Global warming, one of the greatest threats to life on earth, has been increasing with every passing day due to human activities. Global warming is a problem that will only get worse as the world becomes more populated. As people continue to consume more resources, the effects on the environment are only going to worsen.
Climate change caused by global warming has become a major problem across the globe and a cause of habitat destruction. Rising sea levels, melting glaciers, dying cloud forests, and scrambling wildlife are all taking place due to increasing global warming. However, global warming has been a trend for a long time, but its pace has increased significantly in the last hundred years.
It has become clearer that humans have caused most of this in the past few years due to the release of heat-trapping gases also known as greenhouse gases which are powering the modern lives. The diverse effects of global warming have made it essential for humans to think twice before polluting the environment and causing damage to the natural resources, especially fossil fuels.
What is Global Warming?
Global warming is essentially the rapid increase in Earth's temperature due to human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, mainly due to people burning fossil fuel for power generation. Although, the effects are significantly greater than merely increasing temperature. The effects of global warming are felt in the climate change, air quality, and the changes in the ecosystem. The major impact of global warming include ocean acidification, rise in sea levels, and species extinction. Therefore, it is vital to start taking serious action to prevent the impact of global warming.
Global warming has caused another adverse effect on the environment; climate change. The changing climate refers to longer seasons than usual caused due to changes in weather patterns around the world. Climate change is a serious threat to life. It is fueling melting of ice glaciers, causing a rise in sea levels, intensifying hurricanes, increasing droughts and heat waves, and changing patterns of precipitation.
What Causes Global Warming?
The main cause of global warming or climate change is man's interference with the natural cycles. It was also said that it is caused by the activities and habits of human beings. Thus, it is necessary for humans to do their part in preventing global warming. By doing one’s part, one can help the environment recover from the damage that global warming has brought into the ecosystem as well as the environment.
Global warming is caused mainly due to the overuse of fossil fuel to generate electricity and the release of carbon dioxide from burning them. There are also some effects of global warming that are lesser known but are still a cause of concern. As a matter of fact, the most well-known effects of global warming are its diverse effects on the environment. Also, global warming can even be termed as one of the major threats to the civilization.
Due to depletion of natural resources such as oil, coal, and gas, Earth is now facing serious environmental challenges. In fact, Earth is facing severe degradation of natural resources. The effects of global warming affect the Earth in different ways. It can affect natural resources such as air quality and the ecosystems. Therefore, there is a need to take serious action to prevent global warming from destroying the ecosystem and the environment.
The best way to protect the Earth is by preventing human interference in the natural environment. In fact, this is one of the easiest ways to save the environment. There are several steps that one can take for this purpose.
Future Effects of Global Warming
Global warming is predicted to have long lasting, long-term and, at times, even catastrophic effects on the environment. These effects are not affecting today’s environment but will efficiently destroy the environment for future generations due to its long lasting adverse effects. From increasing demand for energy, to growing necessity for development of countries, all are responsible for rising global warming across the globe.
The future effects include climate change, rising temperature of the earth, lengthening of frost-free seasons, changing precipitation patterns, increasing droughts and heat waves, stronger and more intense hurricanes, Arctic region becoming ice-free, and rising sea levels.
Apart from these, global warming will also contribute in reducing the food production of countries of the world. Therefore, people in developed countries will be forced to resort to importing food from other countries. It is also expected that the price of food will increase drastically. In addition to this, if the temperature increases, the number of crops will decrease. This is why, people must prepare themselves for the future and start protecting the environment now.
How to Reduce Global Warming?
It is important to limit the amount of carbon dioxide emissions into the air in order to keep global temperature from increasing to dangerous levels. Some of these measures include better energy efficiency in homes and offices, less coal burning, use of alternative sources of fuel, and using alternative sources for electricity.
To further combat global warming, it is important to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that are released into the atmosphere. This can be achieved by implementing carbon capture and storage technologies. Other methods include planting trees to absorb carbon dioxide, and installing greenhouses where crops are grown to grow plants that have lower carbon dioxide requirements.
One of the ways that the Earth can deal with this problem is to use clean renewable energy. Renewable energy is energy that does not emit greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere and does not harm the environment. This type of energy is created by using wind and solar power to create electricity. In the past, it was difficult to create an effective system that could create a large number of alternative power sources at the same time. But today, there are several alternative energy sources that provide clean renewable energy.
One of these is the sun. The use of photovoltaic cells, or panels, which convert light energy into electricity can be used to power a variety of electronic devices. Solar panels are an efficient way to use green energy. These types of panels collect solar energy in the form of photons, which they convert into electricity. This solar panels can be installed in homes or one can buy a kit and install the solar panel.
Hydroelectric dams are forms of energy that can be used. It is produced from water. The water is then stored and used to produce electricity. With the help of the dam's turbines and pumps, the water is then used to generate electricity.
Heat pumps can also be used to conserve energy. Heat pumps take hot water from one area to another and use the heat energy to provide hot water. Using a heat pump for one’s house will reduce the amount of money they have to pay for power bill. If one already has a heat pump, it will save enough money to just add a new one.
Nuclear energy is another solution. Nuclear energy is also known as the "cleanestrogen". Because nuclear energy is made from a different element than the regular source of energy, it cannot pollute the atmosphere.
Renewable energy is the major key that can solve the environmental problems caused due to global warming. However, renewable energy still is not adopted by most of the world and does not contribute enough to the global energy demand. In spite of numerous governmental initiatives in order to promote sustainable energy and rising awareness among people, renewable energy is not adopted as much it is required.
Conclusion
It is definitely better late than never, and individuals must therefore start working towards environmental conservation from today. Environmental conservation starts from a single household. If every individual pledges to adapt sustainable energy, conserve the environment, and grow more trees, it is possible to reduce global warming and save the earth. These efforts of reducing personal contribution to global warming are highly recommended to the growing population.
With the increasing global warming, it has become extremely vital to conserve environment for the future generations. Earth has around seven years left for saving the environment and preserving healthy habitat for the future. The rising sea levels, melting ice, increasing droughts, and changing climate are destroying the ecosystem of thousands of living species.
Humans are not far from experiencing food scarcity due to uneven precipitation patterns. The global COVID-19 pandemic is an eye-opener for the entire population. It has taught humans how terrible the environmental condition of the earth is.
There are various measures through which environment can still be recovered. Sustainable energy, afforestation and reduced pollution can do wonders to the earth’s environment.
Global warming is a serious issue that the human population needs to focus on. Every human activity that harms the environment can decrease years of habitat on the planet. Water shortage and scarcity of fresh air to breathe is not very far.
