What is Global Warming?

Global warming is the long-term heating of Earth’s surface observed due to human activities, primarily fossil fuel burning, which increases heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in Earth’s atmosphere. Global warming can affect our environment in many ways and could eventually impact human health as well. There are many causes of Global Warming, however, there are several approaches we can take to essentially avoid it. 

What causes Global Warming?

According to the National Climate Assessment, human influences are the number one cause of Global Warming. Especially the carbon pollution we cause by burning fossil fuels, and the destruction of forests. The carbon dioxide, methane, and other pollutants we release into the atmosphere act like a blanket almost, trapping the sun’s heat and causing the planet to therefore warm up significantly. Using transportation is also a big cause of Global warming because of the burning of fossil fuels, like gasoline, releasing carbon dioxide. Transportation is a way of every-day life, so we are constantly harming the environment and contributing to Global Warming. This warming is altering the Earth’s climate system; including its land, and ice, in far-reaching ways. 

What are the effects of Global Warming?

More frequent and severe weather: Higher temperatures are worsening many types of disasters including storms, heat waves, floods, and droughts. A warmer climate makes an atmosphere that can collect, retain, and drop more water, therefore changing weather patterns where wet areas become wetter and dry areas dryer. A warmer, wetter world is also an aid for food-borne and waterborne illnesses and disease-carrying insects such as mosquitos. 

Higher sea levels: The polar regions are particularly vulnerable to a warming atmosphere. Average temperatures in the arctic are rising twice as fast as they are elsewhere on Earth. Additionally, the world’s ice sheets are melting extremely fast. This is having a big impact on the region’s people, wildlife, and plants. Another big impact on this region and a lot of the world are the rising sea levels, which are caused mostly by a lot of the melting of ice-sheets. By 2100, it is estimated that our oceans will be one to four feet higher, which is a big threat to coastal systems and low-lying areas.    

How can we avoid Global Warming?

Reduce water waste: Saving water reduces carbon pollution. This is because it takes a lot of energy to pump, heat, and treat water. Taking shorter showers and turning off the tap while brushing your teeth are both ways to save water.  The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) estimates that if just one out of every 100 American homes were retrofitted with water-efficient fixtures, about 100 million-kilowatt hours of electricity would be saved, therefore avoiding 80,000 tons of Global Warming pollution.

Eat the food you buy: Approximately 10% of U.S. energy use goes into growing, processing, packaging, and shipping food, about 40% of which just ends up in the landfill. Therefore, if you are wasting less food, you’re likely cutting down on energy consumption. 

Recycle!!: Recycling helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing energy consumption.

Overall

Global Warming is a big issue that can affect us in many ways. We may not feel them right now, but we could experience them in the future. However, there are also ways we can avoid it. We will never be able to get rid of it completely, but we could keep Global Warming from doing too much damage to our environment.

Source: https://climate.nasa.gov/global-warming-vs-climate-change/