One of the greatest threats faced by the world today is the rising global temperature. There are many factors, which contribute to global warming. However, we can help minimise the increasing temperature by adopting some effective measures..
CJ: Prakash Kini , 1 Apr 2008 Views:7924 Comments:9
THE PROBLEM: Through the use of fossil fuels and the release of greenhouse gases, the earth’s temperature rises in a process known as global warming.
The causes: Global warming is caused by the burning of carbon rich fossil fuels, which in its consumption, release carbon dioxide – a green house gas – that when released into the atmosphere builds up and allows the heat that enters the atmosphere to collect, and the earth’s temperature to rise. Other greenhouse gases include methane, nitrous oxide, and sometimes, even water vapour can act as a green house gas.
The effects: The effects of global warming are most obviously the warming of the globe, but this can have many unforeseen side effects, such as the melting of some of the earth’s ice stored in it’s poles and it’s glaciers, such as the Greenland Ice Sheet, a rise of three to four degrees Fahrenheit could cause up to 40 per cent of the earth’s costal areas to be enveloped by the rising oceans. The global temperature has risen between 0.45 to 0.6 degrees Celsius and the oceans have risen between 15-20 cm in the last century due to global warming and the industrial revolution.
The solution: We can solve this problem by reducing the amount of carbon dioxide emissions emitted by our cars and factories, carpooling, using bikes and developing alternative fuel sources could reduce these emissions on the personal level. However, getting the power generating companies and other industries to stop using fossil fuels would take a lot of time and would be hard to do. Many independent and government groups are working to solve this problem. One such governmental effort is the Kyoto Protocol, a plan devised by a group of national governments working in to stop global warming.
The outcome: If we ignore these problems, we could have serious ecological problems like the rising of the oceans due to the melting of the ice caps or the disturbance of many fragile ecosystems that rely on a carefully moderated temperature.
I hope that this information has provided some insight into the causes, effects and ways to stop global warming.
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參考資料：
/od/globalwarming/a/ipcc_reports.htm