Tag: global warming

GLOBAL WARMING

The continuous rise in temperature of the planet is really upsetting. The root cause for this is global warming. Global warming begins when sunlight reaches the Earth. The clouds, atmospheric particles, reflective ground surfaces and surface of oceans then sends back about 30 % of sunlight back into the space, whilst the remaining is absorbed by oceans, air and land. This consequently heats up the surface of the planet and atmosphere, making life feasible. As the Earth warms up, this solar energy is radiated by thermal radiation and infrared rays, propagating directly out to space thereby cooling the Earth. However, some of the outgoing radiation is re-absorbed by carbon dioxide, water vapors, ozone, methane and other gases in the atmosphere and is radiated back to the surface of Earth. These gases are commonly known as greenhouse gases due to their heat-trapping capacity.

However, 97 % of climate scientists and researchers agree that humans have changed the Earth’s atmosphere in dramatic ways over the past two centuries, resulting in global warming.

Greenhouse Effect:

The natural greenhouse effect normally traps some portion of heat in such a way that our planet is safe from reaching freezing temperatures while human enhanced greenhouse effect leads to global warming. This is due to burning of fossil fuels which increase the amount of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane and oxides of nitrogen) present in the atmosphere.

The trade of incoming and outgoing radiation that heats up the Earth is often referred to as the greenhouse effect because a greenhouse works in a similar way. Incoming ultraviolet radiation easily passes through the glass walls of a greenhouse and is absorbed by the plants and hard surfaces inside. Weaker infrared radiation, however, has difficulty passing through the glass walls and is trapped inside, therefore, warming the greenhouse. This effect lets tropical plants prosper inside a greenhouse, even during a cold season.

The greenhouse effect, combined with increasing levels of greenhouse gases and the resulting global warming, is expected to have philosophical implications. If global warming continues unrestrained and nothing effective is done to limit this evil, it will cause significant climate change, a rise in sea levels, extreme weather events and other ruthless natural, environmental and social impacts.

How to reduce Global Warming?

The goal is simple. We need to cut down our carbon footprint. The carbon footprint values are lower in the case where a higher percentage of reuse and usage of compostable products is preferred to recycling and disposing to landfill. A higher percentage of reuse can significantly scale down the carbon footprint. Similarly using biodegradable and compostable products like ecofworld’s bamboo cutlery kit, custom bamboo toothbrushes, environmentally friendly drink bottles and reusable organic cotton produce bags can also reduce the carbon footprint on a large scale.