Global warming is already
changing the environment, the economy, and people’s ways of living. The changes
aren’t over, either, and the more that changes around the world, the more
critical it is to understand this complex and important issue. The following
describes how and why greenhouse gases are formed, investigates some important
global warming terms, uncovers the negative impacts of climate change, and offers
solutions you can implement in your everyday life to alleviate rising
greenhouse gas emissions. Although global warming is connected to scary
scenarios featuring soaring temperatures and worsening hurricanes and monsoons,
it’s also a link to a better future. Global warming is opening doors for the
development of new types of fuels, leading the shift to reliable energy
sources, and creating a vision of a greener tomorrow.
Understanding Greenhouse Gases
Planet Earth is warm enough to
sustain life thanks to gases in the planet’s atmosphere that hold heat. These
gases are called greenhouse gases because they act just like a greenhouse —
trapping the heat inside the planet’s atmosphere, making the average
temperature on Earth 59 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius).
Humans have increased the
amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by about 35 percent. The more
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the warmer the average temperature gets.
The main greenhouse gases
The two major greenhouse gases
both occur naturally and can be increased due to human activity.
Carbon dioxide (CO2):
Responsible for 63 percent of global warming over time, and 91 percent in the
last 5 years, this gas is produced from burning fossil fuels, such as coal and
oil. It also occurs naturally as it flows in a cycle between oceans, soil,
plants and animals.
Methane (CH4): Responsible for
19 percent of global warming, this gas is produced by rotting garbage and
wastewater, gas from livestock, and rice crops. Swamps and anything that decomposes
without air naturally creates methane.
Two main sources of greenhouse
gases
Energy use: Humans derive
energy from burning fossil fuels, which releases almost three quarters of all
human-produced greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Half of all fossil fuels
are burned to provide electricity and heat; the next big users of fossil fuels
are manufacturing and transportation.
Land use: How humans remove
forests and use land contributes over one quarter of all human-produced
greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere, so logging and clearing forest land for agriculture and development
means more carbon dioxide stays in the air.
[…]
Major Potential Effects of
Global Warming
The impact of global warming
will increase in the coming years, but the degree of change will vary greatly,
depending on where you live and depending on how rapidly nations around the
world reduce greenhouse emissions. No matter where you live, though, the
unchecked impacts of climate change are potentially catastrophic in the
long-term.
It affects people: Depending
on their location, people may be affected by disease, rising sea levels,
drought, or major storms. The impact of these effects will be greatest on those
with the least financial resources to adapt to or recover from the effects.
It causes extreme weather: While
the atmosphere warms, the climate is changing, and so is the weather. More
frequent and more intense storms, flooding, droughts, heat waves, and even
extreme snowfalls are all part of the changes.
It increases extinctions:
Changing climates mean that some environments may no longer be hospitable for
certain plants or animals, which will need to relocate to survive. Some
species, such as polar bears, have nowhere to go. Extinction is a possibility
for many species of animals and plants, which may be unable to adapt to their
environment at the same speed at which the climate is changing it.
It melts ice at the poles: The
Arctic ice is melting so rapidly that within a few years the North Pole will be
ice covered only seasonally. This has a dramatic impact on the planet’s
climate: Polar ice reflects sunlight and deflects heat; when it melts, more of
that heat stays in the atmosphere. The melting of the Greenland and Western
Antarctic Ice Sheets threatens an extreme rise in sea levels.
It warms oceans: While the
oceans warm, water is expanding and causing sea levels to rise. Warmer waters
are killing coral reefs and krill — essential to supporting the sea food web.
Key Global Warming Terms
The phrase “global warming”
hasn’t been around long, but climate change, as it’s also known, is nothing
new. In fact, it has been a constant throughout history. Earth’s climate today
is very different from what it was 2 million years ago, let alone 10,000 years
ago.
Here are the key terms that
are crucial to understanding global warming:
Carbon cycle: The natural system that,
ideally, creates a balance between carbon emitters (such as humans) and carbon
absorbers (such as trees), so the atmosphere doesn’t contain an increasing
concentration of carbon dioxide. (Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere are expressed as parts per million, or ppm.)
Carbon sinks: Anything that absorbs carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere and stores carbon. The ocean, trees, and soil are
all carbon sinks.
Fossil fuels: Fuels, such as oil and coal,
that are made from the fossils of old plants, which have taken hundreds of
thousands of years to form underground.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC): An international body of the United Nations, composed of over 2,000
scientific experts. The IPCC compiles peer-reviewed climate science to create
an objective source of climate information.
Kyoto Protocol: The international agreement
under the United Nations to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions from
industrialized countries by 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2012. The
Protocol is ratified by 177 countries.
Renewable energy: A continual
source of energy, such as energy from the sun, wind, flowing water, heat from
the Earth, or movement of the tides.
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