Global warming is the warming up of the planet above the temperature it “should” be. It is
such a concern at the moment as it seems that the temperature is rising at a rate far faster than
ever before. It is believed that it may be the activities of the human population over the last
150 years or so that is causing it.
Mean temperatures over the whole planet have risen by about 0.74° C in the last 100 years. More than half of this increase has happened in the last 25 years. The temperature records used to calculate this are extensive.
They have been assembled from thousands of observation sites on land and sea covering a large, representative portion of the Earth’s surface. Checks and allowances have been made for any bias that may have arisen from the weather stations or instrument changes.
This is a worry because while the planet can cope with changes in temperature, which are known to have happened over periods of tens and hundreds of thousands of years in the past and certainly over millions of years, we don’t know how it will cope with relatively rapid changes in temperature. The current rate of change is much, much faster than any changes that have happened ever before as far as we are aware and this is a real problem as while animals and plants can adapt to slow changes by migration for instance, a rapid change will inevitably lead to large extinctions of many species. The human population of the earth is also dependent on a stable climate for established agriculture and also in cities, millions if not billions of people stand to suffer from the consequences of global warming, mainly the most vulnerable people in the undeveloped nations.
Global Warming is really a big problem we have to deal with nowadays, because it has the potential to change forever our lives and our planet’s environment as we know them, and this would affect the whole of mankind. We don’t need to wait for governments to find a solution for this problem: each individual can bring an
important help by adopting a more responsible life-style: starting from little, everyday things. It’s the only reasonable way to save our planet, before it is too late.
Here is a list of simple things that everyone can do in order to fight against and reduce the Global Warming phenomenon: some of these ideas are at no cost, some other require a little effort or investment, but can help you save a lot of money in the long run!
* Replace a regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL). CFLs use 60% less energy than a regular bulb.
* Install a programmable thermostat. Programmable thermostats will automatically lower the heat or air conditioning at night and raise them again in the morning.
* Clean or replace filters on your furnace and air conditioner. Cleaning a dirty air filter can save 350 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
* Choose energy efficient appliances when making new purchases. Look for the Energy Star label on new appliances to choose the most energy efficient products available.
* Do not leave appliances on standby. Use the “on/off” function on the machine itself. A TV set that’s switched on for 3 hours a day and in standby mode during the remaining 21 hours uses about 40% of its energy in standby mode.
* Move your fridge and freezer. Placing them next to the cooker or boiler consumes much more energy than if they were standing on their own. For example, if you put them in a hot cellar room where the room temperature is 30-35ºC, energy use is almost double and causes an extra 160kg of CO2 emissions for fridges per year and 320kg for freezers.
* Defrost old fridges and freezers regularly. Even better is to replace them with newer models, which all have automatic defrost cycles and are generally up to two times more energy-efficient than their predecessors.
* Cover your pots while cooking. Doing so can save a lot of the energy needed for preparing the dish. Even better are pressure cookers and steamers: they can save around 70%!
* Use the washing machine or dishwasher only when they are full. If you need to use them when they are half full, then use the half-load or economy setting. There is also no need to set the temperatures high. Nowadays detergents are so efficient that they get your clothes and dishes clean at low temperatures.
* Reuse your shopping bag. When shopping, it saves energy and waste to use a reusable bag instead of accepting a disposable one in each shop. Waste not only discharges CO2 and methane into the atmosphere, it can also pollute the air, groundwater and soil.
* Plant a tree. A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. Shade provided
by trees can also reduce your air conditioning bill by 10 to 15%.
Effects of Global Warming
such a concern at the moment as it seems that the temperature is rising at a rate far faster than
ever before. It is believed that it may be the activities of the human population over the last
150 years or so that is causing it.
Mean temperatures over the whole planet have risen by about 0.74° C in the last 100 years. More than half of this increase has happened in the last 25 years. The temperature records used to calculate this are extensive.
They have been assembled from thousands of observation sites on land and sea covering a large, representative portion of the Earth’s surface. Checks and allowances have been made for any bias that may have arisen from the weather stations or instrument changes.
This is a worry because while the planet can cope with changes in temperature, which are known to have happened over periods of tens and hundreds of thousands of years in the past and certainly over millions of years, we don’t know how it will cope with relatively rapid changes in temperature. The current rate of change is much, much faster than any changes that have happened ever before as far as we are aware and this is a real problem as while animals and plants can adapt to slow changes by migration for instance, a rapid change will inevitably lead to large extinctions of many species. The human population of the earth is also dependent on a stable climate for established agriculture and also in cities, millions if not billions of people stand to suffer from the consequences of global warming, mainly the most vulnerable people in the undeveloped nations.
Global Warming is really a big problem we have to deal with nowadays, because it has the potential to change forever our lives and our planet’s environment as we know them, and this would affect the whole of mankind. We don’t need to wait for governments to find a solution for this problem: each individual can bring an
important help by adopting a more responsible life-style: starting from little, everyday things. It’s the only reasonable way to save our planet, before it is too late.
Here is a list of simple things that everyone can do in order to fight against and reduce the Global Warming phenomenon: some of these ideas are at no cost, some other require a little effort or investment, but can help you save a lot of money in the long run!
* Replace a regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL). CFLs use 60% less energy than a regular bulb.
* Install a programmable thermostat. Programmable thermostats will automatically lower the heat or air conditioning at night and raise them again in the morning.
* Clean or replace filters on your furnace and air conditioner. Cleaning a dirty air filter can save 350 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
* Choose energy efficient appliances when making new purchases. Look for the Energy Star label on new appliances to choose the most energy efficient products available.
* Do not leave appliances on standby. Use the “on/off” function on the machine itself. A TV set that’s switched on for 3 hours a day and in standby mode during the remaining 21 hours uses about 40% of its energy in standby mode.
* Move your fridge and freezer. Placing them next to the cooker or boiler consumes much more energy than if they were standing on their own. For example, if you put them in a hot cellar room where the room temperature is 30-35ºC, energy use is almost double and causes an extra 160kg of CO2 emissions for fridges per year and 320kg for freezers.
* Defrost old fridges and freezers regularly. Even better is to replace them with newer models, which all have automatic defrost cycles and are generally up to two times more energy-efficient than their predecessors.
* Cover your pots while cooking. Doing so can save a lot of the energy needed for preparing the dish. Even better are pressure cookers and steamers: they can save around 70%!
* Use the washing machine or dishwasher only when they are full. If you need to use them when they are half full, then use the half-load or economy setting. There is also no need to set the temperatures high. Nowadays detergents are so efficient that they get your clothes and dishes clean at low temperatures.
* Reuse your shopping bag. When shopping, it saves energy and waste to use a reusable bag instead of accepting a disposable one in each shop. Waste not only discharges CO2 and methane into the atmosphere, it can also pollute the air, groundwater and soil.
* Plant a tree. A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. Shade provided
by trees can also reduce your air conditioning bill by 10 to 15%.
Effects of Global Warming
- There will be an increase in human health problems from air pollution and through the spread of certain diseases such as malaria. There would be an increase in heat-induced deaths and the increase in storms and floods would make food and medicine scarce and expensive. Death rate would be high and insurance premiums would rise, just to name a few of the domino effects this would have on humans.
- The Ozone Layer which is slowly becoming thin (caused by the damaged of Chlorofluorocarbons, an ozone depleting substance) would not be able to screen the earth from the deadly intensity of the Sun’s UV radiation. As a result, there would be skin cancer, cataracts and impaired immune systems.
- There would be an increase in the spreading and formation of acid rain from the combustion of fossil fuels due to the higher emissions of sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. As a result, water would become acidic in content and this would be harmful to plants and microorganisms in the ecosystem. The soil would become acidic in content and cause leaching of nutrients further down into the soil. Buildings and others things in the environment would be seriously damaged.
- Greenland ice sheet and Glaciers around the world are melting and even though it has no immediate effect, its oceans volume is increasing, which ultimately will lead to rise in sea levels. This rise in sea levels could cause flooding problems for low-lying coastal areas. Flooding would then cause soil erosion and the destruction of crops, soil, livestock, as well as human and animal habitat. Waterborne diseases such as cholera would spread. Forests, farms and cities would be infested with malaria-carrying mosquitoes.## Subscribe to Child Project Helper by Email
