Article on pollution and global warming based on carbon footprints by advanced society
Answers
Today’s changing life style has a considerable impact on the environment and also has an effect in climate change. The main responsible component is emission of huge quantity of greenhouse gases that get produced during the usage of electricity, transportation, cooking, burning and consumption of various grades of products and various Industrial applications. This may be called as carbon footprint which leads to Global warming. Therefore one should understand what exactly the meaning of Carbon footprint is and how it is effecting the global warming and how we can contribute to prevent the adverse effect of Global warming by controlling Carbon Footprints.
What is carbon Foot print??
The total amount of greenhouse gases produced either directly or indirectly supported by human activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide (CO2). Apart from Carbon dioxide (CO2) other greenhouse gases are consist of Methane (CH4), Nitrous Oxide (N2O), Ozone (O3), and other halocarbons.
Many of our actions generate carbon emissions, which contribute to accelerating global warming and climate change. For example; when we drive a car, the engine burns fuel which generates a certain amount of CO2, depending on its fuel consumption and the driving distance. Even if we heat/cool our house with electricity, the generation of electrical power may also have emitted a certain amount of CO2. During the production of the food and goods some quantities of CO2 also get emitted.
Carbon footprint is the sum of all emissions of CO2 (carbon dioxide), which were generated by our activities in a given time frame. Usually a carbon footprint is calculated for the time period of a year.
Other greenhouse gases, produced by human activities, include:
·
Methane (CH4), emitted by agriculture, energy exploration, decay of
organic waste, production and transport of coal, natural gas, and oil
etc.
· Nitrous Oxide (N2O), produced by various agricultural and industrial practices and combustion of fossil fuels.
· Tropospheric ozone (O3), created by the reaction of sunlight with human-produced pollutants from vehicles and power plants.
· Fluorinated gases like Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and other halocarbons such as perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) – generated from chemicals used in refrigeration, air conditioning, and other industrial processes.
Various study revealed the following:
1) Fig- Uppar - Shown: Major greenhouse gas emissions by Sectors
2) Fig- Lower- shown: Sources individually for the CO2, CH4 & N2O gases
Global warming causes by greenhouse effect :
Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere act like a mirror and reflect back to the Earth a part of the heat radiation, which would otherwise be lost to space. The higher the concentration of green house gases like carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the more heat energy is being reflected back to the Earth.
The increase of greenhouse gas concentration (mainly carbon dioxide) led to a substantial warming of the earth and the sea, called Global Warming. In other words: The increase in the man-made emission of greenhouse gases is the cause for global warming.
Effects of global warming:
There are various effects observed on the earth due to Global warming, some of the examples are as given below:
1) Cyclones & storm (typhoon, Hurricane) droughts, flood and changing weather patterns.
2) Raising sea water Level
3) Raising atmospheric tempearture (Global average temperature increased)
4) changes in rainfall patterns
5) Scarcity of ground water
6) Imbalancing of ecosystem
7) Effect on wild life animels, forest and tree plantation
8) Glacier retreat declined
9) Ocean acidification
10) Oxygen depletion.
11) Effecting on health (like cardiovascular diseases,allergics from pollutant , heat stroke, hypothermia and lung & skin diseases)
12) Spreading of disease (Like infectious disease such as dengue fever,Nile Virus, encephalitis and malaria.)