Global warming is the increase in the average measured temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans.
The awareness about this term has grown to the level that projects are given even at the primary level in schools like St. Kabir in Ahmedabad.
Greenhouse effect is the process by which absorption and emission of infrared radiation by atmospheric gases warm a planet's lower atmosphere and surface.
The greenhouse effect was discovered by Joseph Fourier in 1824 and was first investigated quantitatively by Svante Arrhenius in 1896.
Q . What causes global warming?
Ans : Carbon dioxide and other air pollution that is collecting in the atmosphere like a thickening blanket, trapping the sun's heat and causing the planet to warm up.
Coal-burning power plants are the largest source of carbon dioxide pollution.
Automobiles, the second largest source, create nearly 1.5 billion tons of CO2 annually.
The above data is pertaining to US, but in nut shell growth in industrialization is increasing the level of greenhouse gases (like CO2) on the atmosphere. The activities that generate more of these gases are those were fossile fules are being burned. Temperatures increased around 1ยบ Celsius, in the 20th Century. Greenhouse gases act as a dampening factor to the cooling of the earth, and remain in the atmosphere for long periods of time.
Q What are the current trends in greenhouse gas emissions?
Global greenhouse gas emissions have grown markedly since pre-industrial times, with a 70% increase from 1970 to 2004 alone. Over this period, emissions from the transport and energy sectors have more than doubled.
NGOs and other agencies have understood the hazards of this trend have started putting pressure on governments all around the world. Policies put in place in some countries have been effective in reducing emissions in those countries to a certain degree, but not sufficiently to counteract the global growth in emissions.
Without additional measures to mitigate climate change, global green house gas emissions will continue to grow over the coming decades and beyond. Most of this increase would come from developing countries, where per capita emissions are still considerably lower than those in developed countries
Q. What actions can be taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?
Ans : The solution can be three pronged :
Penalize those who are harming environment and reward those who help in controlling the green house gas emission.
Make people aware to educate them to use products and technology which in environment friendly.
Both these solutions need increased cost and so in the present recessionary market would have high degree of resistance.
Mitigation measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have a certain cost. However, they also constitute an economic benefit by reducing the impacts of climate change, and the costs associated with them. In addition, they can bring economic benefits by reducing local air pollution and energy resource depletion.
If the benefits of avoided climate change are taken into account and a “carbon price” is established for each unit of greenhouse gas emissions, this could create incentives for producers and consumers to significantly invest in products, technologies and processes which emit less greenhouse gases. The resulting mitigation potential is substantial and could offset the projected growth of global emissions over the coming decades or reduce emissions below current levels.
Mitigation measures could contribute to stabilizing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by 2100 or later. To achieve low stabilization levels, stringent mitigation efforts are needed in the coming decades. This could reduce global GDP by up to a few percent. But this is the investment for less risky future.
Changes in lifestyle and behaviours that favour resource conservation can contribute to climate change mitigation. technologies exist today to make cars that run cleaner and burn less gas, modernize power plants and generate electricity from non-polluting sources, and cut our electricity use through energy efficiency. The challenge is to be sure these solutions are put to use.
Mitigation measures can also have other benefits for society, such as health cost savings resulting from reduced air pollution. However, mitigation in one country or group of countries could lead to higher emissions elsewhere or effects on the global economy.
Conclusion
Current warming trends are unequivocal. It is very likely that greenhouse gases released by human activities are responsible for most of the warming observed in the past fifty years. The warming is projected to continue and to increase over the course of the 21st century and beyond.
Climate change already has a measurable impact on many natural and human systems. Effects are projected to increase in the future and to be more severe with greater increases in temperature. Adaptation measures are already being implemented, and will be essential in order to address the projected consequences. There is, however, a limit to adaptation; mitigation measures will also be needed in order to reduce the severity of impacts.
Mitigation measures that aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions can help avoid, reduce or delay many impacts of climate change. Policy instruments could create incentives for producers and consumers to significantly invest in products, technologies and processes which emit less greenhouse gases. Without new mitigation policies, global greenhouse gas emissions will continue to grow over the coming decades and beyond. Rapid world-wide investments and deployment of mitigation technologies, as well as research into new energy sources will be necessary to achieve a stabilization of the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
No one sector or technology can address the entire mitigation challenge. All sectors including buildings, industry, energy production, agriculture, transport, forestry, and waste management could contribute to the overall mitigation efforts, for instance through greater energy efficiency. Many technologies and processes which emit less greenhouse gases are already commercially available or will be in the coming decades. More...
In order to stabilize the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, emissions would have to stop increasing and then decline. The lower the stabilization level aimed for, the more quickly this decline would need to occur. World-wide investments in mitigation technologies, as well as research into new energy sources, will be necessary to achieve stabilization. Delaying emission reduction measures limits the opportunities to achieve low stabilization levels and increases the risk of severe climate change impacts.
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