Signifance Of Global Warming

Global warming is often referred to as “The Greenhouse Effect”, even though the term came from greenhouses used for gardening, but is misnomer since greenhouses operate differently. We must first understand what global warming is before we can ascertain what its effect would be on our planet and society. The greenhouse effect was first discovered by a French mathematician Joseph Fourier in 1824. He discovered that gases in the atmosphere might increase the surface temperature of the earth.

Joseph established the concept of planetary energy balance; that planets obtain energy from a number of sources that cause temperature increase. Planets also lose energy by infrared radiation with the rate increasing the temperature. Though the greenhouse effect wasn’t thoughly investigated until 1896 by Svante Arrhenius. Svante was a Swedish chemist. He developed a theory to explain the ice ages, and first speculated that changes of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could greatly alter the earth’s surface temperature.

The Earth receives energy from the Sun in the form of radiation, more specifically infrared radiation. About 30 percent of the radiation that hits the earth is reflected back into space. The reaming 70 percent that makes it though the earth’s atmosphere helps warm the atmosphere itself, land, and the ocean. For the Earth to remain a livable temperature the balance of radiation must be very accurate.

With the rise in carbon dioxide that humans are producing, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the Earth’s atmosphere to keep that balance safe. Carbon dioxide is the effect many things, but the bulk of it is due to the burring of fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide emmitions are about 40 percent higher than they were before the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th century, and at their highest levels of recorded history.

The global warming effect that is happing to our planet effects us all in a major way. We may not see the large effects today or tomorrow, but they will be present in the near future. Take our current temperature changes; we’ve had record hot summers and record warm winters in the past 10 years, increasing each year. We are having less and less snowfall each year due to the temperature difference.

We need to change our ways or our children and our children’s children will suffer. Imagine a world where its so hot a child can’t go outside to ride his or her bike, or where there is never snow for them to play in. That is not a world that I wish to raise a child in, staying inside all their lives due to weather.

By investing in renewable and energy effect sources of energy we can slow this possess to a crawl, or hopefully reverse its devastating effects. There are currently many options aviable, and hundreds more being researched