Global warming is the ‘global warning’ of the century. It is a major atmospheric issue all over the world. Global warming is the process of continues increase in the average temperature on Earth, including surface, oceans and atmosphere. However, the change of climate is a normal process of the Earth’s cycle. The issue that concerns scientists is that human activities accelerates the heating of our planet.
Our planet’s surface becomes hotter year by year by trapping the Sun’s light which causes an increase of the percentage of atmospheric carbon dioxide in the air. The energy is being absorbed mostly because of the greenhouse effect due to the high amount of greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere.
Starting from the second part of the nineteenth century scientists have started documenting the climate in general and average temperatures all over the world. Since then people are constantly arguing about the question is the climate change a myth or it is not. However, different researches show that 97 percent or more of actively publishing climate scientists agree: “climate-warming trends over the past century are extremely likely due to human activities” (Cook, 2016). The average temperature has risen by approximately one degree Celsius for the past hundred years, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). A such temperature shift may sound as a minor change, however, the increase has already caused numerous changes in planet’s look.
Scientific evidence for warming of the climate system is unequivocal. Global warming has dangerous implications for our planet. It is unbelievable how one degree can cause so many problems. For example, global sea became around 17 centimeters higher for the last hundred years, moreover, the last decade has even doubled the number century (Church and White, 2006). Rising sea levels threaten entire countries on low-lying islands in Oceania. The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have decreased in mass. According to the NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment research, Greenland is losing 36 to 60 cubic miles of ice per year. There is no doubt that “warming of the climate system is unequivocal” (Church and White, 2006).
Humans are responsible for the increase in CO2, which is the primary driver of global warming. Cars, factories, and power plants pump billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year. For the last three hundred years’ carbon dioxide levels have increased 35 percent, while temperatures have gone up between 0.6°C and 0.9°C, and the main reasons are our cars, factories, and power plants that pump billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year. By limiting carbon emissions (often thought of as the reason why there is global warming), the rate of warming can potentially be slowed down.
There are few solutions that might stop the heating of our planet. Fortunately, people have finally realized the fact that the planet is getting hotter and there is something wrong with the climate. One of the solutions is environmental technology which has significantly developed for the last 10 years and become imperative today. Water and air purification, environmental remediation, using renewable energy and energy conservation can truly reduce the consumption of energy and the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. The most current innovations such as transparent solar cells and induction charging cars became a breakthrough in sustainable development of the twenty first century. Another way is to strictly stop the deforestation process as well as replanting more plants. Even average citizens can help the climate by using public transport and bicycles instead of personal transport.
Despite the positive trend in environmental technology, scientific expectations are not positive at all. Even taking into consideration all the current green innovations, the Earth’s temperature will increase by another 1.1 to 6.5 degrees Celsius over the next hundred years (Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet, 2016). Most of people fail to realize that global warming can be reduced if each person makes a small contribution by a conscious decision to take small actions, which add up to huge results. Even one person can reduce the amount of carbon footprint the one leaves behind by choosing to make changes such as implementing carpooling, using recycling and buying local products. It is essential to act fast and implement the newly devised solutions rigidly otherwise it would be too late, and there will be no way to stop the increasing danger.
There is no doubt that sooner or later we will stop the increase of carbon dioxide, it is really never too late to start thinking about our planet.
Works cited:
Cook, J. (2016). Consensus on consensus: a synthesis of consensus estimates on human-caused global warming. Environ. Res. Lett., 11(4), p.048002.
Church, J. and White, N. (2006). A 20th century acceleration in global sea-level rise. Geophys. Res. Lett., 33(1)
Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet. (2016). Scientific consensus: Earth’s climate is warming. [online] Available at: http://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/ [Accessed 31 Jul. 2016].