten or used. As before, there are 3 main pillars to this topic.

Pillar 1) Store food properly. Rotting and overripe food happens because of how food works, not pure chance.
Pillar 2) Use leftovers, including eating them or composting them.
Pillar 3) Choose your food. Decisions you make can change the impact of food on the world.

With that said, let’s see some easy tips to save food.

Pillar 1) Store your food

As it turns out, food spoilage isn’t totally random. Pathogens, things that cause diseases, ruin food and make it unsafe to eat. To prevent this, keep foods colder than 277 K (4°C, 39.2°F) or cook them hotter than 333 K (60°C, 140°F). This will prevent growth of pathogens, and the cooking can even kill them. However, different foods belong in different spots of the fridge for best storage.

The fridge isn’t entirely for every single food. There are other compartments refrigerators have. The freezer is mainly for bread and raw meats, preventing any pathogens from spreading and keeping them best until usage. Drawers are for most fruits and vegetables, such as avocados and leafy greens. Tomatoes and plant-like herbs such as basil belong on the counter. As a general rule of thumb: cold foods stay cold. Foods that don’t need cooling should be stored in cool, dark, and dry places. But about the plants, there’s another thing to know.

Some foods emit ethylene. Ethylene is a gas that speeds up ripening (and consequently, overripening). These foods include mangoes, apples, bananas, tomatoes, and avocados. Although they could cause some foods to be overripe if not paid attention to, when ripening unripe foods, they can help. Using paper bags to put unripe foods next to ethylene-producing ones or using separate drawers can help.

Pillar 2) Use leftovers

If something cannot be entirely eaten, it can be stored. Leftovers help prevent food from being wasted (and therefore money). The WHO (World Health Organization) recommends using a 2-2-4 rule: 2 hours within preparation, maximum 2-inch deep container, and eating within 4 days for highest quality. A general rule of thumb: keep food cold and eat them within time.

If food can’t be eaten, it could still be saved from entire disposal. Food waste bins accept most types of food waste, though do note some might not accept meat, grease, or rot. However, compost accepts all foods, even including compostable packaging. If the food product is neither, check for recycling. If it can’t, throw.

Pillar 3) Choose your food

By far one of the most important things about food is not about saving it, it’s about choosing it. Most of the debate is about health and the climate crisis. In short, the climate crisis is caused by GHGs like carbon dioxide, and it causes hot places to get hotter and colder places colder, meaning more energy and money spent on temperature control. You can read more about it in GHG Facts 1 and GHG Facts 2.

Every kilogram of beef from beef herds emits 99.48 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent for every kg produced (the kg can be swapped with lb, g, oz, t, st, or anything else). Next is mutton and lamb at 39.72, then beef from dairy herds at 33.3. Cheese emits 23.88 kg CO2eq as the highest-emitting dairy product, then pork at 12.31 kg. Poultry, although displayed in the next image, emits 9.87 kg only. When it comes to meats, beef and mutton are the biggest emitters. However, there are other food products out there emitting much less.

The highest-emitting food products are meats, eggs, and dairy. Eggs emit 4.67 kg and milk 3.15 kg per kg produced. Most vegetable foods emit less than 2 kg overall. Except rice, which emits about 4.17 due to bacteria—which is briefly explained in GHG Facts 3. When comparing the lowest-emitting food (nuts) to the highest-emitting one, 1 kg beef from beef herds can emit up to over 200 times what 1 kg nuts can emit.

But about incorporating these other foods… well, there are other plant-based or lab-grown foods to deal with this empty gap. Lab-grown meats are the most close to actual meat, although t hey are still in progress. Besides other protein foods like lentils, mushrooms, and beans, there are plant-based alternatives like tofu, tempeh, seitan, and other plant-based patties, nuggets, and mock meat products. These foods don’t have to be bland, cooking it using sauces or using pan-frying can help make them feel like real meat.

A note to end on. Many people talk about local food being better, but is it? Using the same kg of CO2 equivalent, this time every km traveled, ships emit only 0.03 kg, while trucks emit 0.21 kg. This means every 700 km traveled by trucks is equivalent to every 4 900 km by ships. Sounds easy, until you realize that planes emit 4.42 kg per km, making flights have the most emissions. So local foods are better by a bit, but it’s more impactful to choose food types instead.

About the energy bills being saved, maybe we’ll make tips on that soon. It’s not just water and food….

Water costs money. Saving water is saved money. So every time you save water, you’re also saving the money that is used to provide it. Which is why outside of how wasting water could be harmful, it also wastes money. So how do you save water? It mainly comes down to 3 simple pillars.

Pillar 1) Use water efficiently. This includes reducing shower time and faucet usage.
Pillar 2) Fix water leaks, as even a small leak can drain a very visible amount of money.
Pillar 3) Try not to waste or mishandle products that use or manage water.

With that said, let’s see ways to save water by reducing water use.

Pillar 1) Use water efficiently

When it comes to saving water, the first thing we are told is that “we should save water by limiting showers to about 5 minutes.” According to Your Plan, Your Planet, every time you reduce shower time by 5 minutes, you save 17 170.628 L (4 536 gal) of water. Assuming water costs US$0.003 per litre (remember this, it will be used throughout this guide), the reduction will save US$51.511 884, enough for a 50-dollar bill and some decimals more. And then there’s the topic that’s skipped.

There is a big topic that most water-saving information skip by just saying “dishwasher”. Washing dishes. Except there are different methods as to doing it. Constant rinsing fails at saving water, and it’s even worse if you fill the sink before that. So dishwashers, when compared to the 2, are much better. But… not everyone has the equipment, knowledge, space, or time to do so. Some people prefer hand-washing instead. So an even-faster-if-used-properly method is by scrubbing the plates a bit in soap-water before rinsing it very fast in cold water or turning the tap on and off quickly to save unused water. Very efficient, are as the savings. Using the dishwasher saves US$23.49 per year, and the efficient methods listed above save up to US$35.235.

About one of the important (and most emphasized) parts of saving water is that if you don’t use it, don’t waste it. When brushing teeth, some people leave the tap on. However, this repeated for 730 times a year wastes up to US$87.6 annually, which is a very preventable waste of water and money and therefore very emphasized. But we do have bigger topics to discuss.

Pillar 2) Fix water leaks

It’s easy to see the savings and actions of water usage habits, but what’s more subtle yet impactful is leakage. A small 1mL/s leak (about the size of your fingernail) wastes 86.4 L (22.824 5 gal) a day, and it wastes 31 536 L (8 330.929 84 gal) a year if left unfixed. And assuming the US$0.003 water-per-litre cost, it could mean wasting, to the exact decimal point, US$94.608; this doesn’t mention the even higher maintenance costs of water seeping into wood many homes are made of at all.

Although not easy to find, you can spot water leakage. Check the showers and sinks for dripping, and make sure they’re turned off. Toilets might not work, so test with food colouring or check the inside to make sure it works. Broken, damaged, or cracked pipes are about the most difficult to notice, but they’re all worth saving water—and money.

Pillar 3) Don’t waste water products

First of all, it’s not a good idea to turn the water heater to 333 K (60°C, 140°F). That doesn’t just waste money, it wastes power, and it makes the water too hot to use. 323 K (50°C, 122°F) is a better choice, it doesn’t cause water to be too hot while also saving power, money, and water to use.

You might have heard that paper plates could save water used for washing. In theory this works, in practice… it doesn’t. In the best case, a tree would only take 200 000 L of water in its lifespan and produce 10 000 paper plates. That means 1 paper plate would use up 20 L (5.283 gal) of water. In contrast, a normal plate would take at maximum 5 L (1.321 gal) of water and is 4 times more efficient on water. In fact, normal plates themselves can be washed and used practically forever, being more efficient than buying and throwing paper plates as well as wasting the water that goes into making them. And this is only the best-case scenario.

One last thing to note: basically everything is made of water. Animals have to drink water. Same with plants. Machines use water during manufacturing and usage. And they create products such as wood, paper, clothes, packaging, and food. So whenever these items are thrown away without usage, the water used to make them also goes to waste. Speaking of food, we might make another simple guide to help save food, which is a good time to let you know to subscribe (or at least follow) to stay tuned for more Terra Knowledge!

But first, if you don’t know what is a greenhouse gas or the greenhouse effect, we would recommend reading this article. In short, greenhouse gases are gases that heat up the atmosphere. As a greenhouse gas, ozone is 510 times stronger than carbon dioxide, another primary greenhouse gas. We’ll refer to them as GHGs for brevity.

The Formation of Ozone

Now, unlike other greenhouse gases, there isn’t necessarily just one root cause or direct creator. Instead, ozone forms through volatile reactions that deal with oxygen. Take for example, cars…

…more specifically, car engines. They normally burn diesel and petrol, which emit things like nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides. When these react in the air, they can form oxygen as well as some byproducts. And that’s just one of the causes.

Burning coal and oil also contributes to this. The same nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides found in car exhaust can be found in the gases emitted by fossil fuel burning. So what about it?

It’s Not Just Hot—It’s Toxic

The problem with ozone is although it cools us down normally, in the troposphere (region of air 0–5 kilometres above sea level), it can warm us up. And too much warming can lead to devastating effects, further explored in detail in Carbon Dioxide | GHG Facts 2 and Methane | GHG Facts 3. And ozone doesn’t just heat, because it can also poison.

Ground-level ozone can cause difficulty of breathing. In 2019, about 365 000 deaths have been caused by this issue alone. And the consequences are that millions of people in urbanized regions can suffer trouble breathing due to lots of car and factory emissions. So what can do about all this?

Simple, Hard, yet Doable Fixes

A lot of these ozone emissions mainly come from fossil fuels and fuel-burning in cars. Some simple, potentially hard, but doable fixes largely involve reducing ozone pollution and changing coal-burning plants and diesel-burning cars for green energy and electric vehicles.

3 Oxygen, 1 Story

Ozone is a minor greenhouse gas that can pollute urban areas and even contribute to the climate crisis. However, there are ways to deal with this. We can swap out diesel for electric, coal for solar, and more. But this Greenhouse Gases series isn’t over yet. We’ve still got 1 more to cover, and that could be a whole category. Stay tuned to find about this type of GHG and other Terra Knowledge posts!

The Compound Behind It All

Tetrahydrocannabinol, often shortened to THC. It’s the main reason why marijuana is marijuana. THC is often recreationally used for extreme euphoria and certain health benefits, but there are more side effects than benefits, First off, THC is extremely addictive. Once someone consumes it, they would want more, and they would have anxiety or depression if they don’t. THC also causes psychosis and hallucinations, making the addiction worse. Furthermore, the smoking can actually damage the body. Inhaled smoke can damage lungs and bring in toxic substances such as nickel, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, and more.

These toxic substances and THC are not limited to smokers only. When spread to other people, it causes even worse collateral damage. The same nickel and PM and carbon monoxide can pollute the air. What’s worse, unlike other forms of smoking, the stench resides there, and it is so strong that virtually every non-smoker does not like it, and even after the smoking ends, it still lasts for a while. Especially when smokers don’t even hide the smell at all. But it’s not limited to that.

The Social Side to Marijuana

Like most other addictions, marijuana is not just the substance itself. There’s actually a culture to it. And just be aware, this section could get long. To briefly summarize: cannabis culture is a culture found subtly in hippie, 2SLGBTQIA+, and world peace communities that often praises marijuana for its positive effects (although outweighed by negative ones, as mentioned before).

First, environmental impacts—or this wouldn’t be Terra Knowledge. Growing marijuana plants consumes a lot of energy and water, increasing resource usage, and increasing the risk of if water and/or energy is scarce. Knowing that all of the water and energy it directed to growing this plant doesn’t help at all. And rolls that are disposed of irresponsibly can cause fires.

Cannabis culture tries to attract young people and people with depression or ties to hippies and gender/racial issues. They make the smell open, they advertise and get high off of the positive effects of CBD (although the negative effects of THC make it worse overall), and they try to make it look “cool” and “chill”. And even more, they make marijuana-infused “Edibles” and “drinkables” and sell merch to make this even more prominent.

One of the most significant effects of cannabis culture is influencing popular culture. In memes and on internet pictures, “cool” characters could be depicted smoking marijuana. And in slang, terms like bong, pot, weed, and 4/20 have existed as codenames or slangs for usage of marijuana. And especially 4/20. April 20th, 4:20 p.m., the number 420, and every other instance related to it is celebrated by cannabis culture. And that’s why throughout the notes you've been seeing, the date of 2026.03.51, or rather 2026 March 51st, is there. While cannabis culture tries to spread 4/20, this article was made on the same day—but as March 51st to give help to those who know the truth. So where is this help? Well, it’s right in the next couple sections.

I Smoke Marijuana. What Can I Do to Deal with the Addiction?

Addiction to marijuana is one of the strongest addictions ever known in the world. However, it is possible to get rid of this addiction. General advice includes reducing usage every day, receiving help from medical experts, consulting a therapist, and talking to friends and family. As withdrawal symptoms mainly include anxiety and depression, it is important to prevent it from becoming too severe. Do consult a medical expert for further advice.

March 51st—How Anyone Can Help

As mentioned earlier, cannabis culture is one of the most severe effects of marijuana. And a way we can help the public is by uncovering the truths. By spreading word of March 51st, showing the effects of marijuana, and fighting the lies and false standard made by cannabis culture, we can help the world as a whole. Offering care to addicts can also help those who are addicted.

There Is a Way Out

When life gets stuck, life is trapped in addiction. Marijuana is extremely strong in both smell and addiction. And what’s worse, the communities surrounding it want to get more people and more high over just using the substance. We can spread word of the way out, we can help those lost in the maze. One thing’s for sure, don’t get stuck in it. So remember, if you want, share this to a friend who might need it, either right now or in the future.

What Vaping Does

Vaping is very reminiscent of smoking (you can read When Life Gets Stuck for more info on it), which the main function being the same. Inhaling smoke, often flavoured, through a device—the vape. It uses tobacco and nicotine, which makes people want more and more of it.

However, not everything is good about it. Nicotine can impair the brain and cause damage to it. Metals like nickel could enter the bloodstream and block out nutrients. Flavours like benzaldehyde can cause lung damage when deep inside of them. Particulate matter and volatile organic compounds can also cause poisoning in the body.

Not Just Chemicals

It’s not just the people vaping that get harmed. Vape bars can emit particulate matter, polluting the air. Exposure to nicotine, formaldehyde, nickel, and other harmful things from vaping can hurt the body. And if the vape bar malfunctions, it could cause further complications. But there’s something that causes even more damage.

Recently, vaping has become more popular than smoking, basically becoming more and more commonplace each year. And there are friend groups and communities and stuff out there who think this is “cool” or “good”. Also, as mentioned in When Life Gets Stuck, companies that sell tobacco can’t see how 1 person’s health matters a lot compared to the profits made by selling such products.

I Vape. What Can I Do to Deal with It?

If you are particularly having trouble with nicotine, using nicotine pads is a way to reduce the non-nicotine-related problems of vaping. General advice is to lower intake by some amount every day or few. If you feel anxiety or depression, talk to family or friends or consult a therapist. This is general advice—however—it is recommended to consult a medical expert for specific information.

How Can We Deal with Vaping?

Vaping is still a relatively new problem, and we can deal with it before it becomes to next variant of smoking. We can fight the false “truths and standards” set up by vaping culture. We can offer care to people who are struggling with this addiction, addicts meetings or therapy or just friend-to-friend help. And we can definitely spread the word and let everyone know.

Mirror Problem Mirror Solution

Vaping. It’s like smoking, it functions like smoking, and its effects are as bad, if not worse than smoking. But there is a way out. Withdrawing could be tough, but it’s worth the effort. Care for addicts while showing the true cost of vaping for both the self and the society can help a lot. So share this article with someone who might want to know about this—we can and should have a future where problems like this are gone, or at least really uncommon.

So for those of you who are new here, nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas. Greenhouse gases—also called GHGs—redirect heat towards the planet and warm it up. Basically an indirect thermostat or heater, if you will. (You can read Water | GHG Facts 1 for more information.) It’s 298 times stronger than carbon dioxide, another strong GHG.

Where Nitrous Oxide Comes From

Coal doesn’t just contain carbon, it also contains nitrogen. And the air contains oxygen. Coal contains nitrogen, and the air contains oxygen. When coal burns, nitrogen and oxygen react—producing nitrous oxide. However, this isn’t the only method nitrous oxide is produced.

Fertilizers, well, have to fertilize soil and earth to boost plant growth. And plants need nitrogen to grow. If fertilizers have to boost plant growth, and plants need nitrogen, well, what do I know? When fertilizers have lots of nitrogen, and that nitrogen seeps into rivers and other places it doesn’t belong, nitrous oxide forms. And we’re not done yet.

Getting rid of waste is also another big contributor to nitrous oxide emissions. Waste has lots of different things with nitrogen in it, so when they get burnt or dumped in landfills, there’s a chance that nitrous oxide will get emitted. But wait. As talked about before in the last 3 parts, there is this climate crisis thing, so… what about it?

The Situation of the Climate

To recap, the climate crisis is a series of issues related to the planet and the climate; most famous being global warming. Here’s an excerpt from a previous part:

“Global warming is a current problem where too much greenhouse gases are being put into the air and causes significant heating. […] Dry places get dryer, wet places wetter, hot hotter, and cold colder. Land ice can melt, causing sea level rise and flooding. When oceans absorb the carbon dioxide, they can become acidic, causing fishes and corals to die. Wildfires become more common, and disease persists. And that’s just the surface of the tragedy. It only gets worse from here.” — Carbon Dioxide | GHG Facts 2

So what about it; what else is there to it?

It’s not just about the climate—it can also be about loss of wildlife and their habitats. Much of habitat loss can be fueled by things such as man-made activity (clearing forests for land), wildfires (we've talked about this before), and the climate crisis. This is not good for the planet and us, because ecosystems need wildlife to live. It’s in the name. Wild, life.

And it doesn’t just apply to wildlife. It applies to us people too. Island nations like Fiji and Tuvalu are islands, and loss of them (by flooding or sea level rise) could cause disruptions to people. Continental areas aren’t safe either, because places like Miami, Florida, New York City, New York, and even Hong Kong can get affected too.

Not All Hope Is Lost

Not all hope is lost. There’s still time and room for improvements for the better! For example, burning coal. Yes, it did power the world… for a while… but the GHG emissions can’t be ignored. Instead, we can switch to clean energy sources, like wind, solar, hydro, and more. (You can find more info at Where Power Comes From | Energy Explainer 1.)

There’s one truth about fertilizers—it’s not “magic make-plants-grow” fuel that can be used as much as one desires. It needs to be handled properly. Of course, for the time being, some alternatives are compost and manure, which are good in their own ways. So if these “other” fertilizers are still being used, one way we can help is by managing runoff and making sure the nitrogen doesn’t seep away while also maintaining how much we use, as to not waste fertilizer.

Burning and dumping are not the only methods of disposing items, and they’re not the best anyway. Sometimes, items like plastic, paper, metal, and glass can be recycled and reused again, and composting can be used for organic waste. We might dive into this topic sometime later, maybe sometime soon!

Nitrogen Story

Nitrous oxide—it’s a powerful greenhouse gas, it’s 298 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, it comes from burning and dumping waste, burning coal, and fertilizers, and it has things to do with the climate crisis. Hopefully you figured out something new today. See you there when GHG Facts 5 comes out!

Effects of Ethanol

What makes alcohol an alcohol is ethanol. Ethanol is a drug, and it makes people addicted. It tricks the brain into thinking it needs more. Funnily enough, ethanol is called an “alcohol” in the chemical sense, which gives the addictive product as a whole its name. However, once a substance like ethanol tells the brain to have more, it leads to even more, over and over and over. And then there’s this dark side to ethanol.

The brain’s functions get inhibited, leading to slow reaction times, poor hand-eye coordination, less sensitivity, and worst of all—drunk-driving incidents, cause by the former issues. The liver and kidneys can get damaged over time, leading to an unhealthy body. And cancer can take over the body, increasing the risk of disease and death.

And It’s Not Just the Drink Either

Well, this is Terra Knowledge, so we have to dive into environmental effects. Alcoholic drinks are produced in metal cans and glass bottles, the former of which are often littered on the ground, and the latter smashed up and turned into a hazard. For very obvious reasons, this is a problem, because 1) littering, and 2) glass shards are sharp and dangerous and can hurt people and wildlife equally. In addition, the alcohol industry consumes a lot of water, which can increase the risk of water shortages.

You know how ethanol makes brains lose control over their bodies? It gets much worse than that. Drunk people can get agitated or even get violent, and in family settings, this can lead to negligence of family members, domestic violence, or similar problems. But that’s not even the worst part.

It’s Been Everywhere

You still remember the introduction? No need to rush back up—I’ll say it. What do family dinners, casual parties, business meetings, and fancy balls have in common? Alcohol was the answer. It wasn’t supposed to be. Yet there’s lots of wine and beer involved in family and cross-family gatherings, beer pong and other drinks common at house parties, spirits and wines used in business, and aged alcohols in even the most fanciest of meetings. I’ve already described the effects, yet the drink’s still commonplace in lots of places.

And even worse, peer pressure lures new people into the trap of alcohol. In parties and balls and business meetings alike, some people blindly accept the alcohol. And when that some turns into a majority, those who wanted to reject it are socially forced to try it. Of course, it’s not mandatory, but socially, those who do drink alcohol also want non-drinkers to do the same. Which is why we have this problem anyway.

I’m an Alcoholic. How Can I Escape the Addiction?

This strategy will be very similar to When Life Gets Stuck (which I’ll recommend reading if you’re interested on the smoking side of the problem). There is no easy alternative to help you, so the only way out is by cutting intake (like 1 or 2 less sips every day, grow reduction when you’re ready) or by simply quitting. Reducing intake is the better way in general, but depending on your situation, you might want to consult a medical expert. Seek help from friends and family if you get anxiety or depression.

How Can We Help Fight Against Alcoholism?

Alcohol has been rooted in culture for such a long time that we can’t directly fight it from the surface. But we can fight fire with fire—by developing new cultural practices and beliefs against alcohol we can solve this problem together. Those who are addicted to alcohol aren’t alone either, as there are lots of alcohol recovery societies out there, as well as some programs to help those who are addicted.

Once Old Tradition to Be Broken

Alcohol. The name is repulsive, but over decades, it has silently crept into every corner of culture and society. And it’s not good either, because it does damage to the body, makes the brain out of control, and more. But we can break this status quo. Together, by helping those who are addicted and purging the drug from every nook and cranny, there is a way out of this trap. Share this with some people who may be interested in reading this too—hopefully we’ll all live in a better world without the peer pressure drug.

Beef is normally produced by cattle. Inside cattle’s stomachs, there are organisms called methanogens. Methanogens create methane, causing most of the emissions that come from beef production. And this is the driving force behind why every 1 kg of beef emits 60 kg of emissions. What can we do about it though?

Solutions

Methanogens survive and thrive on refined or processed wheats, meals, and other foods. If whole foods or grass get introduced to cattle, less methanogens would remain, reducing emissions. Alternatively, you could swap out real beef for lab-grown or mock meat. They create a lot less emissions while still being tasty!

A long time ago (I mean that, it was up until Paleolithic–Neolithic), we didn’t have any sources of fuel or any quick-and-convenient methods of generating power. So muscle and self-strength was used. A great way to put in effort to do things, like crushing up wheat to make flour, but long-term, no it wouldn’t work—it needs manual work and can only do small things. Until a new fuel has entered the energy battlegrounds….

If ancient energy sources had a default character, that “wood” be. Get it? Wood? Would? Okay, not funny. It was pretty convenient at the time. You could get it by chopping down plants and trees, you can carry and store it around, and you could start a fire to use up the wood and turn it into heat energy and fire. However, it needed trees and burning, of which are problems. And that was the case for thousands of years. Yes, thousands. It lasted right up until the Industrial Revolution, right around 1850. And that was when things switched up—really quickly.

If wood was powerful enough, look at coal. It’s wood, but millions of years old, already fossilized, and had a lot of more energy than wood. 3 types: lignite at low power, bituminous at medium, and anthracite at high. In fact, this basically powered everything from trains to lamps during and after the Industrial Revolution. And it’s still standing right now. However, getting coal was a painstaking process and burning it wasn’t healthier either. Then even more recently—at the end of the 19th century and the dawn of early 20th century—came another one of these fossil fuels.

Petroleum, also known as petrol or oil. It’s like coal; it’s functionable like coal; it has subtypes (crude oil, shale oil, diesel), yet it’s a bit different. It’s liquid, it’s stored in barrels, it has to be drilled or fracked instead of mined. And when you fast forward to today (at least within 50 years of when this was published, you can’t predict the future), it basically powers the whole world. Not directly—for sure—but definitely in a way. Oil spills did poison water back then, and burning it… well, still not good. And then even more recently came a “cleaner and better” alternative to petrol.

Natural gas, normally propane. It can be fracked or drilled out too, it can be liquefied, and it powers gas cars and gas stoves. Probably the most well-known fossil fuel, due to being common, widespread, and convenient. You can find gas someplace not too far away, depending on where you live. Extraction though has its own issues, and burning, yet again… is an issue. But wait a second, this is Terra Knowledge… you’ve seen what we’d do before… if there are fossil fuel mentions, wouldn’t there be climate crisis mentions? Well, you asked, you’re right.

When Fossil Fuels Go Faulty

Fossil fuels might be convenient, but recently, they’ve been getting more and more expensive. And they’re not as efficient as other energies. But that’s not what I’m mainly talking about. Fossil fuels contain carbon and hydrogen. Air has oxygen. And when they’re burnt together, water, carbon dioxide, and energy are created. But excessive carbon dioxide can over-warm the planet (we’ve talked about this before, read Carbon Dioxide | GHG Facts 2) and cause disruptions like floods, disease, wildfires, ocean acidification, excessive cooling, dryness, and humidity, and—of course—overheating.

And it’s not just that. Labour practices are often unethical in coal mines, as miners have to work in dangerous conditions for much of their day. In fact, some miners get treated badly by their employers. 33 coal miners in the United States died in 2025, and it’s safe to say hundreds, if not thousands, if not even more coal miners sustained injuries, ranging from minor scratches up to major bruises.

And when oil and gas companies want to frack near communities, they might use up local resources like water and power to fuel their fracking sites. And if they are negligent about protecting the communities from contamination, resources like water and food can be poisoned. But when communities try to stand up to negligent corps, they are often snubbed or shunned by such corporations. So it’s not only climate impact that’s going on.

When it comes to the climate crisis, not even families agree on whether or not fossil fuels are good or should be switched. Some people claim it’s traditional and good and is more money-making, while others say that the cost of the climate crisis and other issues are too heavy to ignore. And some people bring up anecdotes or lies to convince people to believe them. While I would say that the climate crisis shouldn’t be ignored, this is Terra Knowledge, not Terra Feeling. Anyways, with all of these issues with fossil fuels, what can we use to generate energy instead?

We Have a Better Energy at Home

Fossil fuels aren’t forever. They need lots of time and no decomposing bacteria to form. And based on where we’re going, we consume more than we create fossil fuels. So some quick alternatives for the time being are biofuels. Biofuels are biotic materials that form fossil fuels burnt before the fossilization. Dead plants, dirt, algae, whatever. This is biomass, just extracted and harvested biotic material there left to make and burn. But biomass isn’t the only biofuel in the party.

Petrol might power the world for now, but if we were to replace all of the petroleum in the world, what can easily replace it? Enter biodiesel—basically diesel and other forms of oil, but synthesized in biofuel form. Sure, it might need a few facilities and maybe laboratories to set up, but once you’re done, you’re done. And that’s not all…

…there is natural gas… in biomaterial form. Yeah, it’s like biodiesel in propane. Gas stoves? Then use this, it’s arguably cleaner than normal gas like how biomass can replace coal and biodiesel replaces petrol. However, because they’re still made of carbon and hydrogen, they still have the same “excessive carbon dioxide” problem. So, allow me to introduce you to a truly no-carbon fuel.

If you know anything about Oppenheimer, the Manhattan Project, World War 2, or just huge elements and radiation, you might know this one. Split large radioactive things (like thorium and uranium) with small particles (neutrons) to make smaller elements (krypton and barium), water vapor (water is used for cooling), and a ton of energy. However, many of the inputs and byproducts (neutrons, krypton, barium thorium, uranium) are radioactive, and if there are leaks or waste isn’t managed properly, radiation poisoning and contamination would be problems. Time to talk about the truly clean energies.

First, wind energy. Wind turbines harnessing the physical power of wind. When you hear “renewable energy”, you might think of this. It’s cheap, it’s convenient, it’s efficient, and it never runs out. Placement is a big issue though, as improperly placed or handled wind turbines can disturb and destroy wildlife. However, it’s still pretty efficient for a green energy source. Well what if there is no wind though? Don’t worry, there’s a backup…

…solar panels. They make no interruptions, and you can place them anywhere to get energy from the sun. It is the default character of green energies (although wind energy begs to differ). Sunlight triggers electrons in cells to move and deliver electricity. Manufacturing is a problem—it does cause some emissions; solar energy also needs sunlight to work too. But it’s still really good, lots of energy from already convenient and natural sunlight. What if that didn’t work either? Well we have twin energies that resemble each other.

Have you looked at a waterfall? Water, falling? Falling releases energy, doesn’t it? Yeah we have a waterfall at home. Enter hydroelectric dams. They’re like giant waterfalls, using the motion of water to make power. Although they’re okay for usage, there come a lot of problems, such as building, disruption of river ecosystems, and more. That’s why it’s often twinned with another energy.

Tidal or marine energy. If you put wind turbines underwater, this is what you get. Just as efficient, just as powerful, maybe. Tides and forces in water push the blades of the turbines, basically creating energy from waves. It’s the one twinning up with hydroelectric energy, basically two sides of what looks similar.

Geothermal energy. Get heat from the ground. Now I know what you’re probably thinking, “we don’t all live in volcanos!” Yes, that’s true, but due to radioactivity, the planet’s core is warm. And if we don’t use heat from fossil fuels or biofuels being burnt, it’s still okay, there’s natural heat residing inside the ground. That’s not all of the energies yet. We’ve still got a few wildcards to cover.

Sorry—this is rocket science, but hear me out. Hydrogen and oxygen form water and lots of energy. So what if we utilize this to produce lots of energy? No this isn’t something new, it was literally thought of in the 19th century. It might be bulky, but if it works, I wouldn’t complain. Clean and cheap—it provides lots of energy without emitting anything besides water!

“Scientist mom can I go to outer space to experience the sun?” “We have sun at home.” But how’d you have a sun at home? Fuse small things, like hydrogen and helium, to get bigger things and lots of energy! I know we have to get the resources, and it isn’t the most renewable, but a lot of energy can be produced and captured. And that’s really all of the energies—hey wait a second, what is that title?

But It Can’t Just Sit There, Can It?

However, it’s not like we can turn on and off green energy sources when we want. Wind only functions when there’s wind, solar with sun, tidal with marine movements. Sure, the energy is powerful, but we need to retain it. Retaining power is a big problem for many green energy sources like this. It can’t just sit there—unlike other fuels—so we need to use…

…batteries. They are often rechargeable, they can keep stored energy, they can be carried around everywhere. But they come at their own risks. Lithium and nickel mining is difficult and dangerous. Negligence can cause contamination of water. Materials need to be managed wisely. Communities are dived over whether or not this is a good idea. I know, cliffhanger. We will talk about this soon, so make sure you stay in the know. See you on the flip side.

Hello. In our last 3 posts, we seem to be straying from the main topic of helping people understand things about the planet and climate. Rest assured, this will matter sooner or later for certain things. Trust me, we will be heading back into actual Terra Knowledge mode while these posts do what they will do. So, let’s start off with 21/12.

Short Time/Rapid Growth

21/12 might have you raising questions about how quick growth tips are related to the climate crisis, however, there are definitely similar climate content creators out there who might have not yet found a way to increase their growth and community. So just in case, that post is there for them. Next up, When Life Gets Stuck.

Life Unstuck without Nicotine

Smoking looks like it could be tied to the climate crisis while having no distinct links. However, the littering of cigarette butts is a problem, and it’s not just trash laying around. In oceans, it could be a huge issue for marine life. Smoke is air pollution, and the tobacco industry uses a lot of resources, too. You can probably guess the next one.

Natural Serenity

Wildfires emit smoke as well, that’s true. However, the burning can also be a big problem, as it destroys trees, harms wildlife, disrupts ecosystems, and more. Now normally this would be recovered naturally, but recent man-made activity has burnt more than life can recover. And this basically sums why we’ve done these 3 articles.

Okay, What Next?

Yet we still won’t stray from our original topics, plans, and ideas. For those of you wondering, we will do a GHG Facts 4 very soon, so be on the lookout. In the meanwhile, you can enjoy the already-existing notes and posts while we make new climate content. See you soon!

Here is some basic (Terra) Knowledge for you about wildfires. They are fires, and they go wild. Wait, you thought I’d just say that and call it a day? Just kidding. A wildfire is an uncontrollable (and thus wild) fire in natural areas like grasslands, forests, fields, and more. They’re often started by lightning, but human activities like bonfires, fireworks, burning forests (to clear land) and cigarette butts (read this for more info on smoking) can also create fires too.

It doesn’t take long for you to understand why wildfires are extremely dangerous. Trees and bushes are destroyed. Many animals use trees and other plants as homes, and since these’re extremely flammable, such animals don’t have anywhere to live. Wildlife can be seriously injured or even killed in fires. And we’re not safe, either. Take the 2025 January California wildfires as an example. Many houses were destroyed and burnt down during the disaster. Sometimes this happens naturally and nature rebuilds itself. Other times it’s non-natural and causes unfathomable dangers. Remember the title? That’s what I’m saying.

And it only gets worse. Still remember what I said about the Grand Canyon fires? Historic lodges were burnt down, literally wiping history from the face of the world. In addition, the Grand Canyon is a giant ecosystem, so a loss of flora and fauna can be a threat to its environment. I haven’t even mentioned the Amazon Rainforest. Many indigenous and native tribes live there, and some of them consider the rainforest as sacred land. Wildfires destroy the land, basically hurting it and forcing the tribes to flee. COP30, an international summit, was supposed to protect the forest, but the meeting came with lots of catch-22s. They cleared the land just to make room for the meeting. A statue was almost built but avoided to make it look like emissions were avoided—when in fact—they could have just not built it anyway. Local people living there never got a say, but outsiders did.

Everyone Can Be a Firefighter

Imagine you have an overflowing bathtub. You realize the drain is broken. What do you do? Just stop the tap. If the bathtub overflowing was the problem of wildfires, the faucet would be the root source of the problem. So if you can’t stop the fires directly, stop what makes them. Fireworks can be replaced with safer activities like drone shows or balloon-popping (yes, people actually did that). Ashtrays can be used instead of stomping cigarette butts on the ground, and bonfires are not needed these days due to RV camping and glamping being more popular. People can protest against and actively refuse burning forests to keep them safe.

Wildfires are wild fires. You can’t directly put them out. But you can save things from damages. There are projects to keep wildlife safe during wildfires, and you can also help people flee from wildfires in case they ever happen. In the bathtub analogy—if the faucet still runs, try to make the drain function more than the tap does.

Blowing out the Fire

Wildfires are a serious problem. They can be caused by both natural and man-made events, and they cause severe damage to the environment at times. But we can fight back. Spreading the word, replacing harmful traditions, and protecting from danger can help. Let’s do this when we can and have to. See you soon!