Global Warming

Abstract

Global warming is the increase in the temperature of the atmosphere due to the increase in greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.

The atmosphere contains many gases naturally such as nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, water vapour and some other gaseous substances in smaller quantities such as ozone, methane and nitrous oxide. Out of these, nitrogen and oxygen have no effect on absorbing the thermal radiation from the earth’s surface. Carbon dioxide is a good absorber of heat and traps the heat radiated from the earth’s surface, increasing the atmospheric temperature. This leads to increased amount of water vapours in the air which further increase the temperature by blanketing the heat. This blanketing function helps on maintaining the earth’s surface temperature at 15°C, which otherwise would have been -6°C had these gases not been present. This is called the natural greenhouse effect (Houghton, 2007, p.16).

Currently, the problem of global warming in on the rise because of enhanced greenhouse effect. Enhanced greenhouse effect occurs because of the increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere caused by human activities such as deforestation, industrialization, increase in CFCs (chloro fluro carbons) leading to increased emission of the gas (Houghton, 2004, p.23). Water vapour is formed primarily by evaporation of the water from the oceans and fortunately human beings have no role to play there. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has published a report that states that for every 0.6 deg C rise in the atmospheric temperature, there is a 20cm rise in the sea level. The ice over Arctic Ocean has reduced in thickness by 40%. The storm activities in the North Atlantic have increased by 40% in the last 50 years (Maslin, 2007, p.7)

Human beings have a major role to play in global warming. A significant increase in the levels of carbon dioxide was noticed from the time of Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth century. One of the first measurements of carbon dioxide was done at the mountain in Hawaii called Mauna Loa in 1958. The carbon dioxide levels were then found to be 316 ppmv (parts per million by volume). In 14 years, this figure rose to 369 ppmv (Maslin, 2007, p.12)

Today, the earth is getting heated at a faster rate than before and unless we take measures to curb global warming, it will affect the whole environment. Forests and wildlife would be killed, coastal regions will face floods, agriculture would get destroyed and the human health would be hugely impacted.

The issue today has rightly received huge international importance, but at the same time has become a topic for debate by many. Some people have refuted the findings by IPCC stating global warming can actually be beneficial for some very cold regions on earth. They also argue that the natural emission of carbon dioxide by human beings is much more than the artificial emissions. They point out flaws in the IPCC report stating that the temperature of the atmosphere dropped and that the mid-twentieth century was cooler than now. The Californian authorities have countered these statements and have stated that even though a warm atmospheric temperature might be beneficial to some geographies of earth for a small period, but global warming on the whole is harmful to the planet and the negative impacts will outweigh the small benefits. They have also pointed out that the increase in the carbon dioxide levels have only occurred after the Industrial Revolution. The authorities have also indicated that the temporary drop in temperatures in the mid-twentieth century was due to the cooling effect of the aerosols and soot released during World War II (Ruschmann and Marzilli, 2009, p.98).

Global warming continues to be the one of the most contested topics today. Reporters like John Coleman from Fox News call the phenomenon of global warming a hoax and have ridiculed campaigns by Al Gore against global warming. The Daily Show gets its share of publicity by supporting the theory of global warming and mocking Fox News (Goodknow, 2011, p.67).

Conclusion

The truth remains that global warming is a serious issue that needs to be addressed immediately. With the advent of new industrial technologies, man’s life might be becoming faster and easier, but we are not thinking about the long term impact it would have. Steps need to be taken immediately to curb activities that increase greenhouse effect and more focus should be directed on inventing environmental friendly methods of implementing things such as use of eco- friendly gadgets, encouraging use of bicycles over automobiles, encouraging planting of trees etc. If precautionary measures are not taken, the future generations will have a heavy price to pay for our comforts. If we manage to minimize the harmful effects of global warming from today, we still have hope for our following generations.