Environment Awareness

Pollution and global warming are some off our biggest concerns. Global Warming is the progressive gradual rise of the earth's surface temperature thought to be responsible for changes in global climate patterns. It is an increase in the near surface temperature of the Earth. Global warming has occurred in the distant past as the result of natural influences, but now it is most often related to the warming expected to occur as a result of increased emissions of greenhouse gases.

One of the main causes of global warming is the green house effect. There are 4 steps in the Greenhouse effect process. The first is, sunlight radiates from the sun, through space, to the Earth’s atmosphere. The second is, sunlight enters the atmosphere and hits the Earth. Some of that sunlight turns into heat energy in the form of infrared light. Surrounding air and land, which in turn makes the heat warm, absorbs the heat. Third, the greenhouse gases trap infrared rays that are remitted into the atmosphere. Finally, the gas then absorbs the light and is remitted back to the Earth’s surface and warms it even more. This process occurs naturally and has kept the Earth's temperature about 59 degrees F warmer than it would otherwise be. Current life on Earth could not be sustained without the natural greenhouse effect. Greenhouse gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, halogenated fluorocarbons (HCFCs), ozone, perfluorinated carbons (PFCs), and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).

Effects of global warming include a rising sea level and changes in the amount and pattern of precipitation. These changes may raise the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as floods, droughts, heat waves, hurricanes, and tornados. Other penalties include higher or lower agricultural yields, glacier retreat, reduced summer stream flows, species extinctions and increases in the ranges of disease vectors. Warming is expected to affect the number and magnitude of these events; however, it is difficult to connect particular events to global warming. Although most studies focus on the period up to 2100, even if no further greenhouse gases were released after this date, warming (and sea level) would be expected to continue to rise for more than a millennium, since CO2 has a long average atmospheric lifetime.

We humans are the sole reason why this is happening. Why there is global warming and why it has become a misfortune that is hard to stop. It is like a growing epidemic that is needed to be stopped as soon as possible; before it eats the entire life-being of the planet. Through our daily activities greenhouse gases are released. Actions such as burning of fossil fuels, land clearing, and agriculture add on to the increasing amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. If we carry on with "business as usual" when it comes to the emission of greenhouse gases, then we will not have to wait till the end of the century to see disastrous consequences. Long before then, a combination of floods, droughts and famine will have destroyed states in many poorer parts of the earth. Thinking of the effects of global warming scares me because at the back of my mind, I can picture people in pain and struggling. What if these things happen in my lifetime, in your lifetime? I really have no idea what would it be like. I’m not even sure if I want to think about it. What scares me the most is the fact that there is a possibility of extinction and since we are inhabitants of this deteriorating planet, human extinction is not far to happen.