Global Warming is one of the major critical environmental challenges facing the world today. As industrial development is largely based on the use of fossil fuels, which in turn, may boost the concentration of greenhouse gases. Due to which developing countries are under tremendous pressure to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases that are the fundamental cause of greenhouse effect to avoid the perils of any environmental catastrophe.

What is Global Warming?

It is the process of heating up of the earth’s atmosphere when the level of CO2 is increasing significantly in the atmosphere.

What causes Global Warming?

The emissions of green house gases are responsible for increasing the earth’s average temperature. Our planet is wrapped in a layer of heat-trapping gases. When these harmful gases released into the atmosphere, it acts like a blanket, trapping heat in the atmosphere and altering climatic conditions globally.

The principal green house gas that enters the earth’s atmosphere due to number of human activities, such as burning of fossil fuels, solid waste, trees and wood products, and also as a result of chemical reactions is Carbon-Dioxide (CO2) – the main driver for the green house effect.

Other contributors of greenhouse effect are:

Methane – emitted during the production and transportation of coal, natural gas and oil. It also results from livestock, and other agricultural practices and by the death and decay of microorganisms.
Nitrous oxide – released during agricultural and industrial activities, and during burning of fossil fuels and solid waste.
Fluorinated oxides – hydro fluorocarbon, per fluorocarbon, and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) are artificial and powerful gases released from the emission of variety of man-made activities. Since Industrial Revolution, humans have been burning fuels on a large scale to run automobiles, to generate electricity, to heat homes etc and are releasing CO2 into the air almost without care and cause untold damage to our environment.

Climate change is the biggest and serious threat to humanity and nature in the 21st century. We must act now to reduce the threat of global warming to secure a healthy and pollution free life for future generation.

Not only human activities, natural processes also contribute to rising global temperature and cause a drastic change in climate.

The primary natural resources that release CO2 into the air (sources) and remove CO2 from the atmosphere (sink) are: -

Animals and plants respiration, by which oxygen and carbon-dioxide are converted into the CO2 and energy, and process of photosynthesis by which CO2 is removed from the atmosphere and stored as carbon in plants biomass.
Ocean atmospheric change in which oceans absorb and release CO2 at the sea surface.
Volcanic eruptions, which releases carbon from the rocks deep in the earth’s crust.

A variety of human activities that release CO2 into the atmosphere and remove CO2 from the atmosphere are: -

Combustion of fossil fuels is considered as the major emitter of CO2.
A number of specialized industries production processes such as metal production, mineral production and use of petroleum-based products can lead to emission of CO2.
Carbon Sequestration – is the process by which growing trees and plants absorb or remove CO2 from the atmosphere and turn into a biomass.
Deforestation, conversely, can lead to significant levels of emission of CO2.
CO2 can be captured from the power plants are released into the atmosphere and then injected deep underground.The layer of green house gases gets thicker due to an ever-increasing rate of CO2 into the atmosphere. This, in turn, makes the earth warmer and that the conditions under which humanity has thrived are rapidly changing.

The world has warmed 0.74 in the past hundred years and it will get warmer in the time to come due to constant increase in concentration of green house gases. Global average temperature is forecast to rise 4oc towards the end of 21st century.

Effects Of Global Warming:

The effects of global warming are quite scary and every species on this Planet are under the severe threat of global warming.

Due to the destructive phenomenon of global warming, we see that natural calamities are on the rise. Glaciers are melting faster, sea levels are rising, scarcity of food and water, conversion of forests into deserts, eruption of number of diseases, changes in weather and climate patterns, and there will be more intense and frequent cyclones, hurricanes, and typhoons.

Coral reefs are also seen under the threat of global warming. Corals are very sensitive to changes in temperature: a temperature increase of one degree Celsius can trigger them to make bleach and they often die, after severe bleaching.

CO2 pollution is another stress faced by the coral reefs. Absorption of CO2 by the oceans makes the water more acidic; with the result there is a greater tendency for a seashells to dissolve in acidic water.

Coral reefs provide an estimated $375 billions dollars in economic benefits each year globally. But, now about 16% of the world’s coral reefs were seriously damaged.

Environmental Defense Marine Ecologist Rud Fujita provide assurances by saying that coral reefs may be able to withstand with indirect threats like climate change, if we can reduce some of other direct stresses on coral reefs. For e.g. threat induced by CO2 pollution.

Many fisheries are also in trouble. Today, 46 important fisheries are depleted in U.S. Ecosystems are being destroyed, and fishermen are losing their jobs.

Rising seas will also have a down falling effect on fish habitat. As sea level rises, it will convert fresh water into brackish water, and brackish marsh into salt marsh resulting into destruction of nursery grounds for a wide variety of marine life.

There is a need to forge a constructive solution in order to maintain the number of fishes, and to enjoy seafood in future.

As global temperature rises, glaciers and sea ice are melting causing a shift in evaporation and precipitation patterns. Due to this, some parts of the oceans are becoming fresher, while others are becoming saltier at the visible pace and could slowly disrupt the way the ocean delivers the nutrients to sea life, leading the sea birds to face mass starvation.

Many species of plants and animals have disappeared as a result of global warming. As climate change wreaks its havoc across the globe, the ecosystem could disappear altogether, or they may undergo serious and irreversible changes.

Changing weather patterns threatens our lives, livelihood and lifestyle. It impacts heavily on the livelihood of farmers who have experienced reduced water levels and crop yields, dried up farms, destroyed vegetation and unpredictable rains have brought destruction and diseases.

Ways To Curb The Emission Of Greenhouse Gases:

Our planet is moving towards an immensely warmer future. Our one single step or effort can really make a big difference to save our environment from the inevitable impacts of global warming and make it a sustainable earth.

Keep your city green and clean by planting more and more trees. It provides cool shade and reducing air conditioning cost by up to 30%.
Using high efficiency compact fluorescent light saves both energy and money, and lasts up to 10 times longer than standard bulbs.
Use energy saving, water saving, and power saving products.
Buy organic products. It can benefit your health and environment.
Say “NO” to plastic bags and use your own bag. It also reduces waste.
Choose biodegradable cleaning products. They have less negative impacts on the soil and water system.
Reduce the consumption of paper by reusing and recycling it.
Use laptop instead of desktop. It consumes 5 times less electricity.
Traveling can also create a huge impact on our environment. Try to avoid it whenever possible. You will reduce the carbon emission by riding a bicycle walking, and taking public transportation.
Repair the things instead of replacing them also reduces consumption.
Turn off all the electronic gadgets when they are not in use.
Reducing destructive fishing practices, keeping habitat healthy, and curbing pollution to lessen the threat to marine ecosystem.
Need to plan for and devise strategies to cope and ward off the global warming impacts.
To reduce forest emission in order to avert any catastrophic climate change.
To grow awareness among the public that indiscriminate clearing of forest causes 20% of global warming.
To support the efforts of the nation to cut down the concentration of greenhouse gases to document the impacts of global warming on human health.
Switching to energy-saving products instead of energy-consuming products.
To generate awareness and mobilize community to initiate environmental improvement action.Nature has given us lot of resources and always helped in flourishing mankind. But, what we as a human being gives back in return. There is a need to move towards cleaner and greener sources of fuel in order to make our planet healthy and beautiful.

“SAVE NATURE AND NATURE WILL SAVE YOU”

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These days, there seems to be a lot of controversy about Global Warming.

Some say that Global Warming is a fact, others say it’s not. But regardless of whether or not Global Warming is a fact, let’s step aside from the arguments on the subject, and take a common-sense approach.

In this article we will take a look at some of the issues involved.

What is Global Warming?

We can take a look at the definition of global warming – without taking sides or getting into vested interests, political motivations, reasons, or causes.

The definition of global warming in its purity is “an overall increase in world temperatures.” As you can see, whether this has to do with greenhouse emissions, or whether it is caused by a natural phenomena, has no bearing on whether there is an average temperature increase.

Is There an Overall Increase in World Temperatures?

Alright, now we can take a look at what scientists say about world temperatures.

Again, we are going to leave out the reasons why, and simply look at whether or not the Earth’s general temperature is rising.

According to NASA scientists, the average temperature of the earth rose by one degree Celsius, over the last century. This is based on actual measurements taken with exact measuring instruments.

Another report, compiled and submitted by 600 scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, issued the following statement:

“Warming of the climate system is unequivocal.”

These 600 scientists sifted through thousands of studies and reports, in order to come to the above conclusion.

Even scientists who are “opposed” to the global warming theory are not contradicting the fact that the earth’s temperature is rising. These scientists are only saying that global warming is a natural phenomena, and is not caused by man.

The Causes of Global Warming There are several factors that could contribute to or influence global warming.

Greenhouse gases are gases that prevent heat from escaping from the Earth’s atmosphere. A few examples of greenhouse gases are:

Carbon Dioxide – A minor but important part of the Earth’s atmosphere. Carbon dioxide prevents heat from escaping the earth, by blocking the infrared radiation reflected off the Earth’s surface from leaving the atmosphere. Methane – A gas produced through the decomposition of waste (in landfills, animal waste, and decomposition of food in human and animal digestive systems). It is created by the production and distribution of natural gas, oil and coal. It is also is produced by incomplete fossil-fuel combustion. Nitrous Oxide – Another gas produced through the use of commercial fertilizers, natural fertilizers, and fossil fuel combustion (cars, airplanes, and conventional power plants, to name a few). Chlorofluorocarbons – Commonly referred to as CFC gases, these are produced primarily by our industries, and are used for products such as, styrofoam, spray-can propellants, refrigerants, electronic circuit boards, and many more. Water Vapor – This is a completely natural gas, caused by the sun evaporating water from our oceans.

As you can see, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide are produced mainly by human resources, whereas chlorofluorocarbons are exclusively produced by industrial installations.

Out of all the above, interestingly enough, the greenhouse gases which have the largest effect on global warming are water vapors. This fact will no doubt please all critics of the “global warming theory”.

You have to keep in mind, however, the cyclic effect of global warming. A slight increase in temperature will increase the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere, which in turn will increase the temperature, and so on. Thus, a slight effect created by other greenhouse gases has a much larger impact, due to the creation of additional water vapor in the atmosphere.

Greenhouse Gases: Facts and Figures

let’s go over some facts and figures here. Again, keep in mind that these are measurements taken by scientific tools. They are not statements for or against global warming.

The amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere has increased by 25 percent since the early 1800s. Ten percent of this increase has occurred between 1958 and the present day. There are two main factors that responsible for the increase of carbon dioxide. The leading cause is the burning of fossil fuels. Next in line is deforestation. Methane content in the world’s atmosphere increases at a rate of 0.6 percent per year, by current measurements. The atmospheric methane content is now more than twice as high as it was before the Industrial Age, which started in the early 1800s.

The Effects of Global Warming

I am not the doom-and-gloom sort of person, so I am going to spare you the details here. But I do have an opinion on this subject, so I will share it with you.

Regardless of whether the globe is warming or not, it is simply common sense to take care of the environment you live in.

The plain truth of the matter is that carbon monoxide is unhealthy, methane makes for unpleasant breathing, and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere is no laughing matter.

While the lack of ozone might make for faster tanning at the beach, the long term effects are not as desirable.

What You Can do About Global Warming

Believe it or not, you are important – what you do and say is listened to by others, and does make a difference. It doesn’t require a lot of effort to do something about conditions in the environment. A little extra care will go quite a long way. Many are already doing it, and all of us need to get aboard.

It starts as simply as recycling your waste, saving energy where you can, or even planting a tree.

A great way to reduce pollution is the use of solar power. 75% of the average home’s energy consumption is for hot water and heating. The most economical, effective, and inexpensive way of using solar power is through the use of solar heating, and solar hot water heaters. To find out how you can take action against Global Warming (as well as save considerably on your energy bills) visit Solar Hot Water and Home Solar Panels.
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