what is Global Warming? What are its effects to our community? How can we help?
Let’s find out how we can get answer to these questions.
Introduction:
What is Global Warming? What does global warming can do to our lives? was it really Harmless? Is there anything we can do or how we can help?? These are the following questions I heared from the day I started to investigate on how much people know about global warming. I also learned that these global warming are causes of heat and light that came from the sun and when it enters the atmosphere of the earth these heat and light will be trapped by the greenhouse gasses and its effect, the earth becomes so warmer.
In this study we will be able to distinguish the causes and effects of Global warming to human, animals, plants, and other living organism. With this research we will also be able to know how big we can help preventing and getting some information to minimize its effect in our society. This study will also serve as the turning point to each one of us to realize how this Global warming and its component can affect our daily living and to the coming generations. Let us read the content carefully with heart, for this study were being dedicated to you and to all the people who gets less information about Global warming.
What is Global warming?
Global warming is when the earth heats up (the temperature rises). It happens when greenhouse gasses (Carbon dioxide, water vapor, nitrous oxide and methane) trap heat and light from the sun in the earth’s atmosphere, which increases the temperature. This harms many people, animals, and plants. Many organisms cannot take the changes, so they die.
What is greenhouse effect?
The Greenhouse effect is when the temperature rises because the sun’s heat and lights trapped in the earth’s atmosphere.
Example:
On a very hot day, the car gets hotter when its out in the parking lot (when heat trapped in the car), this is because the heat and light from the sun can get into the car, by going through the windows, but it can’t get back out.
This is what the greenhouse effect does to the earth. The heat and the light can get through the atmosphere, but it can’t get out. As the result, the temperature rises. The sun’s heat can get into the car through the windows but is then trapped. This makes what ever the places might be, a greenhouse, a car, a building, or the earth’s atmosphere, hotter.
Sometimes the temperature can change in a way that helps us. The greenhouse effect makes the earth appropriate for people to live on. Without it, the earth would be freezing, or on the other hand it would be down. We would not get the sun’s heat and light to make the night some what warm. During the day, especially during the summer, it would be burning because the sun would be up with no atmosphere to filter it, so people, plants, and animals would be exposed to all the light and heat.
Although the greenhouse effect makes the earth able to have people living on it, if there gets to be too many gasses, the earth can get unusually warmer, and many plants, animals, and people will die. They will die because there will be less food (plants like corn, wheat, and other vegetable and fruits). This would cause us to have less food to eat, but it would also limit the foods that animals have. With the less food, like grass, for the animals that we need to survive (like cows, hog, etc.) we would even have less food. Gradually, people, animals, and plants would all die of hunger.
What are greenhouse gasses?
Greenhouse gasses are gasses are in the earth’s atmosphere that collects heat and light from the sun. With too many greenhouse gasses in the air, the earth’s atmosphere will trap too much heat and the earth will get too hot. As the result people, animals and plants would die because the heat would be too strong.
What is global warming doing to the environment?
Global warming is affecting many parts of the world. Global warming makes the sea level rise, and when the sea rises, the water covers many low land islands. This is a big problem for many living organisms on the island. The water covers the plants and causes some of them die. When they die, the animals lose a source of food, along with their habitat. Although animals have a better ability to adapt to what happens than plants do, they may die also. When both animals and plants die, the people lose two sources of food, plant food and animal food. They may also lose their homes. As a result, they would also have to leave the area or die. This would be called a break in the food chain, or a chain reaction, one thing happening that leads to another and so on.
Global warming is doing many things to people as well as to animals and plants. It is killing algae, but it also destroying much huge forest. The pollution that causes global warming is linked to acid rain. Acid rain gradually destroys almost everything it touches. Global warming is also causing many more fires that wipe out whole forest. This happens because global warming can make the earth very hot. In forest, some plants and trees leaves can be so dry that they catch on fire.
What causes global warming?
Many things cause global warming. One thing that causes global warming is electrical pollution. Electricity causes pollution in many ways, some worse than other. In most cases, fossil fuels are burned to create electricity. Fossil fuels are made up of dead animals and plants. Some examples of fossil fuels are oil and petroleum. Many pollutants (chemicals that pollute the air, water, and land.) are sent into the air when fossil fuels are burned. Some of these chemicals are called greenhouse gasses.
We use these sources of energy much more than the sources that give off less pollution. Petroleum, one of the sources of energy, is used a lot. It is used for transportation, making electricity, and making many other things. Although this source of energy gives off a lot of pollution, it is used for 38% of the United State’s energy and 54% of Arab country’s energy.
Some other examples of using energy and polluting the air are:
Turning on a light
Watching television
Listening to a radio
Washing or drying clothes
Using a hair dryer
Riding in a car
Heating a meal in the microwave
Using air conditioner
Using a dish washer
Playing a video games
When you do these things, you are causing more greenhouse gasses to be sent into the air. Greenhouse gasses are sent into the air because creating the electricity you use to do these things causes pollution. If you think of how many times a day you do these things, that turns out to be a lot of pollutant going into the air a day because people like us using electricity. The least amount of electricity you use, the better.
Another example that increases the greenhouse gasses sent into the air are:
Our garbage. Remember that the garbage that we throw everyday sometimes is being burned especially when our garbage has reached to landfills.
Deforestation, or when people cut down trees. Trees and other plants collect carbon dioxide (CO2), which is a greenhouse gas. Carbon dioxide is the air that our body exhales when we breathe. With fewer trees, it is harder for people to breath because there is more CO2 in the air, and we don’t breath CO2, we breath oxygen. This gas collects light and heat (radiant energy), produced by the sun, and this makes the earth warmer. The heat and light from the sun is produced in the center of the sun. (The sun has layers just like the earth.)
What are people doing to stop global warming?
People are doing many things to try to stop global warming. One thing people are doing is carpooling. Carpooling is driving with someone to a place that you are both going to. This minimizes the amount of greenhouse gases put into the air by the car.
Another ting that people are doing is being more careful about leaving things turned on like the television, computer, and the lights. A lot of people are taking time away from the television, and instead, they are spending more time outdoors. This helps out our planet a lot. Now, more people are even riding buses, walking to school, and riding their bikes to lower the amount of greenhouse gases in the air. Planting trees and recycling also helps. If you recycle, less trash goes to the dump, and less trash gets burned. As a result, there are fewer greenhouse gases in our atmosphere.
Watch what you buy. Many things, such as hairspray and deodorant, now are made to have less of an impact on the atmosphere. Less greenhouse gases will rise into the air, and global warming will slow down.
What is the government doing to stop global warming?
The government is doing many things to help stop global warming. The government made a law called The Clean Air Act so there is less air pollution. Global warming is making people get very bad illnesses that could make them disabled, very sick, and sometimes even die. The Clean Air Act is making many companies change their products to decrease this problem. Part of the law says that you may not put a certain amount of pollutants in the air. Hairspray and some other products, like foam cups, had this problem. Making and using these products let out too much volatile organic compounds (VOC’s), ozone-destroying chemicals (chlorofluorocarbons or CFC’s), and related products have label on them telling people what this product can do to the environment and many people. By 2015 all products listed on the Clean Air Act will have this label on them:
Almost all of the other chemicals that could be harmful will have this label on them hopefully by this time (2015) as well.
The Clean Air Act has also made car companies change some of the things inside of the cars. Cars pollute a lot. While cars make more than half of the world’s smog (visible pollution in the air), many things that car needs to move and heat up make even more pollution. Some things that are inside of cars, buses, trucks, and motorcycles, like gasoline, pollute the air when the fuel is burned. It comes out as a chemical and when mixed in the air, forms smog. Smog is a kind of pollution that you see in the form of a cloud. If you have ever been to California you can see a lot of smog in some places. Sometimes the smog gets so bad that you cannot see at all! Smog forms when the car exhaust, pollution from homes, pollution from factories mixes in the air and has a chemical reaction. The sun’s heat and light add to the reaction.
Cars, buses, and trucks are also responsible for over 50% of the dangerous chemicals let into the air. Some of these chemicals can cause cancer, birth defects, trouble breathing, brain and nerve damage, lung injuries, and burning eyes. Some of the pollutants are so harmful that they can even cause death.
What are some of the other dangerous chemicals?
Some other chemicals that cause air pollution and are bad for the environment and people are:
• Ozone- Ozone is a produced when other pollution chemicals combine. It is the basic element of smog. It causes many different kinds of health issues dealing with the lungs. Nit can damage plants and limit sight. It can also cause a lot of property damage.
• VOC’s (volatile organic compounds, smog formers) - VOC’s are let into the air when fuel is burned. This chemical can cause cancer. It can also harm plants.
• NOx (nitrogen dioxide) – This chemical forms smog. It is also formed by burning sources of energy, like gas, coal, and oil, and by cars. This chemical causes problems in the respiratory system (including the lungs), it causes acid rain, and it can damage trees. This chemical can eat away buildings and statues.
• CO (carbon monoxide) - The source of this chemical is burning sources of energy. It causes blood vessel problems and respiratory failures.
• PM-10 (particulate matter) - The source of this chemical is plowing and burning down fields. It can cause death and lung damage. It can make it hard for people to breathe. The smoke, soot, ash, and dust formed by this chemical can make many cities dirty.
• Sulfur Dioxide- This chemical is produced by making paper and metals. This chemical can cause permanent lung damage. It can cause acid rains which kills trees and damages buildings and statues.
• Lead- This chemical is in paint, leaded gasoline, smelters, and in lead storage batteries. It can cause brain and nerve damages and digestive problems.
Reaction:
Although we do many things to help stop global warming, we can do as much. We can’t do hard things like making a law, but we can do easier things like not watching as much TV like the usual. You can listen to our law makers and support the programs they had made or they will be making. It’s for our own good and I believe as a simple individual can do better things to save the earth. Listening to them and actually trying to help can help us, our environment, and the world.
Note:
Some of the articles were taken from the following book:
“Environment Global Warming and Greenhouse Effect.” World almanac 2000. Mahwah: World Almanac books, 2000.
EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency) book.
National Geographic New! Volume 8. June 2001 ( news)
Power Scorecard. Electricity and the Environment
EPA: The plain English guide to the Clean Air Act. January 2002
“SUN.” World Book Encyclopedia, 1978.
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