Monday, July 28, 2014

Contemporary Global Issue: Greenhouse Gases



Greenhouse gases are gases that capture heat in the atmosphere and they include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, fluorinated gases, and ozone. Each of them can stay in the atmosphere from a few years to thousands of years. In the atmosphere, these gases combine and cause significant effects on human health around the world.




Human activities change and accelerate the effects of greenhouse gases through
   Burning of natural gas, coal and oil, including gasoline for automobile engines, increases the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
   Certain farming practices and changes in land operation increase the levels of methane and nitrous oxide.
   Industrial gases that do not occur naturally significantly contribute to the greenhouse effect.
   Deforestation leaves fewer trees to perform significant function.
   Population growth due to increase people’s use of fossil fuels for heat, transportation, and manufacturing, all of which increase the level of greenhouse gases continues to increase. Increased farming to feed millions of people around the world result in emission of more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.


                                             Global Greenhouse Gas Statistics
In 2012, the study indicated that the burning of fossil fuels and increased deforestation of native forests has resulted in a 40% increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide.

Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions




                                            Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Source



Greenhouse Effects on Human Health
People with asthma and other lung problems are at risk from increasing ground-level ozone due to particulate air pollution that resulted from increase carbon dioxide. Also significantly affected by greenhouse gases are elderly persons who present with heart and lung problems, young children, and homeless people. At greatest immediate risk, the computer modeling study contended, are cities that are already experiencing a high degree of air pollution.








Greenhouse Gas Prevention Alternatives
§  Resort to using renewable energy.
§  Go green with technologies, including power plants and transportation.
§  Continue searching new options for electricity production.
§  Planting more trees.



References:
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/global.html
http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/climatescience/greenhousegases.html
https://search.yahoo.com/search
http://environment.about.com/od/globalwarming/a/greenhouse.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_effect#mediaviewer/File:The_green_house_effect.svg

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