What is Global warming?
Our planet Earth, over the ages, has witnessed major climatic changes and average temperature fluctuations. These changes, like the Interglacial periods of the Ice ages, have recurred periodically and shaped life and existence on the planet. However, in recent years, after the Industrial age, human-made actions and practices have altered the natural cycles of the planet. The planet now experiences the phenomenon of Global warming, or the rise in average temperatures, like never before, at alarming rates.
Global Warming definition
The definition of global warming is the unusual and uncharacteristic rise of global temperatures, primarily due to the increased levels of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere. To define global warming without mentioning the burning of fossil fuels, industrialization, greenhouse gases, and climate change is sinister. In other words, global warming meaning simply the rapid increase in temperature over the last 200 years, was mainly driven by human activities that caused greenhouse gases and pollutants to multiply.
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When did Global warming start?
Global Warming started since the day human activities began to influence and affect the global climate directly. Initially, many scientists marked the late 19th century to be the starting point. But later, studies showed how from the 1830s, the planet’s temperatures began to see unusual rises in temperatures. For the first time, scientific and technological prowess gave birth to industries and large scale energy production. Rapid deforestation followed.
The fossil fuels were burnt on unprecedented scales. All this produced greenhouse gases that absorbed and redistributed the sun’s heat throughout the globe like never before. With advances in industry and production, human life changed. Economics, business, and growth, fueled by resource exploitation, birthed quality human lives. It also caused rapid population growth. And, with more people came more demand for energy. So began an exponentially vicious cycle of energy consumption and production with the byproduct of climate warming. Global warming information is continuously updated and analyzed by major international bodies today, including the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
How does global warming work?
To explain global warming and how it actually works, we must understand greenhouse gases. Carbon dioxide, CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons), Ozone, Methane, and other pollutants, cause the greenhouse effect. Here, the gases concentrate in the atmosphere and trap the sun’s radiations from the earth’s surface. The heat does not escape, and so the temperatures also increase drastically. The greenhouse gases remain in the atmosphere for a long time. Hence, the effect is also long term.
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Why is global warming bad?
The rapid increase in global temperatures causes global climate change that disrupts the natural balance of the planet. The functionality of ecosystems and natural cycles is significantly harmed. The effects are long-lasting and are only getting worse as global warming keeps intensifying. Climate change has resulted in erratic weather, where floods are massive, and droughts are longer. Extreme weather conditions keep getting more extreme as the temperatures rise. The polar ice caps have been melting at alarming rates, and the sea levels have been rising. Wildlife habitats have been under great threat, and we have already lost half of the world’s biodiversity. These are just a few of the reasons why global warming is bad. Our planet is now looming with the danger of catastrophic natural events that will be unmanageable in the future. The Earth has never before experienced such sharp temperature changes in such a short time. Global warming facts are now intrinsic to the curriculum of every human on this planet.
