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Global Warming and Greenhouse Gasses |
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Written by Janus Hendrichsen
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Planet Earth is surrounded by an atmosphere that contains numerous important gasses. Read more about the composition of the atmosphere on Wikipedia.
The greenhouse gasses are gasses that ensure that the incoming energy from the sunlight does not escape planet Earth completely. They reflect the heat back to earth thereby ensuring that there is at all life on the planet. Without the greenhouse effect the average temperature could be as low as -18 °C where it is now about 14 °C. Read more about the greenhouse effect on Wikipedia.
 The most debated greenhouse gas of them all is Carbon Dioxide (CO2). It is emitted from a lot of natural processes - e.g. decomposition of organic substances and volcanic eruptions. The presence of CO2 in the atmosphere has varied a lot during time. This has been investigated by drilling ice cores out of the permanent part of the ice cape in Greenland and measuring the composition of the air trapped inside the ice.
Human activities has increased the level significantly from the burning of the fossil fuels:
The accessibility of these 3 energy sources has more or less made the western lifestyle possible. But burning fossil fuels emits CO2 – in large amounts. CO2 is absorbed by growing biomass and turned into O2 that we breathe in, but the level of CO2 in the atmosphere is more or less doubled over the last century – and this is more than the system can process, thus it is stored in the atmosphere and increases the greenhouse effect and the average temperature of the planet.
Consequences for life on Earth
The average temperature of the seas rises and the water expands. The arctic ice melts and adds substantial amounts of water in the seas making the sea levels rise. All known weather systems will be enhanced and hurricanes can become 50% more powerful than the ones we know today. The complete picture is difficult to paint but almost everybody will be affected – either directly or indirectly. The costs of adapting to the drastically changed climate will be enormous and it will be very different to which extend the poor and the rich populations will be able to do.
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