What is Global Warming?

For the most part, when most people think of global warming they think of a phenomenon known as the greenhouse effect, which is caused by the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This is perfectly fine, as that is basically what global warming is. Carbon dioxide makes up 82% of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The other 18% is made up of methane (9%), nitrous oxide (5%), and other gases such as water vapor and pollutants (4%). When heat from the sun hits the Earth it bounces off and should leave the Earth and not accumulate. What happens is the gasses reflect most of it back which causes the temperature to rise. This phenomena is known as the greenhouse effect. Even though the average temperature of the earth has only been raise about 1 degree, the increasing heat melts some of the ice in the Arctic, which raises the sea level and makes cold water flow past some countries, keeping them cooler. The one degree change does not seem like much, but it actually has started to break some of the delicate balance on the Earth. The greenhouse gases also deplete the ozone layer, the layer of the atmosphere which protects us from Ultraviolet Radiation, or UV. This UV is the cause of sunstrokes and sunburns and it can also cause some types of cancer such as skin cancer. In some places, such as Australia, there are holes in the ozone layer which let extreme amounts of UV radiation in.

Global warming, considering it involves a lot of cooling down and general extreme weather, is often, and more accurately, referred to as climate change. If global temperatures rise an average 4°C, the world will be facing it’s hottest time for forty million (40,000,000) years. Before the human-caused release of carbon dioxide, the earth’s CO2 levels changed after the earth’s heat levels changed. This was because increase in heat allowed more plant growth, releasing more carbon dioxide. The earth’s climate has always fluctuated, in almost perfect correspondence with radiation from the sun, but this is definitely different. There is a complete scientific consensus that global warming is actually happening.

The Greenhouse Effect

 

As mentioned before, greenhouse gasses, (carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, water vapor, and general pollution) let heat from the Sun come through. When it hits the Earth and bounces off, without greenhouse gases it would get lost in space, but it is partly trapped inside the earth’s atmosphere by the clouds of gases in the atmosphere. The greenhouse effect is a natural process which keeps the earth at a livable temperature. Without greenhouse gasses, the earth’s average temperature would be something around -18 °C which would harbour drastically different lifeforms, if any. The greenhouse effect, however can be exaggarated to the point where it is a hazard. humans have a nasty habit of polluting thier environment, which is basically the whole globe given the earth’s current population. There is so much greenhouse gas in the atmosphere that even if emissions ceased entirely there would still be enough to warm the world up at least 1°C, which is plenty enough to wreak havoc on the world’s ecosystems. We, as a worldwide community with the responsibility to protect our planet, need to subtract from the atmosphere’s overflowing greenhouse gas quota, not deliberately dump in more.

Ozone Depletion

Ozone is an oxygen molecule except with an extra oxygen atom, which makes three atoms (tri-atomic). The Ozone layer is named for the larger amount of ozone than the rest of the atmosphere, about two parts in a million. The ozone layer is the main part of the atmosphere which protects the earth from Ultraviolet (UV) radiation.

The problem with greenhouse gasses, especially CFCs and chlorine, is that they deplete the ozone layer. This forms ozone holes, where extra UV radiation comes through the atmosphere. These holes are very harmful to humans and other life forms.

Greenhouse Gasses

Carbon Dioxide

Carbon dioxide, or CO2, makes up 82% of the greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.

How it is Released

Deforestation, especially clearcuts, release carbon dioxide that was stored under the roots of the trees. Burning fossil fuels also releases carbon dioxide. The process of making cement releases carbon dioxide. It is made when stored up carbon molecules come into contact with oxygen. (C+O2=CO2)

Carbon Cycle

Carbon dioxide comes from the atmosphere. Plants take in the carbon dioxide and give off oxygen during photosynthesis. Then animals (including humans) breathe in the oxygen and breathe out the carbon dioxide we get be eating plants and animals which all contain carbon dioxide, because all living things contain it. After many years, when what remains of dead plants and animals that were buried under the Earth’s surface are either dug up (see Fossil Fuels) or surfaced for some other reason such as earthquakes that could have pushed up the rock where they where buried, they release the carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere. And carbon dioxide is, of course, released when animals (including humans) breathe out.

 

Methane

Methane, or CH4, makes up 9% of greenhouse gasses. It traps about twice as much heat per molecule as carbon dioxide.

Methane in the Arctic

Permafrost is rock or soil that has been frozen for two years or more. Perma means permanent, signifying that the rock or soil will stay frozen forever. However, with the increasing temperature caused by global warming, the permafrost in some cold places like Siberia is melting. Underneath the permafrost, there is methane that has been stored there for many years. When the melting of the permafrost occurs, the methane bubbles up and is released into the atmosphere. Methane does not last as long as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, but it still plays a part in global warming.

A Few Unusual Sources

Cows, maggots, and most other organisms release methane when they pass gas. Cows also release methane when they belch.

Nitrous Oxide

Nitrous Oxide, or N2O, makes up about 5% of the GHGs in the atmosphere. It is a very potent greenhouse gas, trapping two hundred and seventy times as much heat per molecule as carbon dioxide. Solid waste combustion (a fancy way of saying ‘burning trash’) results in N2O emmissions as does the manufacture of nylon.

Chlorofluorocarbons

Chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, are part of the 4% of the other pollutants shown in the pie chart near the top of this page.

What Are They?

CFCs are synthetic chemicals which have an evaporation point just below room temperature. These chemicals are used in refrigerators, styrofoam, spray-on insulation, and air conditioning, among other things (mainly consumer products) and are nontoxic and nonflammable, making them ‘ideal’ for such uses. These characteristics also make them an extremely potent greenhouse gas, and it is their chemical unreactivity and their low vapourization point that the stay in the atmosphere for hundreds of years. CFCs destroy ozone very quickly, which is quite bad because ozone is kept frequent by the balance of it’s production and destruction, however chlorofluorocarbons and other excess greenhouse gasses destroy it too fast and thus create ozone holes.

There are also HCFCs (hydrochlorofluorocarbons) and HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons) which are basically the same thing aside from a slightly different chemical composition.

Effects of Climate Change

Taking Vacation—Disease Carrying Vermin Moving UP

Insects and animals that prefer the warm climate near the equator seize the opportunity to spread to the corners of the earth as it warms up. Many of these carry killer diseases and epidemics from places where humans, plants and animals are immune or resistant to these sicknesses. But as they travel toward the poles, the diseased insects an animals will come into contact with some unprepared populations. Mosquitoes, rodents, other insects, and some times even bird are carrying sicknesses such as malaria and West Nile virus.

Pine Beetles

Pine Beetles do not carry sickness–they carry a destructive habit. These beetles burrow into pine trees to lay their eggs, multiplying the beetles and killing the pine trees. Very diverse forests are most resistant to pine beetles as the beetles take over easies when they can travel directly from tree to tree. Pine forests, on the other hand are dying out at a dangerous pace all over Canada because of these beetles. Pine beetles are not invincible, though. Frost and cold kills them. The problem here is that the pine forests of Canada are in the middle of a viscous circle. The warmer the world gets, the farther the pine beetles will go. The more trees they kill, the more carbon dioxide will be released, and the warmer the world gets, etc., etc.

El Niño and La Niña

(el NEEN-yo and la NEEN-ya)

El Niño and La Niña are phnomena that scientists suspect are in some way related to or triggered by climate change. They areopposite effects; El Niño being the warming of ocean surface temperature in certain areas of the globe, and El Niña being the cooling of the surfacetemperature in those same places. These two occurrences are responsible for droughts, floods and other devastating natural disasters.

Biotic Responses to Climate Change

• Many animals change the range of places in which their species lives when temperatures change, expanding where thelimate becomes suitable, retracting where it becomes less so. Some animals such as butterflies have been recorded to change their range at fluctuations of temperature at only a fraction of a degree, showing how warming the world up a few degrees can make a big difference.
• As global temperature rises, animals will be moving away from the Equator, and those who can’t, like animals who live in the poles and have nowhere to go and like animals that are isolated on islands or smaller continents like Australia, will have to either adapt at superb speed or go extinct.
• Increased carbon dioxide may boost the growth of certain plants which will then combat for existence with the worst-off plants. This could lead to the extinction of the worse off plants and certainly throw off the local ecosystem, diversity and food chain.
• Droughts and extra rain can change the vegetation of the regions they occur in. The amount of rainfall received annually determines whether a region will have trees, what can grow there, and sometimes the amount of biological diversity. If the annual rainfall changes too often or too rapidly, very few species of plants will be capable of growing there. If it is very consistent, the region can become very biologically diverse.
• Different atmospheric gasses change rainfall acidity and alkalinity which changes the soil acidity and overall chemical composition.
• Increased carbon dioxide levels will likely be very harmful to bog ecosystems because theexcess carbonin the air could change the chemical composition of the peat and make it a less-than-sufficeint thriving place for sphagnum (ss-FAG-num) moss, the basis of the bog ecosystem.

Extreme Weather

Global warming increases rainfall in some places and causes droughts in others. The whole water cycle becomes more extreme– more water evaporates, which causes droughts, and because all this water evaporates, some places get lots of extra rain. Maybe ‘Global Warning’ would be a better name, because what global warming really does is make weather more extreme.

Hurricanes

Hurricanes are caused by strong winds and lots of clouds. They are like spirals of deadly wind which suck up water and gush it out when they hit land.

Floods

Rising of sea level and extra rain are the main causes of flooding. Some places, like Amsterdam, are used to getting floods, while some places need floods to keep their ecosystem healthy, like the Amazon in Brazil. But there are also many places that would suffer very much from floods. For example, Richmond, near where I live, is a dike city, and would be badly effected by a large rise in sea level.

Tsunamis

Earthquakes

Droughts

Droughts occur for many reasons, and many of them can attributed to climate change. When the air is warmer (and windier) more water evaporates, condenses to form clouds, then is blown away to provide floods to some other place while the place where the water came from experiences droughts. Droughts cause forest fires, among other things.

Forest Fires

Normally forest fires are natural ways to make room for a new plants to grow, the way humans lose teeth so new teeth can grow in. They have recently become drastically more frequent (not to mention the deliberate burning of rainforests) due to drought conditions, which can be accredited almost entirely to global warming. Imagine all your teeth falling out at once. This burning not only decreases the absorption of carbon dioxide, but releases carbon dioxide that is stored in the soil under the roots of the tree.

Melting Ice

The Arctic Icecap

The Arctic Icecap plays a major role in cooling down the earth. When heat from the sun hits it, the heat bounces off and returns to outer space. However, when the icecap melts, what will heat from the sun hit? You guessed it, water. The water absorbs the heat and carries it around the earth. The more ice that melts, the less heat gets deflected.

Antarctica

The Arctic Icecap, though it may seem big, is almost puny in comparison to Antarctica. This massive block of ice, about three kilometers thick, is on the opposite side of the globe. It is home to penguins, among other animals, and it is definitely melting.

Animals Effected by Melting Ice

 

Polar Bears

Polar Bears normally travel from ice floe to ice floe by means of swimming when hunting for seals. When arctic ice melts, the bears must swim greater differences, thus expending more energy than they get from the food they can catch. Sometimes they get so exhausted they drown. Others do not get enough food before hibernation and wake up too early, too weak from hunger to hunt any more.

Penguins

When the sea ice melts there is less krill, a staple food for the penguins. Also the weakened ice can sometimes break, carrying penguin chicks out to sea, where they drown.

Paleoclimatology

Paleoclimatology is the study of ancient climates. This allows scientists to figure out that global warming really is out of the ordinary.

Cores

Cores are taken from arctic ice, rock, and even trees and sea coral. Cores are generally long cylinders drilled out of the ground, but in the cases of trees and sea coral, they can simply be samples that clearly show the rings. All of these things are like nature’s history records.

(See More)

Electricity

There are three main types of electricity: Renewable, Nuclear, and Fossil Fuel. Just about all of the electricity we produce was once energy from the sun. Fossil fuels were plants that absorbed sunlight and died and fossilized, sunlight created wind and tides, wind created waves,  biomass is like fossil fuels without the fossil, etc.

Renewable Energy

Renewable energy includes:

Solar power

Wind power

Tidal power

Wave power

Geothermal power

Biomass power

Solar Power

Solar power is produced by solar panels which use energy from the sun to produce electricity. These panels are made up of photovoltaic cells, which produce electricity from sunlight. At the equator, the amount of electricity produced per square meter can reach 1000 watts. Small solar panels are used in appliances that require little electricity, such as calculators. This type of energy is most commonly used in remote locations such as space. Solar power does not contribute to global warming.

Wind Power

Wind power is produced by massive turbines which are turned by the wind. These turbines are sometimes built in an area called a wind farm . A wind farm is many, many turbines producing electricity which is then sent off to people’s houses for everyday use. Unfortunately, wind power produces less than 1% of the electricity used worldwide. The big turbines kill thousands of birds and bats per year, but that is not nearly as much as the death toll for the ones killed by pollution, global warming, over-logging, and other global problems. Wind power does not contribute to global warming.

Tidal Power

Tidal power

Wave Power

Wave power is electricity generated by moving water. This includes electricity dams, and water wheels that rotate turbines. 19% of world electricity comes from this energy source, but as it is slowly being exploited it will very likely be used less in the future. This type of energy does not contribute to global warming. Wave power is also great for storing electricity, because since water produces a lot of electricity if it is stored in a reservoir a lot of electricity can be made very quickly.

Geothermal Power

Geothermal power is created by drilling deep holes in the earth to get to where it is hot and then dumping very cold water down the holes. The water turns into steam which powers the turbine. From what is known today, it is believed that the method geothermal generation does not contribute to climate change, but nobody knows what else it could be doing to our world.

Biomass Power

Biomass is made up of plant material. There is a wide variety of plant material that can be used to produce fuels and electricity including paper trash, wheat and rice straw, sawdust, and vegetable oils. Biomass can be used to produce two types of fuel, among other things. It can be converted to liquid or gas fuel. The gas fuel is used for making electricity by turning turbines in the same way as with fossil fuels and geothermal power except it is more environmentally friendly. Only 7% of the available biomass is put to use. Since there is already so much of this “waste material” biomass energy is a great option for the future.

Nuclear Power

Nuclear energy is made with uranium, which is highly radioactive. Nuclear power provides about 17% of the world’s electricity. Even so, there are over 400 nuclear power plants worldwide and at least 100 in the United States alone.

How nuclear power is made

Nuclear power is made by boiling water to create steam and turn turbines. The water is boiled with uranium rods compiled of purified uranium pellets which are bundled together. When so much pure uranium is packed together, the atoms start exciting eachother, and eventually the uranium will heat up to very high temperatures. This boils the water. Then when the uranium reaches a certain temperature, it has to have the temperature brought down in a cooling tank. If the uranium is not cooled fast enough, it will melt and be impossible to cool down anymore and keep getting hotter and hotter. This is called the China Syndrome because people used to believe that it would get so hot that the uranium would burn down to the core of the earth and eventually get to China.

Nuclear Fission

Nuclear fission is when an atom is broken in two. An atom is held together with tremendous force, so when an atom splits it two, it creates an explosion. This explosion breaks up more atoms, which explode and break up more atoms, etc. When the atoms in uranium are broken down, the waste product is plutonium.

Waste Product

Plutonium, the most radioactive material on earth, is the result of nuclear power. Plutonium is used to make nuclear bombs. Plutonium takes ten thousand years to reduce it’s radioactivity by half, and even then it would still be extremely dangerous. There is no amount of plutonium so small that it will not cause cancer.

This type of electricity could potentially be and probably is far more dangerous than fossil fuel power, especially into the future.

Fossil Fuels

Fossil fuels (oil, diesel, petroleum, coal, etc.) were plants millions of years ago. All plants contain carbon (see Carbon Dioxide). When the plants die, they gradually turn into fossil fuels such as oil and coal. This process takes millions of years, but when the fossil fuels are mined out of the ground, the carbon is released as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. After they are mined out of the ground, fossil fuels are burned to make electricity or to power cars. this too releases still more carbon dioxide into the air.

Transportation

Car Types

Gas Engine Cars

Gas powered cars mainly run on fossil fuels. However, the use of biodiesel and ethanol is increasing. These alternative fuels are made from waste material–scrap wood, used paper, straw, ect. Sometimes they are even made from soybeans. Biodiesel and ethanol are clean fuels, releasing pollution only a miniscule fraction of the more popular fossil fuels.

Electric Cars

Electric cars are less noisy than gas cars and release no direct carbon emissions. Even an electric car run on electricity produced by burning oil or natural gas is still releasing less carbon dioxide than it would running on petroleum. I highly recommend the video Who Killed the Electric Car, which is about how electric cars were briefly popular in California, and all their owners loved them, until the car companies who were selling them turned around and confiscated them and I won’t tell you anymore so there will be an air of suspense encouraging you to watch the video.

Smart Cars

Hybrids

Click Here.

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars

External Links

Here are some links to more information on global warming:

http://www.globalwarming.org/

http://www.climatehotmap.org/

http://www.ucar.edu/learn/1_3_1.htm

http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/ggccebro/chapter1.html

http://www.agu.org/eos_elec/99148e.html