Our Role in the Environment
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth (Gen1:1) and when he did I do not think this is the earth he had in mind. Anyone who has studied any amount of history is sure to see what a different place it was back then. Sure, we have computers and cell phones; cars, planes and trains; and all the many conveniences that have come with the development of all of the modern machines, but at a huge cost to our planet. A lot has been done in the past and there are things we can we do now and in the future to insure the health of our planet. We can insure the health of our planet by taking action and making changes that help reduce the abuse our planet takes. There are a host of problems that our planet faces, but I am just going to focus on the greenhouse effect and global warming since they go hand in hand.
To understand global warming we first have to understand about the greenhouse effect and greenhouse gases. Imagine a huge invisible blanket sounding the earth holding in part of the heat from the earth and allowing the other part to escape back into space.
According to Forecast Earth the "greenhouse effect" refers to the natural phenomenon that keeps the
Earth in a temperature range that allows life to flourish. The sun's enormous energy warms the
Earth's surface and its atmosphere. As this energy radiates back toward space as heat, a portion
is absorbed by a delicate balance of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere, among them carbon
dioxide and methane, which creates an insulating layer. (Forecast Earth authors, 2008)
One of the most important heat-trapping gases is carbon dioxide. This gas is in a delicate balance and too much of it causes serious problems for the greenhouse effect. The more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere the more heat gets...