Genesis chapter 1, verse 26
“Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
We may ask each other what is causing season change. What is happening to the Arctic Ice? What is causing ozone depletion? And so on, so forth.
The environmentalists are talking about the term "Global Warming" and identifying that the rise in Earth temperature is caused by greenhouse gases.
What is global warming?
From what I understand, it’s the phenomenon which begins when sunlight reaches the Earth, the clouds, atmospheric particles, reflective ground surfaces and surface of oceans then sends back about 30% of sunlight back into space, whilst the remaining is absorbed by land, air and oceans. These radiations warm the surface of the Earth, making an optimum temperature for life to survive. The atmosphere consists of many layers which help the solar rays to radiate by thermal and IR radiations to outer space. This helps in cooling down the extra rise in Earth temperature.
The problem arises when due to extra emission of carbon dioxide, water vapours, ozone, methane and all the other gases emitted by factories are radiated back to Earth. These are called greenhouse gases. When these greenhouse gases are reabsorbed in the atmosphere layer, it helps to maintain Earth's average temperature to sustain life. If these gases completely reflect, the temperature of Earth will be 0⁰F.
The real problem that Earth face is the extra concentration of these greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The major greenhouse gases are water vapour, which causes about 36-70% of the greenhouse effect on Earth (not including clouds); carbon dioxide, which causes 9-26%; methane, which causes 4-9%, and ozone, which causes 3-7% (Google).
Let us understand the major cause of these artificial emissions destroying the reabsorption capacity of the atmosphere. Globalization, industrialization, urbanization and what not is the recent talk of the 20th century.Whilst it’s a bad situation, on average over 8 billion tons of carbon dioxide is pumped as thermal radiation in the atmosphere, resulting in increased levels of greenhouse gases.
There is a broad agreement among climate scientist about ongoing perceptions concerning an unnatural weather change. They have affirmed the hypothesis that it is human impact that is making the planet heat up. These gases are warming our planet.The planet has encountered the biggest increase in surface temperature in the course of the most recent 100 years. Earth's normal surface temperature raised between 0.6 to 0.9 degrees Celsius. Ocean levels have indicated a gradient and the Arctic ocean ice has consistently decreased by 2.7 % every decade since 1978.
Every year, researchers study the weather patterns to understand the outcomes of an Earth-wide temperature boost. Generally, all countries concur that natural, financial, and wellbeing results are probably going to happen if ebb and flow patterns continue.
In this vein, here's only a pinch of what we can anticipate:
· Melting icy masses, rising ocean levels, early snow melting, and serious dry spells - all these will contribute to increasingly abnormal water deficiencies and flooding the beach fronts.
· Forests, farms and urban areas will face heat waves pulverizing farms and fisheries.
· Disruption of environments, for example, coral reefs and Alpine glades could drive many plant and creature species to eliminate.
· Allergies, asthma, and irresistible illness episodes will turn out to be increasingly basic because of the expanded development of dust delivering dust particles, gases and other aerosols that will elevate the levels of air contamination, and the spread of conditions positive for pathogens, viruses, and mosquitoes.
Nations around the globe are increasing their game in the battle against environmental change. The objective is basic. Carbon dioxide is the atmosphere's most noticeably terrible foe. It's discharged when oil, coal, and other non-renewable energy sources are copied for vitality—the vitality we use to control our homes, vehicles, and cell phones. By utilizing less of it, we can check our commitment to environmental change.
Wondering how to stop a worldwide temperature alteration? Decrease your carbon impression by following a couple of simple steps many have agreed we can take.
1. Share
This is the single simplest way you can affect worldwide environmental change. Converse with your loved ones and tell them about the situation and what we as humans are doing to the environment. Communicate with them how they can reduce the carbon footprints. Simply educate about cleanliness which will do about 20% of the specific care we can do.
2. Sustainable power source
It's aone-time investment and a possibility to move to a sustainable source of energy which is sunlight. Choose a service organization that creates, at any rate, a large portion of its capacity from wind or sunlight based and has been approved by the government. Another way, if that isn't feasible for you, is to investigate your electric bill and use numerous different approaches to help sustainable sources on their month to month articulations and sites.
3. Diminish water consumption
Saving water diminishes carbon contamination as well. We can do it. So scrub down, turn off the tap while brushing your teeth, and reuse water to water plants. Maintaining a strategy can save up to a few tons of gallons of water yearly.
4. Procurement of better bulbs
LED lights utilize around 80 percent less vitality than ordinary incandescent. They're additionally less expensive over the long haul: A 10-watt LED that replaces your conventional 60-watt bulb will spare you some thousands over the light's life.
5. Pull the plug(s)
Taken together, the outlets in your house are likely fuelling around 65 unique gadgets—a normal burden for a home is sound and video gadgets, cordless vacuums and force devices, and different hardware use energy in any event, when they're not charging. So don't leave completely energized gadgets connected to your home's outlets.Unplug once in a while utilized gadgets or attach them into electrical extensions and clocks, and alter your PCs and screens to consequently shut down to the most reduced force mode when not being used.
6. Drive an eco-friendly vehicle
When you plan to buy a car for home, keep in mind wheel arrangements, mileage and fuel efficiency. Most of us ignore and yearly spend more than normal on fuel consumption.
7. Carbon impressions
Usually, the bulk of an individual’s carbon footprint will come from transportation, housing and food. In simple words, if you drive to work, you are burning some amount of fossil fuel. The office itself is using electricity and other workers also drive to work. Each one is contributing small amounts of carbon footprints.
So we need a global scale campaign.There are choices you can make in your day-to-day life to lessen your impact on the environment.
Jennifer Javed Khan is a PSI young writer from Pakistan.