Global Warming
For the last 20 years or so the subject of global warming has spawned heated debate among the world’s brightest minds. Its causes and effects, if either actually exists, have been hotly debated. The most popular hypothesis is called the greenhouse effect with the agreed upon cause being green house gasses. These gasses are all naturally occurring and include water vapor, methane, oxygen, and the now infamous carbon dioxide. Greenhouse gasses exist in the atmosphere and have an effect on our global weather. They trap radiated heat and prevent it from exiting our atmosphere. This supposedly increases global temperatures and is, or will, because melting of the polar ice caps. This in turn is expected to raise sea level and cause global coastal flooding.
Global warming is a matter of great concern that is unfortunately quite often overlooked in light of other problems that seem to be more immediately demanding. However, for all the attention that this issue does not draw, that is how dire it is growing to be. There are many problems that are causing global warming, and if they are not rectified or at least prevented from here on out there are going to be some severe ramifications in the near future. Greenhouse gases, holes in the ozone layer and the decay of the atmosphere are just a few of the problems that need to be at the very least understood by the general populace.
Carbon dioxide and other gases warm the surface of the planet naturally by trapping solar heat in the atmosphere. This is a good thing because it keeps our planet habitable. However, by burning fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil and clearing forests we have dramatically increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere and temperatures are rising.