Environmental degradation and greenhouse gases in the modern era

Climate Change

Everything changes in this era of rapid technological developments. More and better machineries are being developed to ease our everyday chores, but also to make our leisure time more pleasurable. Then, with globalization and market liberalization, organizations based their growth on the benefits of several countries' comparative advantage, most commonly cheaper resources. Customers now have a wide palette of products and services from which to choose those that best suit their needs. This advancement in all domains has not however been without side effects. The most important negative impact has been felt by our natural environment.

Some examples of the toll excessive industrialization has had upon the environment include: large corporations dump their waste in inadequate conditions and pollute the surrounding waters and natural habitats leading to the death of the plants, fish and animals in the region; the less educated and less responsible consumers dump their waste in nature (plastics materials are the most common waste with a disastrous effect upon nature); oil and gas drillers have drained the reserves near to the ground and now have to drill at larger depths -- this requires the usage of chemicals to break the rocks and these chemicals pollute the land and the water; finally, the increasing income per capita and the growth of the automobile industry have generated a massive number of cars, which consume gasoline and release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere -- these greenhouse gases are the principal determinant of global warming -- the final effect of all these changes.

2. Climate Change

Generically, climate change stands for a process in which the Earth's temperature conditions suffer severe modifications, to lead to normally unexpected results. The process can expand to even thousands of years and the most relevant example is given by the transition from the glacial periods to the movement of the ice to the poles or their melting. At those stages, climate change was generated by causes such as changes in the Earth's orbit, changes in the intensity with which the sun would heat and light the Earth, volcanic eruptions which generate change trough their emission of carbon dioxide and aerosols into the atmosphere.

Another cause, however generally associated with the contemporaneous era, was the emission of greenhouse gases. These would be released into the atmosphere when changes occurred in the Earth's temperature. To better understand, higher temperatures mean that the oceans release carbon dioxide which increases the concentration of the greenhouse gases. On the other hand, cooler periods imply that the oceans attract higher levels of carbon dioxide, leading to a reduced concentration of the greenhouse gases. During glacial periods for instance, high levels of carbon dioxide have been observed, whereas these levels were significantly lower during warmer periods. The final cause of past climate changes revolves around modifications in ocean currents, which occur when modifications occur in the Earth's temperature. Oceans can impact climate change as they distribute heat across the globe (United States Environmental Protection Agency).

In more recent times, the main causes of climate change have been intensified through the actions of humanity. Following the Industrial Revolution, massive modifications occurred in natural habitats due to increased climate change. However, given that some of these changes are natural, it is rather difficult to assess the percentage of climate change that is actually due to natural conditions and which can be attributed to human actions alone. Still, despite this, fact remains that climate change has been revealed in recent times through modifications in atmosphere conditions, temperature, precipitations and storms, and fourth, sea levels.

Changes in atmosphere occurred due to increased levels of greenhouse gases, aerosols and radiative forcing that were released through intensified human actions in the industrial era, such as deforestations or the burning of fossil fuels. These materialized in increased concentrations of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, leading as such to a tendency of growth in temperatures. The most damaging greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. The aerosols include the sulfate aerosols, black carbon and other aerosols associated with mass burning.

Changes in temperature occur on all of Earth's spheres, from the surface to the stratosphere up to 14 miles. Throughout the past three decades, an average growth of 1° F. has been observed; the Earth is heating at a rate of 0.32°F per decade, or 3.2°F per century. Additionally, the eight warmest years have been registered after 1998, with the hottest one being 2005 (United States Environmental Protection Agency).

Then, as temperature increases, so do the precipitations, as rising temperatures lead to rising evaporations, which in the end materialize in higher levels of precipitations. Changes in storms are extremely difficult to assess and analyses have revealed no significant modifications throughout the past century. Finally, in terms of sea levels, an increase of 4.8-8.8 inches has been observed throughout the course of the past century. This is associated with increased temperatures in both atmosphere as well as oceans, leading to an expansion of the oceans and the meting of the glaciers. In the United States for instance, sea levels increased by 0.08-0.12 inches per year (United States Environmental Protection Agency).

Given that the global population maintains its current levels of pollution and the level of greenhouse gases remains constant, it is highly probable that the these greenhouse gases will be found in increased concentrations within the atmosphere. This in turn will generate increasing temperatures, modifications in terms of precipitations and storms and increases in sea levels. The future of climate change will however depend on several forces, the most relevant of them being the strategies relative to greenhouse gases (will they be reduced, maintained or increased?), the strength of the relationship between greenhouse gases and aerosols and the features of climate and finally, the degree of climate change due to natural phenomena (United States Environmental Protection Agency).

4. Conclusions and Recommendations

In order to most effectively approach the matter of climate change and contemporaneous features, it is vital to make the distinction between climate change and global warming. Climate change refers to a process expanded through long periods of time in which the Earth's natural conditions suffer modifications. Global warming is part of the larger concept of climate change and refers to the specific situation in which the Earth's temperatures increase, generally due to increased emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities. Global warming is the most stringent concern of the contemporaneous environmentalists, but a resolution is impeded by those organizations which either deny the existence of the process, or which place their own profits in front of environmental stability.

In this light of events, it is imperious that immediate measures be taken, otherwise the Earth will in the future become less able to support human and animal life -- the effects are already here and revolve primarily around increasing temperatures, raising sea and ocean levels, the melting of the glaciers, changes in regnum and seasons' structure. The measures that could be taken in order to reduce global warming include:

Massive reduction in the polluting waste generated by automobiles, power plants and other vehicles

Significant investments in technologies that support hybrid engine cars and fuel efficient engines

Investments in alternative sources of renewable energy, such as wind, sun or geothermal

Investments in modernizing the energy generators, which today consume large amounts of energy and generate high levels of greenhouse gases

Investments in research and development to manufacture home and industry appliances that consume less energy and generate lower levels of waste (Natural Defense Resource Council)

Development of educational programs for the population that teaches them how to become environmentally responsible consumers; they should start in school and continue in the work place and individually

References:

Greenpeace U.S.A., http://www.greenpeace.org last accessed on March 31, 2009

Natural Resources Defense Council, http://www.nrdc.org last accessed on March 31, 2009

Union of Concerned Scientists, http://www.ucsusa.org last accessed on March 31, 2009

United States Environmental Protection Agency, http://www.epa.gov last accessed on March 31, 2009