Portfolio

GLOBAL WARMING 1

Global Warming

HSC3624-92333

Nirali Makwana

Polk State College

September 20, 2020

Global Warming and Greenhouse Effect

Global warming refers to an increase in the mean temperature of the atmosphere and water bodies. It (global warming) started occurring in different parts of the world early in the 1880s and 1890s. Since then, there has been a drastic increase in the Earth’s atmospheric temperatures. Several factors have been associated with increased global warming, and these elements are linked to modern civilization and industrialization. For instance, scientists have concluded that global warming is explicitly caused by higher amounts of greenhouse gases present in the atmosphere (MacMillan, 2016). These gases are released to the atmosphere as a result of industrialization and other activities like deforestation and the combustion of fossil fuels. As a result of several elements, the climate has been changing as of late. The abnormal amounts of environmental pollution and contamination of resources have been attributed to the changing climate drastically. As well, our advanced and industrialized lives have contributed to too much spoilage of water masses, plants, and other natural resources, causing climate change. The global warming effect is very adverse on productive agriculture due to reduced water sources and an increase in the atmospheric temperatures.

The fact that greenhouse gases are the main cause of global warming, it is worth noting that it is the outcome of the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is the process by which gases absorb and emit infrared radiation to extremely warm the Earth’s surface and atmosphere. The major greenhouse gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect include water vapor, ozone and methane gas, and carbon dioxide. In simpler terms, a greenhouse gas is any gas that can absorb infrared radiation or net heat energy, which is produced on the Earth’s surface (MacMillan, 2016). These greenhouse gases have a significant effect on a budget of energy production and the use of the Earth system regardless of the notion that it makes a small fraction of the atmospheric gases. Several factors are linked to the processes of influencing greenhouse gas concentrations. Some processes, like tectonic activities, can operate at timescales of a million years. On the other hand, other human activities and processes like soil, vegetation, ocean sources, and wetlands can operate at a timescale of a hundred years. Furthermore, human activities like fossil fuel combustion, which started during the Industrial Revolution, are deemed to increase the atmospheric concentrations steadily for various greenhouses gases and chlorofluorocarbons.

Water vapor is the very potent greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, and its behavior is critically different from that of other gases. The main role of water vapor is that it gives climate feedback as a response to influence the climate system’s continued activity. The difference between other greenhouse gases and water vapor is that it cannot be entirely modified by human behavior but instead the regulation of air temperatures. The increased temperatures on the Earth’s surface is said to increase the water evaporation rates from the surface. Therefore, when much water is evaporated into the atmosphere as water vapor, it becomes concentrated in the lower atmosphere causing the absorption of infrared radiation and then emission back to the Earth’s surface. Additionally, carbon dioxide is another greenhouse gas that is considered the most significant (Emissions & Change, 2017). The natural sources of carbon dioxide include natural and human activities like volcanoes, the respiration by aerobic organisms, and the combustion of organic matter. The sources of carbon dioxide are averagely linked to chemical, physical, and biological processes, and when the same processes are balanced in the atmosphere, they remove the gas from the atmosphere. The removers of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere are called sinks, and they include terrestrial vegetation that uses up carbon dioxide during photosynthesis.

To control global warming, human activities should be more focused on the conservation of the environment. Industrialization should also not lead to the emission of effective gases that are bad for the air in the atmosphere. For instance, embracing terrestrial vegetation leads to higher consumption of oxygen during photosynthesis to prevent the release of the greenhouse gas to the atmosphere. The abundance or concentration of greenhouse gases can be controlled by reducing the larger emissions (Emissions & Change, 2017). In the United States, the largest cause of heat-trapping pollution is the burning of fossil fuels to make electricity. As a result, billions of carbon dioxide is produced every year to the atmosphere, and as such, these coal-burning power plants are now the biggest air pollutants today. Additionally, the second largest pollution of carbon is the transportation sector generating about 1.7 billion tons of greenhouse gas each year.

Conclusively, America should be at the forefront of reducing global warming by reducing carbon pollution from power plants. Reduction of global warming should focus on the environmental protection and prevention of the global temperature. Deforestation should also be avoided at all costs in the countries associated with cutting down trees that consume much vapor instead of evaporating into the atmosphere. Deforestation also causes floods that combine all chemicals produced from industrial companies and then evaporate into the Earth’s atmosphere causing the greenhouse effect. In this regard, global warming is a matter of concern in today’s world.

References

Emissions, E. C. D., & Change, C. (2017). Overview of Greenhouse Gases. https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases

MacMillan, A. (2016). Global warming 101. Natural Resources Defense Council, 3.