1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 DEFINITION OF GLOBAL WARMING
We always hear about global warming. But the question is, what exactly is global warming? As we know, global warming come from two words. 'Global' can be defined as affecting or including the whole world or in the same word is universal. Second definition for global is considering all the parts of a problem or situation together. The word ‘warming’ also can be defined with two ways. Warming is making you feel pleasantly warm. Second definition for warming is an increasing in the temperature of something.
While, WEBSTER'S NEW TWENTIETH CENTURY DICTIONARY defined the meaning of global warming as global means spherical or globe shaped.
second definition for global is involving the Earth as a whole or world wide.
The word warming is having or giving off a moderate degree of heat; as, warm iron, warm weather or can be defined as giving off heat. Warming also means having the natural heat of living beings said of the body, blood, etc and also thrashing.
In LONGMAN DICTIONARY, global warming is a general increase in world temperatures caused by increase amounts of carbon dioxide around the earth.
In Geography context, global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the earth near surface air and oceans in recent decades and it’s projected continuation.
From the four sources that defined the meanings of global warming, we can conclude that, global warming is the increase temperature of the earth caused by a lot of causes due to human or earth’s physically activities which is making our earth temperature warmer than before.
2.0 THE CAUSES OF GLOBAL WARMING
The first cause of global warming is due to Greenhouse effect. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere act like a mirror and reflect back to Earth. Without the atmosphere, part of the heat radiation will be lost to space. The higher the concentration of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide in atmosphere, the more heat energy is being reflected back to the Earth. The
emission of carbon dioxide into the environment mainly from burning of fossil fuels (oil, gas, petrol, kerosene) will heat up earth.
The second cause is due to by the human activities which will increase the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. One of the main example of human activities is the burning of coal to produce electricity. Electricity generated at power plants is carried by power lines to user. In the process, carbon dioxide and other pollutions is released to the surrounding.
Next, is due from the burning of gasoline by automobiles. Carbon monoxide emitted pollutes the air and contribute to global climate change. Evidence of air pollution due to traffic emission of Carbon monoxide gas are Mexico City, Beijing and London.
Nature such as, wolcanoes and solar variationis another cause of global warming. El-Nino and La Nina are examples of drastic climate change. Freak weather near the coast of northern Peru and Ecuador happens every few years. The surface of Pacific Ocean become warmer.
3.0 THE EFFECT OF GLOBAL WARMING
The windows of a greenhouse play the same role as the gases in the atmosphere, keeping some of the heat inside the greenhouse. The Earth is wrapped in a blanket of air called the 'atmosphere', which is made up of several layers of gases. The sun is much hotter than the Earth and it gives off rays of heat (radiation) that travel through the atmosphere and reach the Earth. The rays of the sun warm the Earth, and heat from the Earth then travels back into the atmosphere. The gases in the atmosphere stop some of the heat from escaping into space. These gases are called greenhouse gases and the natural process between the sun, the atmosphere and the Earth is called the 'Greenhouse Effect', because it works the same way as a greenhouse. With more heat trapped on Earth, the planet will become warmer, which means the weather all over Earth will change. For example, summers will get hotter, and winters too. This may seem a good idea, but the conditions we are living in are perfect for life, and a large rise in temperature could be terrible for us and for any other living thing on Earth. The effects of global warming on the environment and human life are numerous and varied.
The natural greenhouse effect.
The atmosphere has a number of gases, often in tiny amounts, which trap the heat given out by the Earth.To make sure that the Earth's temperature remains constant, the balance of these gases in the atmosphere must not be upset. The GREENHOUSE GASES are very important and are mainly:
• water vapour
occurs naturally in the atmosphere.
• carbon dioxide
produced naturally when people and animals breathe. Plants and trees absorb carbon dioxide to live. Volcanoes also produce this gas. Carbon dioxide is not the same as carbon monoxide.
• methane
comes from cattle as they digest their food. The gas also comes from fields where rice is grown in paddy fields.
• nitrous oxide
when plants die and rot, nitrous oxide is produced.
• ozone
occurs naturally in the atmosphere.
The Weather
Global warming may be responsible in part for some trends in natural disasters such as extreme weather. Increasing temperature is likely to lead to increasing precipitation but the effects on storms are less clear. Extratropical storms partly depend on the temperature gradient, which is predicted to weaken in the northern hemisphere as the polar region warms more than the rest of the hemisphere. Storm strength leading to extreme weather is increasing, such as the power dissipation index of hurricane intensity. Hurricane power dissipation is highly correlated with temperature, reflecting global warming In Britain, winter and summer temperatures will increase and the weather will be warmer. In winter it may also rain more but in summer it may become drier. In other parts of the world, the effects will be different, some places will become drier and others will be wetter. Although most areas will be warmer, some areas will become cooler. There may be many storms, floods and drought, but we do not know which areas of the world will be affected. All over the world, these weather changes will affect the kind of crop that can be grown. Plants, animals and even people may find it difficult to survive in different conditions.
Sea Levels
Higher temperatures will make the water of the seas and oceans expand. When many people think of global warming, their first concern is the possible rise of sea levels. With a large number of the world's cities in coastal areas, this is a significant problem. There are two major causes of rising sea levels. First, extra water is produced when ice melts. Ice melting in the Antarctic and Greenland will flow into the sea. All over the world, sea levels may rise, perhaps by as much as 20 to 40 cm, by the beginning of the next century. Secondly, the natural expansion of sea water as it becomes warmer. The range of sea ice around both poles continues to shrink, as it melts. Even with the level of greenhouse gases present today, the earth may warm enough in the next 50 years or so to completely melt the sea ice located on the poles.Higher sea levels will threaten the low-lying coastal areas of the world, such as the Netherlands and Bangladesh. Throughout the world, millions of people and areas of land will be at danger from flooding. Many people will have to leave their homes and large areas of farmland will be ruined because of floods. In Britain, East Anglia and the Thames estuary will be at risk from the rising sea.
Economic and Social
Most of the effects of anthropogenic global warming won’t be good. And these effects spell one thing for the countries of the world: economic consequences. Hurricanes cause do billions of dollars in damage, diseases cost money to treat and control and conflicts exacerbate. Global warming is big business. Some economists argue that a warmer climate could benefit certain crops and the farming communities. However, property insurers are predicting that worsening storms caused by global warming could eventually bankrupt the insurance industry. Insurance companies are now trying to form strategic alliances, and pool resources which could cover severe economic loss from climatic changes.
Many estimates of aggregate net economic benefits and costs from climate change across the globe have been published. One metric, the social cost of carbon (SCC), expressed in terms of future net benefits and costs that are discounted to the present, has been estimated. Peer-reviewed estimates of the SCC for 2005 have an average value of US$43 per tonne of carbon (tC) (i.e.,US$12 per tonne of carbon dioxide) but the range around this mean is large. For example, in a survey of 100 estimates, the values ran from US$-10 per tonne of carbon (US$-3 per tonne of carbon dioxide) up to US$350/tC (US$95 per tonne of carbon dioxide.) In addition, the costs to implement a worldwide plan to cut the production of CO2 and other gases which contribute to global warming would cost approximately 3 percent of the World's total GDP. However, there is a dispute whether the industrialized world should be responsible for the main economic contributions to clean up this planet. It is important to realize that many less industrialized nations are unable to afford actions to prevent an increase in CO2, and the fact that they have no incentive to reduce the carbon emissions that cause the "greenhouse" effect. Several less industrialized nations argue that the developed world was allowed to use of the nature in creating welfare, and that it is now morally right for them to do the same.
Ecosystems
Unchecked global warming could affect most terrestrial ecoregions. Increasing global temperature means that ecosystems will change; some species are being forced out of their habitats (possibly to extinction) because of changing conditions, while others are flourishing. Secondary effects of global warming, such as lessened snow cover, rising sea levels, and weather changes, may influence not only human activities but also the ecosystem. The global temperatures predicted for the coming centuries may trigger a new ‘mass extinction event’, where over 50 per cent of animal and plant species would be wiped out. Many of the species at risk are Arctic and Antarctic fauna such as polar bears and emperor penguins.. In the Arctic, the waters of Hudson Bay are ice-free for three weeks longer than they were thirty years ago, affecting polar bears, which prefer to hunt on sea ice. Species that rely on cold weather conditions such as gyrfalcons, and snowy owls that prey on lemmings that use the cold winter to their advantage may be hit hard.Many species of freshwater and saltwater plants and animals are dependent on glacier-fed waters to ensure a cold water habitat that they have adapted to. Some species of freshwater fish need cold water to survive and to reproduce, and this is especially true with Salmon and Cutthroat trout. Reduced glacier runoff can lead to insufficient stream flow to allow these species to thrive. Ocean krill, a cornerstone species, prefer cold water and are the primary food source for aquatic mammals such as the Blue whale. Alterations to the ocean currents, due to increased freshwater inputs from glacier melt, and the potential alterations to thermohaline circulation of the worlds oceans, may affect existing fisheries upon which humans depend as well. Many animals and plants may not be able to cope with these changes and could die. This could cause the loss of some animal and plant species in certain areas of the world or everywhere on Earth.
Forest
The huge dead forests provide a fire risk. Even many healthy forests appear to face an increased risk of forest fires because of warming climates. The 10-year average of boreal forest burned in North America, after several decades of around 10,000 km² (2.5 million acres), has increased steadily since 1970 to more than 28,000 km² (7 million acres) annually. Though this change may be due in part to changes in forest management practices, in the western U. S., since 1986, longer, warmer summers have resulted in a fourfold increase of major wildfires and a sixfold increase in the area of forest burned, compared to the period from 1970 to 1986. A similar increase in wildfire activity has been reported in Canada from 1920 to 1999. Forest fires in Indonesia have dramatically increased since 1997 as well. These fires are often actively started to clear forest for agriculture. They can set fire to the large peat bogs in the region and the CO2 released by these peat bog fires has been estimated, in an average year, to be 15% of the quantity of CO2 produced by fossil fuel combustion.
Health
The most direct effect of climate change on humans might be the impacts of hotter temperatures themselves. Extreme high temperatures increase the number of people who die on a given day for many reasons: people with heart problems are vulnerable because one's cardiovascular system must work harder to keep the body cool during hot weather, heat exhaustion, and some respiratory problems increase. Global warming could mean more cardiovascular diseases, doctors warn. Higher air temperature also increase the concentration of ozone at ground level. In the lower atmosphere, ozone is a harmful pollutant. It damages lung tissues and causes problems for people with asthma and other lung diseases. In the United States, more than 1000 people die from the cold each year, while twice that number die from the heat. Global warming may extend the favourable zones for vectors conveying infectious disease such as dengue fever and malaria. In poorer countries, this may simply lead to higher incidence of such diseases. In richer countries, where such diseases have been eliminated or kept in check by vaccination, draining swamps and using pesticides, the consequences may be felt more in economic than health terms.
4.0 SOLUTION OF GLOBAL WARMING
There are a few solutions to reduce global warming. We need to practise the 3R's - renew, reuse and recycle the energy.
Energy efficiency and new environmentally sound technologies are already exist. The latest report from the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirms that hundreds of technologies are now available at very low cost.
The technolgies can reduce the emissions of climate damaging gases. Government policies need to remove the barriers to these technologies. Implementing these solutions will enable people to usher in a new era of energy usage, one that will bring economic growth, new jobs, technological innovation and, most importantly environmental protection.
However, green solutions to global warming need to find a foothold in the market, governments and corporations. We need to shift away from polluting technology. In most industrial countries, conventional electricity is heavily subsidised. The negative environmental impacts of its production are not reflected in terms of cost to end-users. The time has come for us to end our addiction to fossil fuels and other climate damaging technologies.
Here you can discover how clean renewable energies. For example, harnessing wind, solar, bio-energy, hydro-electric and other sources can be combined to create a clean energy.
5.0 CONCLUSION
The bottom line is that the phenomenon of global warming is coming (if not already here). We have to figure out what we can do. Water rising will be a disaster, food will be affected and we have to be prepared for the impending catastrophies like Hurricane Katrina. It is going to hit everyone, not just the poor or the democrats or the catholics.
We're all in a heap of trouble and the sooner we accept this FACT the better. We should put serious effort to overcome the problems of our own doing. We must try our best to solve the problems and strive to reinstate balance on our earth for sake of our future generations.
1.1 DEFINITION OF GLOBAL WARMING
We always hear about global warming. But the question is, what exactly is global warming? As we know, global warming come from two words. 'Global' can be defined as affecting or including the whole world or in the same word is universal. Second definition for global is considering all the parts of a problem or situation together. The word ‘warming’ also can be defined with two ways. Warming is making you feel pleasantly warm. Second definition for warming is an increasing in the temperature of something.
While, WEBSTER'S NEW TWENTIETH CENTURY DICTIONARY defined the meaning of global warming as global means spherical or globe shaped.
second definition for global is involving the Earth as a whole or world wide.
The word warming is having or giving off a moderate degree of heat; as, warm iron, warm weather or can be defined as giving off heat. Warming also means having the natural heat of living beings said of the body, blood, etc and also thrashing.
In LONGMAN DICTIONARY, global warming is a general increase in world temperatures caused by increase amounts of carbon dioxide around the earth.
In Geography context, global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the earth near surface air and oceans in recent decades and it’s projected continuation.
From the four sources that defined the meanings of global warming, we can conclude that, global warming is the increase temperature of the earth caused by a lot of causes due to human or earth’s physically activities which is making our earth temperature warmer than before.
2.0 THE CAUSES OF GLOBAL WARMING
The first cause of global warming is due to Greenhouse effect. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere act like a mirror and reflect back to Earth. Without the atmosphere, part of the heat radiation will be lost to space. The higher the concentration of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide in atmosphere, the more heat energy is being reflected back to the Earth. The
emission of carbon dioxide into the environment mainly from burning of fossil fuels (oil, gas, petrol, kerosene) will heat up earth.
The second cause is due to by the human activities which will increase the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. One of the main example of human activities is the burning of coal to produce electricity. Electricity generated at power plants is carried by power lines to user. In the process, carbon dioxide and other pollutions is released to the surrounding.
Next, is due from the burning of gasoline by automobiles. Carbon monoxide emitted pollutes the air and contribute to global climate change. Evidence of air pollution due to traffic emission of Carbon monoxide gas are Mexico City, Beijing and London.
Nature such as, wolcanoes and solar variationis another cause of global warming. El-Nino and La Nina are examples of drastic climate change. Freak weather near the coast of northern Peru and Ecuador happens every few years. The surface of Pacific Ocean become warmer.
3.0 THE EFFECT OF GLOBAL WARMING
The windows of a greenhouse play the same role as the gases in the atmosphere, keeping some of the heat inside the greenhouse. The Earth is wrapped in a blanket of air called the 'atmosphere', which is made up of several layers of gases. The sun is much hotter than the Earth and it gives off rays of heat (radiation) that travel through the atmosphere and reach the Earth. The rays of the sun warm the Earth, and heat from the Earth then travels back into the atmosphere. The gases in the atmosphere stop some of the heat from escaping into space. These gases are called greenhouse gases and the natural process between the sun, the atmosphere and the Earth is called the 'Greenhouse Effect', because it works the same way as a greenhouse. With more heat trapped on Earth, the planet will become warmer, which means the weather all over Earth will change. For example, summers will get hotter, and winters too. This may seem a good idea, but the conditions we are living in are perfect for life, and a large rise in temperature could be terrible for us and for any other living thing on Earth. The effects of global warming on the environment and human life are numerous and varied.
The natural greenhouse effect.
The atmosphere has a number of gases, often in tiny amounts, which trap the heat given out by the Earth.To make sure that the Earth's temperature remains constant, the balance of these gases in the atmosphere must not be upset. The GREENHOUSE GASES are very important and are mainly:
• water vapour
occurs naturally in the atmosphere.
• carbon dioxide
produced naturally when people and animals breathe. Plants and trees absorb carbon dioxide to live. Volcanoes also produce this gas. Carbon dioxide is not the same as carbon monoxide.
• methane
comes from cattle as they digest their food. The gas also comes from fields where rice is grown in paddy fields.
• nitrous oxide
when plants die and rot, nitrous oxide is produced.
• ozone
occurs naturally in the atmosphere.
The Weather
Global warming may be responsible in part for some trends in natural disasters such as extreme weather. Increasing temperature is likely to lead to increasing precipitation but the effects on storms are less clear. Extratropical storms partly depend on the temperature gradient, which is predicted to weaken in the northern hemisphere as the polar region warms more than the rest of the hemisphere. Storm strength leading to extreme weather is increasing, such as the power dissipation index of hurricane intensity. Hurricane power dissipation is highly correlated with temperature, reflecting global warming In Britain, winter and summer temperatures will increase and the weather will be warmer. In winter it may also rain more but in summer it may become drier. In other parts of the world, the effects will be different, some places will become drier and others will be wetter. Although most areas will be warmer, some areas will become cooler. There may be many storms, floods and drought, but we do not know which areas of the world will be affected. All over the world, these weather changes will affect the kind of crop that can be grown. Plants, animals and even people may find it difficult to survive in different conditions.
Sea Levels
Higher temperatures will make the water of the seas and oceans expand. When many people think of global warming, their first concern is the possible rise of sea levels. With a large number of the world's cities in coastal areas, this is a significant problem. There are two major causes of rising sea levels. First, extra water is produced when ice melts. Ice melting in the Antarctic and Greenland will flow into the sea. All over the world, sea levels may rise, perhaps by as much as 20 to 40 cm, by the beginning of the next century. Secondly, the natural expansion of sea water as it becomes warmer. The range of sea ice around both poles continues to shrink, as it melts. Even with the level of greenhouse gases present today, the earth may warm enough in the next 50 years or so to completely melt the sea ice located on the poles.Higher sea levels will threaten the low-lying coastal areas of the world, such as the Netherlands and Bangladesh. Throughout the world, millions of people and areas of land will be at danger from flooding. Many people will have to leave their homes and large areas of farmland will be ruined because of floods. In Britain, East Anglia and the Thames estuary will be at risk from the rising sea.
Economic and Social
Most of the effects of anthropogenic global warming won’t be good. And these effects spell one thing for the countries of the world: economic consequences. Hurricanes cause do billions of dollars in damage, diseases cost money to treat and control and conflicts exacerbate. Global warming is big business. Some economists argue that a warmer climate could benefit certain crops and the farming communities. However, property insurers are predicting that worsening storms caused by global warming could eventually bankrupt the insurance industry. Insurance companies are now trying to form strategic alliances, and pool resources which could cover severe economic loss from climatic changes.
Many estimates of aggregate net economic benefits and costs from climate change across the globe have been published. One metric, the social cost of carbon (SCC), expressed in terms of future net benefits and costs that are discounted to the present, has been estimated. Peer-reviewed estimates of the SCC for 2005 have an average value of US$43 per tonne of carbon (tC) (i.e.,US$12 per tonne of carbon dioxide) but the range around this mean is large. For example, in a survey of 100 estimates, the values ran from US$-10 per tonne of carbon (US$-3 per tonne of carbon dioxide) up to US$350/tC (US$95 per tonne of carbon dioxide.) In addition, the costs to implement a worldwide plan to cut the production of CO2 and other gases which contribute to global warming would cost approximately 3 percent of the World's total GDP. However, there is a dispute whether the industrialized world should be responsible for the main economic contributions to clean up this planet. It is important to realize that many less industrialized nations are unable to afford actions to prevent an increase in CO2, and the fact that they have no incentive to reduce the carbon emissions that cause the "greenhouse" effect. Several less industrialized nations argue that the developed world was allowed to use of the nature in creating welfare, and that it is now morally right for them to do the same.
Ecosystems
Unchecked global warming could affect most terrestrial ecoregions. Increasing global temperature means that ecosystems will change; some species are being forced out of their habitats (possibly to extinction) because of changing conditions, while others are flourishing. Secondary effects of global warming, such as lessened snow cover, rising sea levels, and weather changes, may influence not only human activities but also the ecosystem. The global temperatures predicted for the coming centuries may trigger a new ‘mass extinction event’, where over 50 per cent of animal and plant species would be wiped out. Many of the species at risk are Arctic and Antarctic fauna such as polar bears and emperor penguins.. In the Arctic, the waters of Hudson Bay are ice-free for three weeks longer than they were thirty years ago, affecting polar bears, which prefer to hunt on sea ice. Species that rely on cold weather conditions such as gyrfalcons, and snowy owls that prey on lemmings that use the cold winter to their advantage may be hit hard.Many species of freshwater and saltwater plants and animals are dependent on glacier-fed waters to ensure a cold water habitat that they have adapted to. Some species of freshwater fish need cold water to survive and to reproduce, and this is especially true with Salmon and Cutthroat trout. Reduced glacier runoff can lead to insufficient stream flow to allow these species to thrive. Ocean krill, a cornerstone species, prefer cold water and are the primary food source for aquatic mammals such as the Blue whale. Alterations to the ocean currents, due to increased freshwater inputs from glacier melt, and the potential alterations to thermohaline circulation of the worlds oceans, may affect existing fisheries upon which humans depend as well. Many animals and plants may not be able to cope with these changes and could die. This could cause the loss of some animal and plant species in certain areas of the world or everywhere on Earth.
Forest
The huge dead forests provide a fire risk. Even many healthy forests appear to face an increased risk of forest fires because of warming climates. The 10-year average of boreal forest burned in North America, after several decades of around 10,000 km² (2.5 million acres), has increased steadily since 1970 to more than 28,000 km² (7 million acres) annually. Though this change may be due in part to changes in forest management practices, in the western U. S., since 1986, longer, warmer summers have resulted in a fourfold increase of major wildfires and a sixfold increase in the area of forest burned, compared to the period from 1970 to 1986. A similar increase in wildfire activity has been reported in Canada from 1920 to 1999. Forest fires in Indonesia have dramatically increased since 1997 as well. These fires are often actively started to clear forest for agriculture. They can set fire to the large peat bogs in the region and the CO2 released by these peat bog fires has been estimated, in an average year, to be 15% of the quantity of CO2 produced by fossil fuel combustion.
Health
The most direct effect of climate change on humans might be the impacts of hotter temperatures themselves. Extreme high temperatures increase the number of people who die on a given day for many reasons: people with heart problems are vulnerable because one's cardiovascular system must work harder to keep the body cool during hot weather, heat exhaustion, and some respiratory problems increase. Global warming could mean more cardiovascular diseases, doctors warn. Higher air temperature also increase the concentration of ozone at ground level. In the lower atmosphere, ozone is a harmful pollutant. It damages lung tissues and causes problems for people with asthma and other lung diseases. In the United States, more than 1000 people die from the cold each year, while twice that number die from the heat. Global warming may extend the favourable zones for vectors conveying infectious disease such as dengue fever and malaria. In poorer countries, this may simply lead to higher incidence of such diseases. In richer countries, where such diseases have been eliminated or kept in check by vaccination, draining swamps and using pesticides, the consequences may be felt more in economic than health terms.
4.0 SOLUTION OF GLOBAL WARMING
There are a few solutions to reduce global warming. We need to practise the 3R's - renew, reuse and recycle the energy.
Energy efficiency and new environmentally sound technologies are already exist. The latest report from the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirms that hundreds of technologies are now available at very low cost.
The technolgies can reduce the emissions of climate damaging gases. Government policies need to remove the barriers to these technologies. Implementing these solutions will enable people to usher in a new era of energy usage, one that will bring economic growth, new jobs, technological innovation and, most importantly environmental protection.
However, green solutions to global warming need to find a foothold in the market, governments and corporations. We need to shift away from polluting technology. In most industrial countries, conventional electricity is heavily subsidised. The negative environmental impacts of its production are not reflected in terms of cost to end-users. The time has come for us to end our addiction to fossil fuels and other climate damaging technologies.
Here you can discover how clean renewable energies. For example, harnessing wind, solar, bio-energy, hydro-electric and other sources can be combined to create a clean energy.
5.0 CONCLUSION
The bottom line is that the phenomenon of global warming is coming (if not already here). We have to figure out what we can do. Water rising will be a disaster, food will be affected and we have to be prepared for the impending catastrophies like Hurricane Katrina. It is going to hit everyone, not just the poor or the democrats or the catholics.
We're all in a heap of trouble and the sooner we accept this FACT the better. We should put serious effort to overcome the problems of our own doing. We must try our best to solve the problems and strive to reinstate balance on our earth for sake of our future generations.
