The Green House
Effect and Global Warming
What is Global Warming?
Global warming refers to the rising average
temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans, which began to increase in the
late 19th century and is projected to continue rising. Since the early 20th
century, Earth's average surface temperature has increased by about 0.8 °C (1.4
°F), with about two thirds of the increase occurring since 1980. Warming of the
climate system is undeniable, and scientists are almost certain that most of it
is caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases produced by human
activities such as deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels.
What is the greenhouse effect?
Which Gases contribute to the greenhouse effect?
Carbon dioxide (CO2), the most
significant Green House gas, directly affected by human activity, is the result
of the corrosion of carbon in organic matter, either through combustion of
carbon-based fuels or the decay of biomass. Other major gases that contribute
to the green house effect are: water vapour-H2O that contributes to between
36-70% of the greenhouse effect, ozone-O3 which contributes to between 3-7%, Methane-CH4
3-9% and Nitrous oxide-N2O. Carbon dioxide contributes to between 9-26% of the
greenhouse effect.
How could humans reduce the effect of
global warming?
Instead of getting our energy
supplies from burning coal and other
un-renewable fossil fuels in power stations, as this gives off carbon dioxide,
sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides when they are combusted. We could instead
use alternative, renewable energy sources such as solar power, wind power,
hydro electric power and nuclear power; all these would be better alternatives
as they do not give off green house gases. We could also reduce the need for
energy by being energy efficient and so reducing the mass demand for it. We
could do this by switching off lights when they are not being used and other
small things that are generally overlooked but when they are regularly done
they could make a large difference to the amount of energy that is wasted and
so could reduce the amount of carbon dioxide that is released into the atmosphere as a result of combustion.
Suggest economic, ethical/moral,
social or cultural arguments for technological developments which reduce global
warming.
Social support reasons for supporting
technological developments which reduce global warming could include the people
being happier with the environment that they would be living in less polluted
areas. The catalytic converter cleans the emissions from car exhausts and so
would create less pollution and give off less harmful gases. This would benefit the population and if
certain people are deeply affected by the clear up then it would be a social
reason for supporting them. Also if there are less harmful gases being released
in to the atmosphere it could mean that the taxes for driving in certain areas
would decrease and so the social populous would benefit from technological advancements
in that respect too as well as in an economic way as it reduces the amount that
they have to pay on taxes.
Factories that also use fossil fuels
as an energy source have to pay large amounts of money for their gas emissions
to be cleaned before they can be released into the atmosphere. If science
created a cheaper way for them to do this then these factories and power plant
would benefit enormously in an economic way. Also if fuels that were as easily
combusted and stored as fossil fuels were developed the businesses would again
benefit if it was a cheaper amount than the fossil fuels that they would be
using at present, as these fossil fuels are drastically rising in price due to
lack of renewability and also lack of resources. In these respects people could
benefit economically from technological developments that reduce global
warming.
