GLOBAL WARMING - Disaster for Future Generation

According to WHOM, in the last 130 years, the world has warmed by approximately 0.85oC. Each of the last 3 decades has been successively warmer than any preceding decade since 1850 and thanks to global warming, the global temperature is expected to increase even more for the coming decades by about 0.2° Celsius leading to melting of glaciers, rising of sea levels and extinction of ecosystems posing a serious existential crisis for the animals and homo sapiens all over the globe.

The term ‘Global Warming’ is defined as rise in average temperature around the world that causes imbalance in the natural levels of heat on Earth and subsequently in the global climatic conditions.

Causes: The reasons leading to this environmental crisis

To combat the this environmental crisis which is a result of global warming, we need to know the root causes behind the menace of global warming, some of which can be listed as follows:-

  • Greenhouse effect: The capturing of heat in the atmosphere due to presence of certain greenhouse gases is known as greenhouse effect. It is the most prominent cause of global warming.The heat trapped by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere keeps the planet warm enough to allow us and other species to exist however, in the recent times, the levels of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) have increased more than required. The disturbing part is that its human beings that are behind these undesirable rising levels. Greenhouse gases generated from anthropogenic man made activities absorb infra-red light containing that contains heat and lead leads to an even bothering phenomenon referred to as enhanced greenhouse effect.

Some of the greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, CFCs, methane and nitrous oxide.

  • Burning of fossil fuels: The main source of emission of greenhouse gases is the burning of fossil fuels. It contributes to around 67% of carbon dioxide emission which is the most prominent greenhouse gas that traps heat in large amounts.
  • Deforestation: According to a report by World Wildlife Foundation, up to one-fifth of global greenhouse gas pollution comes from deforestation. Trees are the natural lungs of Earth which use carbon dioxide in their food making process and help prevent its excess concentration in the atmosphere. CO2 concentration has been increasing at an average rate of 1.76 ppm every year and forest clearing comes under the main reasons for such increase. (source)
  • Ozone depletion: The depletion of ozone layer present in the stratosphere leads to huge amount of sunlight falling on Earth and hence huge amounts of it being trapped. The greenhouse gases like chlorofluorocarbons are mainly responsible for this depletion. The main sources of CFC emission are leaking air conditioners, CFC containing refrigerators, plastic foams and aerosols. CFC traps around 10,000 to 25,000 times more heat than a CO2 molecule and it’s a great matter of concern that it's concentration in the atmosphere is rising at a rate of 0.5% annually posing a serious threat to ozone layer and Earth.
  • Breaking down and burning of biomass: Breaking down of organic matter by bacteria in moist places results in production of a greenhouse gas named methane. A source of methane emission is incomplete burning of organic material which also emits nitrous oxide (also a greenhouse gas). Each methane molecule can trap about 25 times heat as much as a Co2 molecule while a nitrous oxide molecule can trap 289 times as much heat as Co2. The highly disturbing fact is the continuous rising levels of all this greenhouse gas is due to the anthropogenic activities. The atmospheric concentrations of methane and nitrous oxide are surging at annual rates of 1% and 0.2% respectively.

It's ironical and depressing that human beings are themselves being the reason for threat to their own existence by knowingly doing such activities that harm the environment and subsequently all the living creatures thriving on this planet.

WHY DO WE NEED TO TAKE THIS PROBLEM ON A SERIOUS NOTE?

We see that many scientists and Environmentalists are taking the problem of global warming very seriously and it’s important that general public too gets to know the reason for such urgency because we humans have a habit of procrastination and devising means of survival at the eleventh hour.

But the awareness regarding the problem of global warming is the need of the hour because it’s an old adage that ‘ Time and tide wait for none' and this time, when the nature will show it's wrath, it will surely end up wiping the existence of human race.

  • Satellite observations regarding global climate change: Scientists have been able to find out remarkable changes signalling global climate change using the data collected by satellites orbiting around Earth.
  • Loss of ice sheets: According to NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, Greenland lost an average of 286 billion tons of ice per year between 1993 and 2016, while Antarctica has lost about 127 billion tons of ice per year during the same period.
  • Warm oceans: The top 700 m water layer of oceans has absorbed most of the increased heat showing warming of more than 0.4 degree Fahrenheit since past five decades.
  • Depleting glaciers: As observed by the satellites, glaciers around the world are retreating at an alarming rate. Be it Alaska, Alps, Himalayas or Andes, Rockies and Africa, depleting glaciers due to global warming has been reported by them all.
  • Rise in sea levels: The rise in sea levels is surging slightly every year. The last century recorded a rise of around 8%.
  • Decreasing snow cover: Scientists have found out that spring snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere is decreasing at much higher rate than ever before.
  • Effect on agriculture: The rise in global temperatures due to global warming is quite harmful for some crops. Decrease in soil moisture, increase in evaporation and pest growth due to humidity will pose bad effects on production of wheat, maize and many other crops.
  • Threat to living creatures: Polar and marine plants, animals and the whole ecosystem are in danger because of depleting glaciers and rising sea levels. Changes in rainfall patterns due to global warming will not only give rise to vector borne diseases like malaria, filariasis but also respiratory and skin diseases challenging healthy human existence too.

 PREVENTATIVE SOLUTIONS:

There are efforts being made or that can be made by Environmentalists, scientists, government, private institutions and individuals at global level to find out and act upon preventative solutions for dealing with the threatening menace of global warming.

  1. By NGOs and other global Institutions like UN: There are various non-governmental organisations working for the cause of environment protection and associated problems. They play an important role in disseminating awareness and promoting participation among people regarding the same. Then, there are various environmental institutions working global levels for promoting action against global warming and its causes, the most prominent among which is the United Nations Environment which deals with framing environmental suggestions for the member countries and drawing out agendas for combating such problems. The UNFCCC aims to “stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system”. It keeps on making its member countries sign agreements for action on various environmental concerns from time to time such as ‘Kyoto protocol of 1997’ that focussed on reduction of greenhouse gases that cause global warming and ‘Paris Agreement of 2015’ that strengthens ‘Kyoto Protocol' in the long run.
  1. By Government: There are full-fledged ministries in various countries that are supposed to work primarily for the cause of environment. However, there is a way more to go as governments need to introduce proper regulations with regard to industries that emit greenhouse gases. They should also promote development of heat, drought and pest resistant crops.
  1. By individuals: It’s an age old adage that ‘THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY' because its efforts at individual level that show up their effects at global level. Mother Earth belongs to us all and hence it’s solely our responsibility to look after it well. Some of the steps that can help reduce the root causes of global warming are:-
  • Efficient removal of Co2 from smoke stacks.
  • Planting of more and more trees.
  • Removal of atmospheric CO2.
  • Trapping and using methane as a fuel.
  • Switching on to new and renewable sources of energy. Example: Coal to Natural Gas
  • Cutting down the current usage of CFCs and fossil fuels.
  • Adoption of sustainable agriculture.

TIME FOR ACTION: As obvious by the urgency of this environmental problem, the human beings must realise that we are in the ‘endgame’ now and we have to do 'whatever it takes' to save Mother Earth from the vagaries of climatic change due to global warming .We need to stop being our own worst enemies and must take action to reduce emission of greenhouse gases. ‘Change begins with us', so let’s pledge and act to make all sincere efforts to save our only life supporting planet against all odds.