Global warming: What it is, its Causes and Effects - Essay Example

Global warming as a result of various factors can be summarized in the following diagram: Fig. 1 Fishbone diagram of global warming and its causes The main problem is that global warming has escalated to greater heights due to the accumulation of CO2 levels at a rapid rate. From the industrial revolution up to the present, the increase in the use of fossil fuels to power up everything, from houses to automobiles as well as the increase of the population that uses them added to the rapid increase of not just CO2 levels but also other greenhouse gases that trap the radiant heat from the sun (Leroux, 2005).

Since CO2 tends to coalesce where there is more heat, instead of releasing excess heat into outer space, the atmosphere just tends to keep more of the heat inside, and as more heat enters the Earth, the more greenhouse gases there are, the lesser heat would dissipate outside and even more would get trapped inside the earth, increasing the temperatures up to a third of a degree in Celsius every decade (Houghton, 2004). Instead of the usual slow increase in temperatures in the past tens of thousands of years, the rapid increase in atmospheric temperature could affect various ecosystems and human communities that would eventually inhibit adaptation not just by animals but by human settlers as well, especially in the developing countries (ibid.). Mass extinctions not just affect the balance of nature but also other systems that majorly affect, sustain and improve human life as well, such as great bodies of water, and land forms (Goldstein, 2009).

Although climate change will be very visible around the globe, it is assumed that not all effects would be negative. Droughts or floods may be prevalent in some areas of the globe, but some would have an increase in soil fertility, mainly due to the additional carbon dioxide levels. Another is that other places in the sub-Arctic, which is normally colder that most can tolerate, may become inhabitable due to increase in the temperatures (Houghton, 2004). Although it is apparent that the increase in CO2 levels as well as other greenhouse gases like CFC’s have drastically increased the temperatures on the surface of the planet faster than the previous tens of thousands of years, there are still some ways in which the adverse effects of global warming may be reversed (Goldstein, 2009).

Unfortunately, time is against the side of such a reversal, especially after scientists identified various points that would mean there would be no turning back from the effects of global warming (Leroux, 2005). The effect of increased temperatures in soils can hasten the release of greenhouse gases through bacterial action, which could add up to even more heat as well since instead of absorbing CO2 there is just an additional release (Goldstein, 2009). Reversing the process of adding greenhouse gases by adding more carbon-utilizing organisms like trees and algae, as well as the gradual decrease of the usage of fossil fuels may not be enough, since