Global warming and global changes

Today the world faces and unprecedented level of changes in the global environment. For the last several decades people’s activities around the globe have been undermining the fundamental life-support systems. Conservation of the global environment is a challenge of all people in all countries of the world.

Over the past 30 years the number of extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, storms and heat waves has trebled world wide.

These dramatic changes have also caused the sea levels to rise, threatened wildlife, reduced the amount of safe drinking water and increased the spread of disease.

Global Warming is sometimes referred to as the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is the absorption of energy radiated from the Earth’s surface by carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere, causing the atmosphere to become warmer. Each time we burn gasoline, oil, coal, or even natural gas, more carbon dioxide is added to the atmosphere. The greenhouse effect is what is causing the temperature on the Earth to rise , and creating many problems that will begin to take place in the coming decades.

Today, however, major changes are taking place. People are conducting an unplanned global experiment by changing the face of the entire planet. We are destroying the ozone layer, which allows life to exist on the Earth’s surface. All of these activities are unfavorable changing the composition of the biosphere and the Earth’s heat balance. If we do not slow down our use of fossil fuels and stop destroying the forests, the world could become hotter than it has been in the past millions years. Average global temperatures have risen 1 degree over the last century. If the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases continue to spill into the atmosphere, global temperatures could rise five to 10 degrees by the middle of the next century. Some areas, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere, will dry out and a greater occurrence of forest fires will take place. At the present rate of destruction, most of the rain forests will be gone by the middle of the next century. This will allow man-made deserts to invade on once lush areas. Evaporation rates will also increase and water circulation patterns will change. Decreased rainfall in some areas will result in increased rainfall in others. In some regions, river flow will be reduced or stopped all together completely. Other areas will experience sudden downpours that create massive floods.

If the present arctic ice melting continues, the sea could rise as much as 2 meters by the middle of the next century. Large areas of coastal land would disappear. Plants and other wildlife habitats might not have enough time to adjust to the rapidly changing climate. The warming will rearrange entire biological communities and cause many species to become died out.

The greenhouse effect and global warming both correspond with each other. The greenhouse effect is recalled as incoming solar radiation that passes through the Earth’s atmosphere but prevents much of the outgoing infrared radiation from escaping into outer space.

Date: 2016-04-22; view: 1049