Global Warming

Dhiraj Borah

(dborah131@gmail.com)

Global warming or climate change is a serious problem. It is one of the biggest threats to mankind. It is mainly caused by emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases due to rapid industrialization, urbanization and other air polluting sources. Continuous discharge of these gases results into enormous rise in temperature.

The world as a whole is facing the problem of global warming. The increasing level of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases has been heating up the atmosphere of earth.

The causes and consequences of global warming: Global warming is responsible for rising of sea levels as it melts the glaciers gradually. Glaciers are the perennial source of water in most of the rivers and other water bodies across the world. Rising of sea level is the one of the biggest problems faced by the whole world due to global warming. Already several countries in the world settled along the coastline of different seas are bearing the threat of extinction due to massive flood which has considerably engulfed their low-lying land.

Frequent hurricanes and unusual weather patterns are the other problems associated with climate change. Moreover, rising temperature due to global warming is also responsible for loss of aquatic life and spread of dreaded diseases due to insects.

Continuous production of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) gas is the biggest demon responsible for global warming, which is manifested in the continuous rise in the level of Earth's temperature.

In fact, gases like carbon dioxide (CO2), sulphur, CFCs, and methane are responsible for global warming. The continuous burning of fossil fuels leads to an increase in the carbon dioxide level. CO2, which is itself a greenhouse gas, causes a warming effect on the earth's surface area by increasing the evaporation of water into the atmosphere due to heating. Other factors responsible for increasing the production of greenhouse gases are population growth, technological advancement, industrialization, urbanization, and deforestation.

Greenhouse gases have a heating impact on the environment, which is very adverse to human life. Due to increase in the sea level, lower lying coastal areas as well as cities face the danger of flooding. It is feared that this way some countries might even cease to exist. Global warming also leads to change in weather patterns. It leads to many areas of the earth experiencing severe weather conditions, such as drought, floods, and other unusual weather conditions.

Huge population growth, too, is a factor for increase in global warming. We are over-exploiting technologies, which is manifest in the burning of fossil fuels, coal, and emission of gas. Burning of gasoline in internal-combustion engines of automobiles leads to great amount of carbon emission. Apart from it, sulphur cluster gas also has a harmful impact on environmental pollution. Even simple tasks such as cooking food produce a big amount of CO2.

Long-term effects of global warming may manifest in submarine landslides and increased seismic and volcanic activities. It could lead to tsunamis as warmer ocean water thaws ocean-floor permafrost or releases gas hydrates. An increase in landslide frequency has already been reported in some world regions such as the French Alps. Due to ice melting and deglaciation, the Earth's crust may be impacted leading to post-glacial rebound, with land masses experiencing no depression by the weight of ice.

What's the way-out?

We need to spread adequate awareness with regard to the menace of global warming. It can be fought only by the collective efforts of the world community.

We have to take proper initiatives to prevent global warming such as stop producing more CO2. For this, we should reduce the consumption of oil, coal and gas. We should concentrate on using renewable energy. Additionally, we can plant more trees because trees are very helpful to soak up CO2 and at the same time generate more oxygen. When we generate electricity, we produce a huge amount of CO2 simultaneously. We have to use less energy and electricity. We have to avoid producing a great amount of CO2, sulphur, CFCs, and methane gases as they are out-and-out harmful to the environment.

We need to curb the emission of CO2 by undertaking massive plantation of trees. Let trees absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen. Let's reduce our dependence on the consumption of electricity, oil, coal and gas – sources of carbon dioxide – and switch to renewable energy. Let's make less of energy and embrace recycling of products. There is a need to make suitable changes in the modern consumerist lifestyle that tends to overuse the resources of the world. There is a need to make collective efforts on the part of scientists, governments and individuals to tide over the problem of global warming. If urgent efforts are not mounted by all countries to check the problem of global warming worldwide, it would put the future of mankind in peril.