Since its formation earth has been subjected to numberless climate changes which in turn subjected her various populations and her various species to various catastrophes, sometimes working for their general welfare and sometimes their subsequent demise. These changes and their effects are the results of change of position of earth in her orbit, the change of seasons serve as the natural mark of this change. The climate of the planet changed on the whole depending on the distance between the planet and its star, the climate grows hotter on a planet as it moves closer to its sun when moving in its orbit. Humanity has known and understood this natural phenomenon but in the past century the increase of industrial waste and a number of other human made inventions begun to posit a factor. This factor is now on the imminent increase as the number of the sources increase with the increase in technological progress.
Causes
Global warming refers to the heating up of planet due to certain changes, the changes which concern humanity today are due to the actions of humanity itself. In the past hundred or so years the burning of fossils fuels increased with the increase in the rate of extraction. The burning of fossil fuels at a large scale leads to greenhouse effect which then subsequently results in global warming. The global warming of the past happened without any result of human activity but today the actions of humanity are evermore increasing the intensity of global warming. The intensity of natural process of greenhouse effect with the additional increasingly active actions of human beings leads to a greater increase in the global warming. The rate of global warming will continue to significantly increase as the rate of consumption of fossil fuels increases with the new industrial revolution. Even when these causes have been artificially mitigated the after effect of this prolonged period will continue to show its mark to the coming generation. This change brings with in certain deteriorative elements which further harm the environments; a decrease in rainfall, melting of ice in regions like Antarctica, land erosion et cetera.
Most of the sunlight coming from the external source that is; the sun is not reflected back to the deep space. The brighter objects on the earth surface reflect the sunlight back but most of it is absorbed by the water bodies or the atmosphere while the solid bodies of the deserts or the urban areas radiate this heat energy. Even due to the reflection process this energy is sent back in the direction of its origin which is the sky and is gradually absorbed by water present in the atmosphere or in the clouds, the remaining energy will eventually come in contact with gases such as carbon dioxide CO2 and methane CH4 which are known as greenhouse gases. The particles that is; the molecules which constitute such gases will heat up further and as they heat up by billions a radiation effect is induced which gradually heats up the atmosphere, this heat will again come back towards the earth surface (as it goes in all directions from the source) thereby heating it to higher degrees.
Effects
Environmental scientists and other people working in fields which concern the welfare of general environment that is; the part of the planet which promotes the human well-being, have made extensive studies regarding the effects of human activity and the industrial revolution on the degrees on global warming. By the result of deforestation the level of absorption of carbon dioxide by trees is significantly decreased; furthermore: the burning of fossil fuels since the discovery of the process the levels of both carbon dioxide and methane have increased rather highly and continue to do so.
The earth of 21st century contains in her atmosphere higher levels of afore mentioned gas molecules as more and more of the radiated energy continues to be absorbed by the atmosphere at higher and higher levels. By the increase of these events and increase in their propagation the planet itself is becoming a large greenhouse.
By examining and then analyzing information collected by the scientists in their studies of causes and effects of climate change and global warming of the past, they have found periods and ages which remained warmer than warmest periods of this age. These periods persisted even in the ice ages of the prehistoric past. The same studies have come to make the threatening observation about the ever increasing effects and the artificial causes of global warming.
The same studies above mentioned have proved and revealed to general public the statistic observed in the global warming events of earth’s history stretching back to about 2 million years. These statistics suggest that total temperature of the planet was increased 5 degrees and the amount of time the earth took to heat up 5 degrees was 5 thousand years. The current studies of the same statistic suggest that if the human activities which affect the planet on the whole continue in conformity with natural phenomenon the planet by the end of the current century will have heated up to 5 degrees. In contrast, the current rate of global warming, catalyzed by human behavior, will have increased 20 percent in the coming 78 years.
Human made satellites above the planet study and make records of certain elements which promote global warming whether these elements be the cause of natural or artificial means. These elements consist of certain events which play out on average including industrial bi-products, forest fires and volcanic eruptions, the above mentioned atmospheric greenhouse gases, the radiated energy which is the cause of afore described events et cetera and more nation-wide studies of many observatories point towards the same end: the rate of global warming is on an abnormal increase.
Scientists arrive at these measurements by statistically analyzing the information collected by these measurements. These studies suggest that in the past three centuries the rate of global warming was increased by changes in the behavior of the sun (referring to the intensity which either increase or decreases) which is further termed solar variability; with respect to the harmful particles raised to the atmosphere during violent volcanic eruptions. These events increased the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere therewith increasing the degree of global warming. This increase is easily outdone by the increase caused by human activity after the industrial revolution. By the end of the previous century two large scale volcanic eruptions filled the atmosphere with sulfur dioxide. The gas whilst residing in the earth’s atmosphere shaded the earth from sunlight for over three years. However, the amount of co2 and sulfur dioxide released by these volcanoes is smaller in comparison with emission of such gases caused by human activity. Per year between 130 million to 230 million ton of carbon dioxide and other gases are thrown off into the atmosphere but human activity makes these figures appear infinitesimally small. By burning the fossil fuels about 25 to 26 billion ton of carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere which is a hundred times more than is emitted by volcanoes each year.
Conclusion
It has becoming obvious by the studies done by professionals of their respective fields that the increasing rate of global warming is the sole cause of human activity; that by burning fossil fuels and deforestation human beings have considerably harmed the well-being of the planet on the grandest scale and so continue in their work. These facts should serve to raise the individual consciousness of each individual so that up-coming generations may not be severely harmed by the calamities thus raised and so that the human race may minimize the evils of this inhibitor in its propagation.
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