Introduction

Words like “climate change”, “the greenhouse effect”, “CO2”, “carbon emissions” are used every day in the media - but what do they mean? Is it important for Sub-Saharan Africa? What are the connections with Natural Medicine?

This is an attempt to explain these concepts in easy language.

What is climate change?

In many regions of Africa people complain that the rains are very unpredictable. In the past you knew when to expect the dry season, and when to expect the rainy season. Today the weather is very unpredictable. Sometimes rains do not come at all. Sometimes the rains are so heavy that there is widespread flooding. Both these conditions destroy the crops, and make gardening and agriculture very difficult.

What has caused climate change?

It is generally accepted that climate change is caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide (also called CO2) in the air. There has always been CO2 in the air – when we breath we breath it out, and as trees grow they absorb CO2 and give out oxygen (sometimes called O2).

Since industrialization began, however, and coal and oil has been burnt, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has significantly increased. Coal is burnt to generate electricity and to heat homes in northern, colder countries. Oil is burnt to generate electricity, to heat homes and to produce fuel for cars, planes and ships. Oil is also used to manufacture synthetic fertilizers.

Increased levels of carbon dioxide cause a change in the climate because this gas absorbs more of the heat of the sun than does oxygen and nitrogen, which are the main constituents of air. Thus we hear the term “Greenhouse effect”, because the CO2 causes the air to heat up a bit like a greenhouse.

There is another “greenhouse gas” that has an even greater greenhouse effect than carbon dioxide, and that is methane. Methane is produced when vegetation rots where there is no air present – such as in swamps. Sometimes this process is deliberately used to collect methane gas which is then used for heating or to produce electricity. This is done by mixing organic waste, usually including cow dung, with water in a unit called a “methane digester” or “biogas plant”.

Methane is also produced by cows through their flatulence (farts in common English). This is, surprisingly, thought to make a very significant contribution to climate change.

Have developing countries contributed to climate change?

Yes and no!

It is certainly the case that the industrialized nations are responsible for most of the increase in greenhouse gases because of their very large consumption of oil and coal.

However, developing countries are also making the situation worse:

1. By deforestation. As stated above, trees take carbon dioxide out of the air and produce oxygen. Contained within carbon dioxide is carbon, which is the major constituent of wood. Thus forests take CO2 out of the atmosphere and store the carbon in the trees. When trees are felled, this carbon is either preserved if the wood is used for building, or if the trees simply rot into the ground. If however the wood is used as firewood or to make charcoal, the carbon is once again released into the atmosphere as CO2.
2. By overgrazing and the use of synthetic fertilizers. Where the soil is fertile, and grasses grow, die down and grow again, carbon is constantly being added to the soil. Where however the earth is grazed bare, no organic matter can enter the earth, and in the heat of the sun micro-organisms are even destroyed. In contrast to natural organic “waste”, synthetic fertilizers add no carbon to the earth. I write “waste” in this way, because in nature there is no such thing as waste – the so called waste of one animal or plant is the raw material for another.
3. Traffic, transport and packaging. As countries “develop” they build more roads, import more cars (and therefore petrol), import and export more goods and use more plastic bags and other packaging. Thus since 2009 China produces more greenhouse gases than any other country.

How does Natural Medicine help to fight climate change?

In brief, with home grown produce, home production, less transport and organic gardening. In detail, the following ways:

• By encouraging families, communities, health centres and schools to have their own gardens of fruit, vegetables and medicinal plants. If fruit and vegetables are grown on the doorstep, no transport is required.
• By encouraging organic gardening / agriculture. In this way firstly there is no need for oil based synthetic fertilisers which must be transported, and secondly the organic compost and manure not only makes the soil more fertile but also enables carbon to be absorbed in the ground.
• By encouraging medicines to be made in the home and in the hospital pharmacy. In this way

there is much less need for medicines to be imported with the inevitable need for transport, nor is there need for the same amount of packaging.
when Natural Medicines expire, they can be returned to the soil, whereas imported pharmaceuticals must be burnt or buried.
There is less need for transport to the nearest store to buy pharmaceuticals.

• By encouraging tree planting – to provide fruits, medicines and timber, to provide shade, to improve the soil, to conserve moisture and to provide a better microclimate for cultivation. At the same time, as stated above, trees remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
• By encouraging the use of solar energy in the form of solar ovens, solar water-heating and solar driers.
• By encouraging the use of wood burning stoves, so than less firewood is needed.
• By encouraging people to eat less meat, but to find their protein in plant products such as beans, moringa, grain amaranth and soya.
• By growing crops for their own immediate consumption rather than as animal feed.

Tips for how to garden in hot and dry conditions, for example when there is little rain

anamed has prepared a powerpoint presentation which will soon be available on this web-site.