Global Warming: Past, Present and Future
Earth is a beautiful place to live and it has been the home for many creations of nature from the day it was evolved. But this fairy tale is close to the point of degradation due to many human activities. In this age of globalization and industrialization, many problems are being created by the most intelligent living thing, called “human beings”. Every day the earth is warming up and glaciers are melting increasing the sea level and climate is being more unstable. All these can be summarized under two words: Climate Change. Where will you live if earth is covered with water? This sounds scary but it is the reality and someday we may be surrounded by the water if we do not start to think what we’ve been doing lately.
The global warming is heavily debated subject by many countries in different conventions. The climate of the earth is changing day by day, month by month and year by year. This has created various problems including increase in the sea level, instability in the climates and ecosystem of the earth. Global warming literally means an increase in the temperature of the earth due to global pollution. The nature where we live is being polluted. Many green house gases like chlorofluro carbon, sulphurdioxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide are mixing in the air. Most of these gases are emitted into the atmosphere by vehicles and industries. The gases which cause global warming global warming are greenhouse gases. Water vapor also comes under the greenhouse gases. Population growth has been to peak during current years. To fulfill the basic needs of increasing of increasing population, more industries are being built up. Since the starting of industrialization, global warming has been the main concern. Vehicles are increasing on the roads which could exhaust greenhouse gases. Deforestation is also the main problem for the current environment. Man lives in this nature, but he is the danger for nature. Many human activities cause the adverse effects in the nature.
The most discouraging effect of the global warming is increase in the temperature of the earth resulting in the change of climate. “Globally averaged surface temperatures have increased by about 0.7 degrees Celsius over the twentieth century” . Due to this increase in the global temperature many glaciers and ice peaks are melting and the sea level is increasing. James Gravy has stated in his book “The Ethics of Climate Change” that:
“The average sea level has risen by an annual rate of nearly 2mm since 1960, with the rate increasing to about 3mm per year between 1993 and 2003. The general increase is partly due to thermal expansion…………….It might not seem like much of an increase to you, but if you think about the vastness of the Earth’s oceans, and the volume of water required to make noticeable dent in them, it’s actually an enormous change”.
This might lead to many consequences like flooding in the coastal areas, soil erosion and other problems related to water and coastal habitats.
There are various other problems created by global warming. The ozone in the stratosphere is depleting due to green house gases and many harmful rays such as ultraviolet and infrared are passing through it. These harmful rays can be very dangerous to all the animals and vegetation in the earth which may result in the loss of various components of ecosystem. “Scientists estimated that the water vapor in the supersonic transports contrails would reduce stratospheric ozone by 3.8 percent”
The cause of the unstable climate is also global warming. Many industrial cities are suffering from unpredictable climate change. The temperature is increasing resulting in the increase of the length of summer days. Can anyone imagine about snow in late April? Well, you do not have to go somewhere else to find this example. This happens in Bemidji. This is due to climate instability. The threat of flood in Fargo and Moorhead is also due to the unpredictable melting of snow accumulated during winter.
Global warming has become one of the major social and political issues. Many organizations are developing various programs to stop this danger. Most of the countries have signed the Kyoto Protocol aimed to control the global warming by reducing the production of greenhouse gases. But there are many questions arising in everyone’s mind about its implementation. All countries should be united to solve this global problem.
There are some solutions to reduce the global pollution. To solve any big problem like global warming there should be planning and these plans should be carried in the mainstream. The most discussed topic in present era to reduce the pollution is the clean coal technology. It can reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and help the environment to be less polluted. This technology is highly debated during the 2008 election and Obama government has always supported it. According to his plan, the clean energy technology will decrease the pollution, create millions of job and help to decrease the global pollution.
The other solution can be the afforestation. The forests near the residential area are reducing due to the increase of population. .com shows that more than twenty percent of the Amazon rainforest is already destroyed and these activities are not stopped yet.
If we keep polluting our environment, one day our own existence will be in danger. There will be poverty and starvation all around the world. Global warming will create many problems such as flooding, erosion and other problems in our health. There will be changes in the climate and we will have to face many hot days. We will not be able to predict the climate and there will be dramatic changes in the seasons. This situation is gradually creeping to our door. I think no one else but we, humans are responsible for this.
Although it does not seem a big problem to most people, we all should know that it can create many more problems than what we have expected. Some of the effects of global warming are already seen in ozone hole, Antarctica and North Pole. So we all should be together to solve this global problem. Developed countries should help developing ones to get rid of global warming. Many assigned duties should be filled by organizations.
Bibliography:
Abarbanel, Albert, and Thomas McCluskey (1950). "Is the World Getting Warmer?" Saturday Evening Post, 1 July, pp. 22-23, 57-63.
Abbot, Charles G., and F.E. Fowle, Jr. (1908). "Income and Outgo of Heat from the Earth, and the Dependence of Its Temperature Thereon." Annals of the Astrophysical Observatory (Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC) 2: 159-176.
Abbot, Charles G., and F.E. Fowle, Jr. (1913). "Volcanoes and Climate." Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 60(29): 1-24.
Abbot, Charles G. (1967). "Precipitation in Five Continents." Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections151(5).
Abelmann, Andrea, et al. (2006). "Extensive Phytoplankton Blooms in the Atlantic Sector of the Glacial Southern Ocean." Paleoceanography 21: PA1013 [doi: 10.1029/2005PA001199, 2006].
