gozzterLeave a Comment on The brine and cloudy billow kiss the moon

The brine and cloudy billow kiss the moon

There was an awareness, even in the ‘older’ literature, of how the weather and climate seemed to be changing (and not necessarily for the better). Shakespeare, for example, recognized that changes in the weather affected everybody -in his Henry V: ‘The day is hot, and the weather, and the wars, and the King, and the dukes.’; in King Lear: ‘You are not worth the dust which the rude wind blows in your face.’; or one of my favourites from Love’s Labour’s Lost: ‘Your mistresses dare never come in rain, for fear their colors should be washed away.’

No, we have always been aware of the fickleness of the weather. The ‘Greenhouse Effect’ was a term likely coined in the early 1800’s by Joseph Fourier. He realized that the earth’s atmosphere seemed to trap heat like a greenhouse, and human activity might actually be one of the causes. Things simmered (sorry) along as the years passed, until the first practical observations that global temperatures were already rising due to human action were made in the mid 20th century. Our worries have only increased since then: it began to be known as ‘global warming’ and then, more recently, we began to tie things together and realize that the temperature rises fueled an increased strength of hurricanes, tornadoes, and a more wandering path of the Jet-stream affecting weather -especially north of the equator.

I think most of us now are well aware that these changes are not just climate warming, but variations in all sorts of unexpected weather: climate change. Climate change is primarily driven by human activities that increase greenhouse gas concentrations, trapping heat and warming the planet. Key factors include burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and agriculture, which release carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.

But there are other factors that seem to slip under the radar for most of us: plastic for example. I mean who would have thought that, in addition to its well publicized desecration of beaches, ingestion by wildlife and stubborn resistance to disappearing from the world, it would be implicated in the climate as well?[i]

The scattered bits of plastic we have become used to cursing are only the tips of the iceberg. ‘Colorful bits absorb more sunlight than they reflect, which can heat the surrounding air… [they] absorb light at levels almost 75 times higher than nonpigmented pieces.’  So airborne plastic particles play a larger role in climate change than previously thought, and they should be more widely included in climate assessments.

Actually, tinier plastic bits absorb and scatter light more strongly at shorter wavelengths, then drop off at longer wavelengths, while bigger particles show a broader, more gradual pattern of interaction across wavelengths… ‘Combining this information with computer simulations of worldwide airborne microplastics revealed how big a role the particles might play in climate change. Their impact on global warming may amount to roughly one-sixth that of black carbon, or soot, a major component of air pollution, primarily produced by burning fossil fuels.’ So, airborne microplastics and nanoplastics (less than one micrometer in length) are not just an environmental contamination issue, but a significant, although less obvious, contributor to the climate issues we are now facing.

And although the idea of plastics being linked to climate change may be unexpected, so are the disappearance of  various odours.[ii] ‘A triple threat of pollution, biodiversity loss and warming temperatures is changing the way the planet smells.’ 

Smell was particularly honoured in Proust’s book Remembrance of Things Past in which he describes the emotions and vividness of re-experiencing autobiographical memories triggered by senses like smell. Without scents as reminders, many things from our past might lose their significance to us, as the so called ‘Proust effect’ demonstrates so well.

‘Smells are all around us, inseparable from the air we breathe and the spaces we inhabit. What we know as a scent is a collection of natural or artificial airborne chemicals released from objects as they vaporize in heat or slowly decay… Humans smell by inhaling these chemical components through our noses. Mucus dissolves the molecules and binds them to olfactory receptors on  hair-like strands inside the nasal cavity. The receptors send neurological signals that our brain interprets as smell.’ In fact, the olfactory system is the only part of the brain that is in direct contact with the outside world.

‘Smell is deeply connected to memory because of how closely situated odor signals are to the amygdala, which processes emotion, and the hippocampus, linked to memory. Odor-based memories can be nearly instantaneous, conjuring past experiences before the conscious mind registers the scent. As Proust pointed out, smells can evoke a powerful nostalgia that enhances self-esteem, social connectedness and the feeling that one’s life has deeper meaning.’

But what about the effects of climate change on smell? As temperatures rise, man-made substances release more scent molecules, and ‘biodiversity loss due to climate change threatens the plants that scent the environment.’ In a forest, for example, changing temperatures may also change the profile of the chemical components in the air. Most of us have heard of shinrun-yoku (forest bathing): phytoncides, released from trees and inhaled by humans through the nose, may help boost our immune systems. Could that also be changing?

 But it’s not just Nature’s odours undergoing a change: ‘Human-designed structures like asphalt roads and homes can off-gas more volatile organic compounds like formaldehyde and benzene in the heat’. If the temperature is higher the molecules move faster and this can affect the amount of smell-carrying gas particles released from substances; there are more likely to be unusual or at least increasing smells from other materials: cooking fumes and rotting trash change as ambient temperatures increase.

Scientists are only beginning to understand how the loss of smell affects human well-being -think of the damage Covid has caused in some people. Increased pollution, and increased ozone may also be causing damage to the peripheral olfactory system and our ability to smell. In fact, ‘Studies show that people living in highly polluted areas have a reduced ability to discern smells, and the least well-off urban areas tend to have the worst air pollution. Who gets to smell what and to what effect… is another manifestation of urban inequity.’

There is increasing evidence that connecting with ancestral and traditional smells may serve as an important way of sustaining community and forming collective identity. And, given its strong connection to memory and emotion, the change of those traditional odours might serve to convey the urgency of addressing climate change on a more deeply felt visceral level; our less progressive political and industrial leaders might do well to consider that!

One can only hope, eh…?

[i] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/microplastics-are-swirling-around-in-the-atmosphere-where-they-might-be-contributing-to-climate-change-180988704

[ii] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/earths-smells-are-disappearing-because-of-climate-change-and-its-a-vast-cultural-loss-180988496

, , , , , , , , ,

Leave a comment

search previous next tag category expand menu location phone mail time cart zoom edit close