Global warming, its causes, and workarounds

What is global warming?

Global warming in simple term means rise in the temperature of the earth. This is considered a potential issue by every continent that ultimately can lead to severe disasters for mankind. With the increase in temperature of the globe, there can be various types of natural calamities as predicted by many scientists.

What are the causes of global warming?

Emission of Carbon Dioxide

Global warming is believed to be caused mostly by human beings. Increase in the number of vehicles, power plants, etc. has led to increase in various harmful gases in the atmosphere. These gases are basically carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, and so on that are together known as green house gases. The emission of these gases have formed a layer at the upper part of the atmosphere that does not allow the scorching heat of the sun to transmit and therefore remains within the atmosphere of the earth. As a result the temperature of the earth is slowly increasing day by day.

One of the major sources of the green house gas, carbon dioxide, is the power plants operated in every country. With the burning of fossil fuels to generate electricity, these power plants emit maximum amount of carbon dioxide that forms the dangerous layer in the atmosphere. Besides, maximum use of vehicles results in the burning of gasoline that in turn forms carbon dioxide in huge volumes.

In addition, building of commercial and residential apartments is another major source of carbon dioxide that increases pollution in the atmosphere.

Emission of Methane

While carbon dioxide definitely is a major pollution in our environment, methane equally contributes to global warming. Bovine flatulence, rice paddies, and bacteria in bogs and fossil fuel manufacture produce large amount of methane that pollutes our environment and becomes a part of the upper part of the atmosphere. In most cases when fields are flooded, the important organic materials available in the soil decays easily. This also results in the emission of large amount of methane.

Emission of Nitrous Oxide

While carbon dioxide and methane are already destroying the atmosphere, nitrous oxide emitted due to production of nitric acid and nylon is an additional pollution causing global warming. Using catalytic convertors in cars, utilizing fertilizers in agriculture, and the burning of the organic materials are other key sources for production of Nitrous oxide.

Deforestation

Besides the above emissions that had majorly impacted the atmospheric conditions around us, deforestation plays a crucial role in increasing the global temperature.

How to fight global warming?

While the causes of global warming are becoming inevitable, we can do a lot at the same time to control the rise of the earth’s temperature. Many countries have come together to fight against this alarming issue and one such example is the Kyoto agreement where each of the participating countries has agreed to reduce emission of the green house gases as much as possible.

In addition, there can be several ways each one of us can help the earth from the rising temperature:

• Carpooling is considered to be a great step to reduce emission of the green house gases. All it means is to use cars in groups rather than each one driving a car and increasing the emission of the polluted gases. Using one car for a group of people is definitely a good step towards reducing the production of gases like carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.
• Most of us might be, although unintentionally, leaving the switches on for the fan, lights, TV, etc. This pools lots of electricity that in turns demands more production of energy. As mentioned earlier, to produce electricity, the power plants burn fossil fuels that results in production of carbon dioxide. Therefore, if we use electricity only as per the need, we can save lot of energy that will ultimately help in fighting global warming issue.
• Besides, every organization working towards combating this hazardous issue is focusing on plantation of trees in and around. There are various other organizations that are also keeping a watch to reduce deforestation. We can also contribute a lot to this noble work by planting trees in and around our localities.

All such approaches can definitely help the earth to maintain a healthy temperature and help every living organism to survive long. Global warming is not just as issue to know or understand; it is problem that demands attention of every individual to make necessary effort to fight global warming.