Global Warming: Causes And Effects Essay

1.0 INTRODUCTION â€Å"Pollution has caused many kinds of effects to the environment that the different forms of pollutions are harder to be controlled and sadly, they have become more serious throughout the years. Apparently, other than natural disaster it is evident that the major cause of pollution is the irresponsible act of human being. Global warming has become a hot topic nowadays and we must take up the responsibility to resolve this problem. Global warming can be defined as the unusually rapid increase in Earth’s average surface temperature over the past century primarily due to the greenhouse gases released by people burning fossil fuels†. ( Random House Dictionary,  © Random House, Inc. 2011. ) The image of the factory exhausting the gases that creates greenhouse effect. Fig 1: Referring to the above picture, it is clearly proven that the gases from factory has polluted the air , creating an increased in greenhouse effect- heat-trapping, primarily carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. This has also destroyed the atmosphere since most of the gases trap in the air. This is one of the effects of global warming as the temperature rise the warmth would cause the atmosphere to become thinner and thinner. As a conclusion, we have to solve this problem before we lose everything as a consequence of what we have done to Mother nature. 1.1 DEFINITION Global warming is when the earth heats up (the temperature rises). It happens when greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, water vapor, nitrous oxide, and methane) trap heat and light from the sun in the earth’s atmosphere, which increases the temperature. This hurts many people, animals, and plants. Many cannot take the change, so they die. 2.0 THE CAUSES & EFFECTS OF GLOBAL WARMING 2.1 CAUSES 1: The Greenhouse Effect One of the main causes of Global Warming is the Green house effect. When the emission of infra-red radiation in the atmosphere warms a planet’s surface, it is known as the Green House Effect. The Greenhouse effect is a natural phenomena occurring on planet Earth. There are natural as well as human-made causes of the greenhouse effect. Industries are also one of the major cause of the Greenhouse Effect because of burning of fossil fuels, oil, coal, and gas and releases those gases into the air. The natural causes of the Green house effect are the emissions of gases like nitrous oxide, carbon-dioxide, methane, ozone and water vapour. The greenhouse effect is actually beneficial to the Earth. It is only when human-made processes increase its speed that the problems occur. One main problem is the oft repeated ‘Global Warming’. Population growth also is a indirect contributor and one of the causes of the Greenhouse effect. the increase in population, the needs and wants of the people increase. Therefore, this increases the manufacturing processes as well as the industry processes. This results in the increase of the release of industrial gases which catalyst the green house effect. The increase in population also results in the increase of agricultural processes. Most man-made machines, like the automobile also contribute to the green house effect. (D’Silva R.) Fig 3: The Greenhouse Effect. A heat-trapping blanket of greenhouse gases — primarily carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide — in the atmosphere can cause potentially significant changes in the timing and length of the seasons, temperature, and the amount and frequency of precipitation. ( Washington State Department of Ecology) Fig 2: From which sectors do the major greenhouse gas emissions come from? The lower part of the picture shows the sources individually for the gases carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, respectively. EFFECT : The Greenhouse Effect Drought is one of the effect that causes by the Greenhouse Effect, and it is driving current increases in food prices around the world, which means one day the price of grains might be higher than fuel. The number of malnourished people decreased up until the late 1990s, and that number is still increasing.In addition, according to a 2005 world health organization report, there is 150,000 annual deaths that tied to the climate change. Climate related deaths are expected to double in 25 years. Industrialized countrties maybe sheltered from the current impacts of the climate change, but not others. Heat waves are also on of the effect that causes by the Greenhouse Effect. Solution : Reduce carbon dioxide emission First of all, Replacing a regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) CFLs use 60% less energy than a regular bulb. This simple switch will save about 300 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Fig 3: fluorescent light bulb Moreover,Cleaning or replacing filters on your furnace and air conditioner Cleaning a dirty air filter can save 350 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Fig 4: cleaning air conditioner The third solution is to Move your fridge and freezer Placing them next to the cooker or boiler consumes much more energy than if they were standing on their own. For example, if you put them in a hot cellar room where the room temperature is 30-35 ºC, energy use is almost double and causes an extra 160kg of CO2 emissions for fridges per year and 320kg for freezers. 2.2 GLOBAL DIMMING Global dimming can also be one of the causes of global warming. It is caused by an sulphur aerosol in the atmosphere. Aerosols are created naturally and as an effect of human activities such as combustion engines of vehicles, especially for diesel engines. Dust is a kind of aerosol, whereas large volcanic eruption releases aerosols too in the forms of clouds and ash. This can spread around the globe for months and blocks the sunlight in and reflect back to the space. Thus, global warming occurs. ‘However, it may be giving us a false sense of security by partially masking the severity of the greenhouse gas induced problem, leading us to take action less quickly than we should do mitigate that problem.’ ( Russel, R. 2007) Global dimming also increases the risk of forest burning for drying tropical forests. This Will release more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Fig 5: Sunlight is blocked by too many of sulphur aerosol. EFFECT Global dimming will rise the temperature over the next 100 years by 10 degree centigrade. Black soot aerosols reduce the amount of sunlight reflecting back into space, causing more sunlight to be absorbed and thus, global warming occurs. SOLUTION In order to prevent the rise in global dimming, the best solution is to reduce the burning of fossil fuels. People should reduce the usage of vehicles to cut down the amount of aerosols being released 2.3 DEFORESTATION ‘Deforestation are also one of the causes of global warming. Trees are one of the most important aspects of the planet we live in. It is also vitally important to the environment and all of the living things in the world.’ (Putatunda R.) They are important for the climate of the Earth, they act as filters of carbon dioxide, the are habitat and shelters to millions of species, and they are important for their aesthetic appeal. However, the trees on our planet are decreasing due to the developing of industry. They cut down the trees for lumber that is used for building materials, furniture, paper products, and living stuff that human need. There is so many trees has been depleted because of the short term of economic benefits. According to some estimates, there is more than 50 percent of trees has disappeared due to the human activity. One of the most worrying factors today is the massive destruction of the rainforests of the world, which is affecting the biodiversity adversely, as well as being one of the major contributory factors of the Holocene mass extinction that is ongoing. Forests are also cleared in order to accomodate expanding urban areas. And all this will rise the temperature of earth up because of too much of carbon dioxide. Fig 6: The temperature of earth has risen in the last hundred years. EFFECT : Trees contributes in a large way in maintaining the water cycle. They draw up water by their roots, which is then released into the atmosphere. A large part of the water that circulate in the ecosystem of rainforests, for instance, it remains inside the plants, When these tress are cut down, that area will be dry because of disruption of the water cycle. On the other hand, without the support of the roots of trees, the land with too much of damp will causes landslide. SOLUTION : Reforestation should be planned by the government. Under this process, the government of a country should implement eco-factory where only selected areas of trees can be cut down and transported with minimal damage to the forest. Secondly, land use planning advocates environmentally friendly development techniques, such as reduction of urban and suburban sprawl. Community forestry—where concerned citizens come together to manage and participate in keeping their local forests viable and sustainable’ ( ways to reduce deforestation and repair the damage 2008) Thirdly, green business should be carried out. Each and every developing and advanced countries should focus on recycled paper and wood products. The countries stated should be responsible for environmental consumerism. 3.0 CASE STUDY CASE STUDY 1: PROBLEM IN NIGERIA Global warming is caused mostly by the emission of greenhouse gases, and largely are from industry production, agriculture, transportation and material consumption. The effect on Nigeria and other parts of the african continent has been steadily raising water levels along the coastal areas, with some parts of these places now underwater while others are condemned to being submerged in due course. Moreover, There have been unusually extended droughts and serious desertification, and this problem makes Nigeria falls into the growth of poverty. CASE STUDY 2: PROBLEM IN CHINA China is one of the fast developing countries in the world. At the same time, China is also one of the global warming causing country. There are many power plants and vehivles in China. The air surrounding of the power plant is in bad condition and this will harm human health. In addition, China is also one of the fifth country which is used the most coal. All of this not only will harm human health, all of these will also bring disaster to the world, not only in China. China government wanted to give the best to their people. However, they did not realize that what they are doing now is causing a lot of problems. Global warming causs climate change rapidly which destroy crops. Consequently, people in China are facing food shortage, and many trees are also have been chopped down to expanding urban areas. In conclusion, the increase of population in China leads to global warming. 4.0 CONCLUSION In a conclusion, we must try our best to solve the problems and strive to reinstate balance on our earth for sake of our future generations. 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