Causes and Impacts of Global Warming - Essay Example

? Global Warming; Causes, Impacts and the Way ahead The process of increase in the average temperature is generally termed as global warming. The consequences of global warming have been invariably predicted to be devastating. There are quite a number of studies which suggests the short term and long term impacts of global warming. These predictions are however turning out to be true as many of these impacts are evidently experienced by the common man these days. For instance, there have been notable variations in the climatic patterns all around the globe. The incidence of climatic disasters is becoming more and more frequent. Hurricanes, floods, drought etc are continuously occurring at different parts of the world. It has been Man induced changes in the environment has been causing changes atmosphere and the ecology, which is eventually leading to climate change and global warming. The objective of this easy is to analyse the causes and impacts of global warming. It has been estimated that the average temperature of the air near earth’s surface has risen by 1.3 Fahrenheit (Venkataramanan & Smitha, 2011). However, this does not mean that every corner of the earth experiences an increase in temperature. This increase in the average temperature of earth has given way to systemic changes in the physical systems of the earth. For instance, the rise in temperature is experienced most in the poles. The systemic effect that this causes is that the ice melts in the poles which cause further change in the climatic patterns and ecological patterns in other parts of the globe. The warming in the poles along with change in wind pattern would result in colder winters in continental Europe. Similarly, West Africa would receive more rains while central Africa won’t receive enough rain (Venkataramanan & Smitha, 2011). Thus the impacts global warming causes on different geographic zones are different and are generally referred to as climate change. The Causes There are several gases which accumulates in the atmosphere which creates a thermal reflect back effect. These gases are called green house gases and the effect is called green house effect. The most important causative of global warming is the accumulation of the green house gas, Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere. The most important source for this is fossil fuel emissions. Whenever a fossil fuel is burnt in form of fuel as in the case of cars, aero plane or industrial units, carbon dioxide is emitted to the atmosphere and it gets accumulated. The chart below represents the sector wise contribution of green house gas emissions. Fig 1: Sector wise contribution of green house gas emission Source(Venkataraman & Smitha, 2011) The natural form of reversal of this accumulation process is the vegetation which absorbs carbon dioxide as a source of energy. However, the indiscriminate human intervention with the green cover of the earth is hindering this natural process. Deforestation limits the scope of carbon emitted into the atmosphere being absorbed by plants. Thus the amount of carbon in the atmosphere keeps increasing causing the globe to be warmer. Moreover, when plants are destroyed and they decay, the carbon stored in them is released back into the atmosphere which aggregates the problem. There are natural systems which are called ‘carbon sinks’ which stores carbon for thousands of years. The chain of activities as explained above results in these carbon sinks to fail. If the carbon stored in these carbon sinks are released, it may result in detrimental effects on earth’s various systems. It has been found that oceans which are carbon sinks are failing in their capacity to store carbon (Venkataramanan & Smitha, 2011). This is resulting in ocean water to turn acidic. This would in turn mean that ocean life will largely be affected. It is the green life within the ocean that helps the ocean to store carbon (Barnett, et al. 2005). Thus this act like a chain reaction where in the ocean turns acidic and the plants in ocean die off leading to release of carbon. This ultimately turns sea more acidic. As Oceanic system fails to act as carbon sink, global warming further increases (Barnett, et al. 2005) When organic matter is decomposed under conditions where oxygen is unavailable, methane is released. Methane is a huge booster of global warming. When matter is decomposed underwater, as in the case of rice farming, large amount of methane is released. Landfills also release large amounts of methane into the air. Clatharates, which are frozen, form of methane and ice are found beneath the sea. As a result of the reciprocal impact of global warming on oceans, these frozen forms of methane get melted and are released into the water. Another alarming condition is that climate change induced changes in ocean currents may accelerate the breakdown of Clatharates resulting in rapid release of methane (Venkataramanan & Smitha, 2011). There has been acute increase in the use of chemicals in all spheres of life. The use of these chemicals directly or indirectly contributes to global warming. For instance, increased and indiscriminate use of nitrogen based chemical fertilizers in agriculture creates imbalance in the level of nitrogen in soil which in turn induces methane release. The impacts Global warming induces impacts on environment; ecology and human life are being increasingly reported. It is very evident that the sea levels are increasing. This is not only affecting the coast and the coastal setting but it is largely affecting the marine life as well. It has been proved that the sea levels are rising due to the expansion of water molecules due to increased temperature. Interestingly, the impacts of global warming are very closely interconnected and have reciprocal effect. For instance, global warming causes melting in poles and this adds more water into the sea causing increase in sea level (Barnett, et al. 2005). In addition to this climate change induced by global warming is changing the precipitation pattern. This in turn is increasing the frequency and impact of weather events. An analysis of records on incurrence of extreme weather events like hurricanes, floods, droughts etc clearly indicates that these are directly or indirectly caused by global warming (Venkataramanan & Smitha, 2011). It has been globally reported that agricultural productivity has gone down drastically. It is for the reason that global warming sets forth adverse climatic settings for agriculture. The ecological requirements various species are also being deterred by the impacts of global warming. Several habitats are being unsuitable for several species. This is resulting in extinction of species (Root, et al. 2003). Outspread of diseases is also being resulted do changes in climate. The diseases which were largely managed and controlled have been reported to appear back. Human beings are forced to expose to extreme climates caused by global warming. The quality of air, water and food has largely changed due the direct and indirect impacts of global warming. Interestingly, human efforts to cope to the changed weather conditions are further contributing towards global warming. For instance, air conditioners became very common in areas where there had been increase in average temperatures. However, air conditioners are reported to cause emissions which causes global warming. Similarly, unsustainable approaches towards adjusting to a warmer globe are contributing further towards global warming. Thus a very sustainable approach towards managing the impacts of global warming is required. Global Warming-the way forward As being the most important contributor for global warming, the use of fossil fuel must be done in a sustainable way. There must be awareness among public to optimize their energy use. An ethical approach towards the use of air conditioners and other green house gas emitting sources must be followed. Constructions must involve provisions to tap maximum of natural energy. For example, a building with provisions to have natural cooling and harvest solar energy will automatically reduce its energy consumption. Such green construction technologies are increasing gaining popularity. There must be standardization in energy consuming equipments and also in green gas emitting equipments. Forestation measures must be taken up as public policies. Education on impacts of global warming and its management must be carried out extensively. Green travel options must be promoted and people must be oriented to increasingly access public transport. References (APA format) Barnett, T. P. et al (2005) Penetration of human-induced warming into the world’s oceans. Science 309, 284–-287 Root, T. L. et al. (2003). Fingerprints of global warming on wild animals and plants. Nature, 421, 57–-60 Venkataramanan. M & Smitha (2011). Causes and effects of global warming. Indian Journal of Science and Technology 4 (3) Read More