Global Warming
When the temperature of our planet increases it means our planet is hot
and ill. The rise in our body is temperature called fever, when the happens to the
Earths atmosphere and oceans it is called global warming.
Every day, when the suns rays reach Earth, a group of gases called
greenhouse gases (water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide) trap a
part of the heat and keep our planet warm enough for us to survive. Absence of
the greenhouse gases would mean that Earth would be 30° colder-too cold for
most species. However, if the levels of these gases in the atmosphere increase,
they will absorb more heat, and make Earth too hot for us to live! Pollution,
razing forests, burning fossils fuels like coal and petrol, increases the level of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and this causes global warming.
Sings of climate change in the ice cores
Ice cores are cylinders of ice about six inches in diameter. They are
collected by drilling deep into the ice. Ice cores help scientists to diameter how
our Earths climate has changed. At the poles, snow gets accumulated; air bubbles
are trapped inside and preserved for millennia.
A study of these tiny bubbles of air trapped in ice, help scientists to
determine the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at the time
when the air bubbles trapped. This helps them to study Earth’s climate and its
atmospheric composition at various times in the past. By understanding how
Earth’s climate and temperature has changed in the future has changed in the
past, scientist are able to predict how and why our climate change in future. Data
collected from ice cores reveal that the temperature increase of the last century
has been the highest in thousands of years. It is estimated that by 2100the
average temperature of Earth will raise an additional1.5° to 5.8°C.
Since 1880 Earth has wormed up by 0.8°C.This increase in Earth’s
temperature has resulted in a rapid melting of ice in the Polar Regions, higher
sea levels, submergence of low lying island and coastal areas. Warming
temperature has also triggered climate changes and extinction of animal and
planet specials. If a rise of 0.8°C can have such alarming consequences, think for
ourselves what the future of mankind would be if we allow global warming to
continue at this pace.
1. Crawling traffic contributes eight times air pollution as traffic moving at
regular highway speed. 2. Over 46,000 pieces of plastic debris float on every square mile of the ocean.
3. Due to global warming any animals that hibernate like the squirrels and the
grizzly bear are waking up earlier than usual from their winter sleep.
4. Areas that absorb and retain a lot of carbon are called’’ sinks”.
5. Plants & trees are confused about seasons. Trees flowers earlier than usual and
leaves are shedding before its time!
6. Over the past fifty years, the trend of extraordinary warming has caused
several ice sheets to melt.
7. While global warming increases evaporation from oceans, leading to added
moisture in the atmosphere, it also draws moisture out of the soil leading to
increased desertification.
8. If two car drives shared a car they would reduce their overall pollution by
60percent.
9. By 2030, climate change and deforestation can either seriously damage a major
part of Amazon forest or wipe it altogether.
The difference we can make
1.An air conditioner(2.5tonne)used for an hour generates 3kg of CO2 .If we go
without air conditioning for an hour a day, the release of 3×365=1095kg of CO2
into the atmosphere per year, can be prevented.
2. Using a microwave oven for an hour generates1.3kg of CO2.If we eat food
without using our microwave to heat it, just for one hour a week, we can stop the
release of 1.3×52(numbers of weeks in a year)=67.6kg of CO2 into the
atmosphere per year.
3. Using a geyser for an hour generates 3.3kg of CO2.If we cut down the use of
the geyser by just one hour a day; we can stop the release of 3.3×365=1204.5kg of
CO2 into the atmosphere annually.
4. One dripping tap in a house wastes 13liters of water in a single day. Therefore
the wastage of water in a year=13×365=4745liters of water. On an average a
person who lets the tap run while brushing teeth wastes about 7liters of water. If 1.13 billion Indians (the estimated population as on March 2008) change this
habit. We coule save 1.13billion×7liters=7.91 billion liters of water, in just a day.
