Global Warming and Greenhouse Effect

The continuous rise in temperature of the plant is really upsetting. The root causes for this is global warming. The global warming begins when sunlight reaches the earth. The recent observations regarding global warming have substantiated the theory that it is indeed a human enhanced greenhouse effect that is causing the planet to heat up.

Greenhouse effect:

Ø Earth enjoys these temperatures because of its atmosphere, which is the thin layer of gases that cover and protect the planet. However, 97 % of climate scientists and researchers agree that humans have changed the earth atmosphere in dramatic ways over the past two centuries, resulting in global warming.

Ø The trade of incoming and outgoing radiation that heats up the Earth is often referred to as the greenhouse effect because a greenhouse works in a similar way. Incoming the ultraviolet radiation easily passes through the glass walls of a greenhouse and is absorbed by the plants and hard surface inside. The effect of tropical plants prosper inside a greenhouse, even during a cold season.

Ø The greenhouse effect, combined with increasing level of greenhouse gases and the resulting global warming. If the global warming continuous unrestrained and nothing effective is done to limit this evil, it will causes significant climate change , a rise in sea level, extreme weather events and other ruthless natural, environmental and social impacts.

Types of Greenhouse Effect

i. Natural greenhouse effect

ii. Human enhanced greenhouse effect

Types of greenhouse effects

Greenhouse Gases: A Hazards

Ø There are many greenhouse gases which are mainly emitted by human activity. The first and foremost in the list is carbon dioxide.

Ø Excessive burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil is the major factor for producing this gas.

Ø Cement manufacture also contributes carbon dioxide to atmosphere when calcium carbonate is heated generating lime and carbon dioxide.

Ø It is produced as a result of agricultural activities such as livestock digestion, paddy rice farming and use manure.

Ø Methane is also produced due to improper management of waste. Nitrous oxides are generated mainly by fertilizers.

Ø These gases are playing their negative part in increasing the havoc of global warming. They are continuously causing an increasing in the earth temperature.

Distribution of greenhouse gases

Causes of Global Warming

Ø The major cause of global warming is the greenhouse gases. They include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxides and in some cases chlorine and bromine containing compounds.

Ø Their overall effect is to warm the Earth’s surface and the lower atmosphere because greenhouse gases absorb some of the outgoing radiation of Earth and re-radiate it back towards the surface.

Ø The net warming from 1850 to the end of the 20th century was equivalent to nearly 2.5 W/m2 with carbon dioxide contribution about 60 % to this figure, methane about 25 per cent, with nitrous oxides and halocarbons providing the remainder.

Ø The response was striking: large scale international scientific programmes were mounted to prove that CFCs (used as aerosol propellants in industrial cleaning fluids and in refrigeration tools) were the cause of the problem. Even more important was abrupt international action to curb the emissions of CFCs.

Ø The second major cause of global warming is the depletion of ozone layer. This happens mainly due to the presence of chlorine-containing source gases.

Ø When ultraviolet light is present, these gases dissociate releasing chlorine atoms which then catalyses ozone destruction. Aerosols present in the atmosphere are also causing global warming by changing the climate in two different ways.

Ø Firstly, they scatter and absorb solar and infrared radiation.

Ø Secondly, they may alter the microphysical and chemical properties of clouds and perhaps affect their lifetime and extent.

Ø The human contribution to the amount of aerosols in the atmosphere is of various forms.

Ø Moreover, exhaust emissions from various sorts of transport produce a rich mixture of pollutants that are either aerosols from the outset or are transformed by chemical reactions in the atmosphere to form aerosols.

Effects of Global Warming

Ø Predicting the consequences of global warming is one of the most difficult tasks faced by the climate researchers.

Ø This is due to the fact that natural processes that cause rain, snowfall, hailstorms, rise in sea levels is reliant on many diverse factors.

Ø Global warming produces many negative effects some of which are described here. Firstly, extra water vapour which is present in the atmosphere falls again as rain which leads to floods in various regions of the world.

Ø The extra water vapour content in the atmosphere will fall again as extra rain hence causing flood. Towns and villages which are dependent on the melting from snowy mountains may suffer drought and scarcity of water supply.

Ø According to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), about one-sixth of the total population of the world lives in the regions which shall be affected by a decrease in melting water.

Ø Global warming can severely affect the health of living beings. Excess heat can cause stress which may lead to blood pressure and heart diseases.

Ø Global warming may also transfer various diseases to other regions as people will shift from regions of higher temperatures to regions of comparatively lower temperatures.

Ø Warmer oceans and other surface waters may lead to severe cholera outbreaks and harmful infections in some types of sea food.

Ø A rise in mosquito-borne disease like dengue fever and malaria due to warmer and longer summers. Perhaps the most prominent mosquito-borne disease.

Alternative Energy Sources:

Ø The hazards caused by global warming are tremendous. Excessive use of fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas and oil play a part in it too. The usage of fossil fuels should be discontinued immediately.

Ø The most significant solution to put an end to this disaster is the use of alternative energy sources. They include wind, solar, bio mass, geothermal and hydro.

Ø They do not produce any sort of pollution or toxic gases that can lead to global warming. They are environmentally

Ø Most importantly, fossil fuels will deplete one day and sooner or later, we have to turn to renewable energy sources for energy production.

Ø Thus, the eventual solution to end global warming is to use alternative energy sources. Depicts in a pictorial way that earth can be saved from the hazards of global warming if we utilise renewable energy sources.

Ø Global warming is also affecting animals. They need to move to cooler places in order to survive.

Ø The impacts on species are becoming noteworthy to such an extent that their movements can be used as a sign of a warming world.

Ø Governments should devise and pass policies which encourage the energy companies and people, in general, to use renewable energy instead of conventional energy,

Ø Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) should distribute pamphlets to people motivating them to use alternative sources of energy and discourage them from using fossil fuels.