Global Warming & Climate Change

Hello guys,

Global warming is a very important phenomenon and continues to undergo intense debate all over the world as to whether it is a natural occurrence that we should not worry about or whether we should take it seriously. I think we should take global warming seriously and i will tell you why.

Global warming occurs when the earth heats up as a result of temperature rises. This is as a result of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane and nitrous oxide) trapping heat and light from the sun in the earth's atmosphere and therefore causing there to be an increase in the temperature of the earth. Normally when the sun shines on the earth, the heat and light can get through the atmosphere to warm and lighten earth. Some of the heat and light are then reflected back from the earth, this helps to keep the earth warm enough for people to live on, neither too hot that its burning or too cold that its freezing. In this way by absorbing some of the heat and light reaching earth, the temperature is not too hot that living things cannot survive during the day and not too cold at night because some of the absorbed heat helps to warm the earth so that temperatures are not at freezing. The green house effect is that heat and light from the sun can get through the atmosphere to the earth, but it can't get out, and as a result eath's temperature rises.

Melting glaciers as a result of global warming. Source: http://www.solarpowernotes.com

Green house gasses are gasses in the atmosphere that help to trap heat and light from the sun. The consequence of having too many green house gases in the earth's atmosphere is that they will trap too much heat and as a result, earth will get too hot for humans, plans and animals to survive because the heat will be too strong. Global warming is mainly caused by pollution. Fossil fuels are in most cases burnt to create electricity. As a result of this, many chemicals are released into the atmosphere, some of which are greenhouse gases. An example of fossil fuel is petroleum which is used for transportation, for generating electricity and in many other industrial processes. This source of energy gives off a lot of pollution and contributes significantly to greenhouse effect. 

Most greenhouse gases are emitted into the atmosphere through natural and man made processes. Carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal as well as solid waste, trees and wood products and in some industrial processes e.g. the manufacture of cement. Methane is emitted in the production of coal, natural gas and oil. It is also emitted from livestock and in the decay of organic wastes in municipal solid waste landfills. Nitrous oxide is emitted during agricultural and industrial activities, as well as during combustion of fossil fuels and solid waste. Flourinated gases such as hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride also contribute to global warming as they are powerful green house gases emitted during various industrial processes because they are being used as substitutes for ozone depleting substances.

Daily activities like washing using a washing machine, turning on a light bulb, or the tv, playing a video game, using a hair dryer and using an air conditioner contributes to green house gases being released into air because creating the electricity to do these things involve the burning of fossil fuels. 

Human activities such as deforestation (cutting down of trees) also contributes to the green house effect because trees and other plants absorb carbon dioxide which is a green house. When we breathe, we take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide while trees and lower plants such as algae take in the carbon dioxide and release oxygen. There is therefore a need to protect our trees otherwise there'll be too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere with no plants to absorb them and release oxygen, which we need. 

Generating high volumes of garbage also contributes to global warming. This is because methods to deal with the garbage such as disposals in landfills and incineration generate methane  and carbon dioxide which are greenhouse gases. As you can see, the major cause of global warming is from human activities.

Global warming will cause sea levels to rise, and when this occurs, the water covers many low land islands. This will displace many plants, animals and humans in such places. Plants will die, causing several animals that depend on plants as food to die also. With plants and animals dead, humans will experience food scarcity and may have to leave the area or die too. Humans will also loose their homes when sea levels rise due to floodings.

As flood events occur in some parts of the world due to global warming, so will droughts occur due to a change in amount and pattern of precipitation. This will lead to more desert formations. Scientists say global warming is strongest in the artic and some of the strongest effects include extreme weather conditions such as heavy rainfalls and heat waves that will bring about a shift in temperature cycles and cause climate change. This in turn has the effect of causing certain species of living organisms to go into extinction. Due to the warmer temperatures, drier leaves and trees easily catch fire. These forest fires lead to the formation of more arid areas/deserts.

Certain schools of thought believe global warming is a natural process and that human beings and living organisms will adapt accordingly. This may not necessarily be true because rate of change of earth's temperature pre industrial times was less likely to cause the effects we currently experience today and if global mean temperatures continue to increase, the limits for human adaptation are likely to be exceeded and the adaptation for many natural systems will also be exceeded. In plain English, this means the natural processes for which human existence depend would not be preserved.

What we can do to stop Global warming.

To stop global warming, one of the things we can do is to reduce the amount of energy we consume. This means more energy saving appliances. When electric gadgets are not in use, they should be turned off. This reduces the amount of green house gases released into the atmosphere to generate the electricity.

Carpooling is also a good way to reduce the amount of fossil fuel emissions into the atmosphere. It means sharing a car by two or more people rather than having the cars on the road at the same time. The effect of this will be a reduction in the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere as a result of too many cars on the road.

Alternative energy sources, such as solar, wind and biomass should be looked into. These energy sources do not entail the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and therefore reduces the cause and effects of global warming.

 Deforestation should be reduced. Many Government legislations now make it compulsory that for the feliing of a tree, two trees should be replanted. This way, some sort of balance can be maintained on the amount of trees that are felled which will in turn reduce the effects of global warming.