What Is The Greenhouse Effect?
Before discovering the causes of global warming, it is important to know what is the greenhouse effect.
You may have heard about the greenhouse effect in a discussion about global warming. Sunlight helps us keep this planet warm. According to NASA, out of 100% of the light that the sun sends to Earth, about 30% of sunlight is reflected in space through clouds, snow, ice, sand, and other reflective surfaces.
70% of sunlight is absorbed from the air, ocean, and land. Sunlight falling to the surface of the Earth is used for a variety of purposes. It can be used for factories to produce solar energy, dry clothes or during photosynthesis.
During the day, the Earth’s surface is heated and cooled at night, which causes heat to be released from the atmosphere into space in the form of infrared radiation.
But before all this infrared can escape into space, it absorbs greenhouse gases (GHG) into the atmosphere.
The radiation absorbed by greenhouse gases makes the planet warm for humans. Without the effect of global warming, the planet would be under 30 degrees Celsius and it would be too cold for us to survive.
Gases Responsible For The Green House Effect
The major greenhouse gases responsible for the greenhouse effect are methane, ozone, carbon dioxide, and water vapor.
Although these gases make up 1% of our atmosphere, they act as a coarse hot cover around the planet and control the climate.
The greenhouse effect is not bad. In fact, we all have to live on planet Earth.
To summarize, the effect of global warming is only a natural process created by nature that helps to warm the earth’s surface and maintain its environmental balance.
Now, part of this heat melts in space, part of it burns in the atmosphere, some enter the atmosphere and end up in a low atmosphere and on the surface of the planet.
This, in turn, increases the average global temperature. As a result, global warming is due to increased surface temperature due to the increase in the levels of greenhouse gases.
5 Major Causes of the Greenhouse Effect
Let us discuss the 5 main causes of the greenhouse effect.
1. Population Growth
In recent decades, the population has grown dramatically. Now, as a result, the demand for clothing, shelter, and food has increased.
New manufacturing centers have emerged in cities, which release harmful gases into the environment, increasing the greenhouse effect.
In addition, more and more people mean more use of fossil fuels, which has exacerbated the problem.
2. Burning Fossil Fuels
Fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas are now essential components of our lives. Widely used to generate and transmit electricity.
When burned, carbon is emitted from the inside and added to the oxygen in the air to produce carbon dioxide. As the population increases, the number of vehicles also increases, resulting in increased air pollution.
When these compounds work, they release carbon dioxide, an important gas responsible for increasing the greenhouse effect.
In addition, the emissions associated with electricity are high because we still rely on coal for electricity, which releases a large amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and remains the primary fuel for electricity.
Despite researching renewables, it may take some time before we can reduce our dependence on coal to generate electricity.
3. Agriculture
Nitrous oxide is one of the greenhouse gases used in fertilizers and contributes to the greenhouse effect, which in turn causes global warming.
4. Deforestation
Forests occupy an important green area on the planet. Plants and trees absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen, and through photosynthesis, humans and animals need to survive.
The phenomenal development has cut down trees and forests, forcing people to find places to live. When the wood is burned, the stored carbon is converted to carbon dioxide.
5. Industrial Waste and Landfills
Industries that work in the field of fertilizers, coal mining cement, and oil extraction produce harmful greenhouse gases.
In addition, landfills filled with waste produce carbon dioxide and methane, which play an important role in the greenhouse effect.
What does the Increase in Greenhouse Gases mean to us?
The increase in greenhouse gases directly increases the surface temperature of the planet and the lower atmosphere.
This has a domino effect, as it causes a decrease in thickness and even causes holes in the ozone layer. This means that other radiation such as ultraviolet (UV) radiation can penetrate the sun.
What does this mean for life on Earth? It has to adapt to rising temperatures. We already know that life is very favorable, but we do not know how long the ozone will last or at what rate.
More heat means more fossil fuel will be burned to cool the heat. Burning these fossil fuels again will generate more greenhouse gases and negatively affect the environment.
Many scientists believe that global warming and the increase in global warming are only part of the global cycle.
Earth appears to periodically undergo these heat and cooling cycles. When a large part of the natural system causes many effects, it is difficult to determine the effect of industrial gases on the ozone layer and the effect of global warming.
If the Earth does not enter the cooling cycle for the next hundreds of years, life on Earth will be very difficult for generations.
Overheating and radiation can make it difficult or dangerous to go out during the day.
These growing energies can also affect the entire ecosystem. If plants and animals cannot adapt quickly, we can see that complete species simply disappear by thermal changes.