Global Warming

Presented By
Madhavi Nimma
Date: August 8th, 2010
 Agenda

 What is Global Warming?

 Green house effect
 Global Warming Causes
 Global Warming effects
 Global Warming Solutions
 What is Global Warming?

 Global warming is an increase in the average temperature of

earth's surface.
 Since the late 1800's, the global average temperature has increased about 0.7
to 1.4 degrees F (0.4 to 0.8 degrees C).
 Many experts estimate that the average temperature will rise an additional
2.5 to 10.4 degrees F (1.4 to 5.8 degrees C) by 2100 which would be much
larger than most past rates of increase.
 What is Global Warming (Contd…)?

Earth is naturally insulated by a delicate balance of heat-trapping( or

“greenhouse”) gases in the atmosphere. When the sun shines on the earth,
some of that heat is absorbed, keeping earth warm enough to support life.

What went wrong?

The problem is that over last century, we humans have been releasing more
and more carbon dioxide (CO2) and other heat trapping gases like
Methane(CH4)…. into the atmosphere by burning fuels, cutting down
forests….These additional gases have upset the natural balance of our
atmosphere, trapping more heat than is healthy for earth.

Signs telling us that everything is not normal!

Glaciers are melting

 sea levels are rising,
Cloud forests are drying,
Wildlife is scrambling to keep pace
Floods in the areas when flood history is not common
 Green House Effect

The "greenhouse effect" is the warming that happens when certain gases in Earth's
atmosphere trap heat. These gases let in light but keep heat from escaping, like the
glass walls of a greenhouse.

Sunlight shines onto the Earth's surface, where it is absorbed and then radiates
back into the atmosphere as heat. In the atmosphere, “greenhouse” gases trap
some of this heat, and the rest escapes into space. The more greenhouse gases are
in the atmosphere, the more heat gets trapped.
 Aren’t the temperature changes natural?

The average global temperature and concentrations of carbon dioxide (one of the major
greenhouse gases) have fluctuated on a cycle of hundreds of thousands of years as the
Earth's position relative to the sun has varied. As a result, ice ages have come and gone.
However, for thousands of years now, emissions of GHGs to the atmosphere have been
balanced out by GHGs that are naturally absorbed. As a result, GHG concentrations and
temperature have been fairly stable. This stability has allowed human civilization to develop
within a consistent climate. briefly influence global temperatures.
Occasionally, other factors like Volcanic eruptions influenced earth’s temperature. But
these have no lasting effect beyond a few years. Now, humans have increased the amount of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by more than a third since the industrial revolution.
Changes this large have historically taken thousands of years, but are now happening over
the course of decades.

Why is this a concern?

The rapid rise in greenhouse gases is a problem because it is changing the climate
faster than some living things may be able to adapt. Also, a new and more
unpredictable climate poses unique challenges to all life.
Historically, Earth's climate has regularly shifted back and forth between temperatures
like those we see today and temperatures cold enough that large sheets of ice covered
much of North America and Europe. The difference between average global
temperatures today and during those ice ages is only about 5 degrees Celsius (9
degrees Fahrenheit), and these swings happen slowly, over hundreds of thousands of
years.
Now, with concentrations of greenhouse gases rising, Earth's remaining ice sheets
(such as Greenland and Antarctica) are starting to melt too. The extra water could
potentially raise sea levels significantly

Scientists are already seeing some of these changes occurring more quickly than they
had expected. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, eleven of
the twelve hottest years since thermometer readings became available occurred
between 1995 and 2006.
Global Warming causes
 What Causes Global Warming?

 Scientists have spent decades figuring out what is causing global warming.
They've looked at the natural cycles and events that are known to influence
climate.
 One of the first things scientists learned is that there are several greenhouse
gases responsible for warming, and humans emit them in a variety of ways.
Computers can

 Increase Business Efficiency

 Enable dematerialization
 Reduce the need for people to travel..

BUT

Computer consume high energy and also many materials use

to load a PC are hardazous and difficult to recycle. Only 15% of
the material can be recycled.

Information and Communication technology releases 2% of

CO2 which is same as aviation.
Global warming effects
 Some impacts from increasing temperatures are already happening:

Ice is melting worldwide, especially at the Earth’s Researchers has tracked the decline of the
Sea level rise became faster over the last century.
poles. This includes mountain glaciers, ice sheets penguins on Antarctica, where their
covering West Antarctica and Greenland. numbers have fallen from 32,000 breeding
pairs to 11,000 in 30 years.

Weather damage : Extreme weather

Threats to Desserts: The rate of evaporation
in deserts can be 20 times higher than the
rate of precipitation.
Threats to human health: Tropical
conditions might become more frequent and
diseases, such as malaria and dengue,
therefore more damaging.
might spread to larger regions. Longer-lasting
and more intense heat waves could cause
more deaths and illnesses.
Other effects could happen later this century, if warming continues.

 Sea levels are expected to rise between 7 and 23 inches (18 and 59 centimeters) by
the end of the century, and continued melting at the poles could add between 4 and
8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters).
 Hurricanes and other storms are likely to become stronger.
 Species that depend on one another may become out of sync. For example, plants
could bloom earlier than their pollinating insects become active.
 Floods and droughts will become more common. Rainfall in Ethiopia, where droughts
are already common, could decline by 10 percent over the next 50 years.
 Less fresh water will be available by 2100, leaving thousands of people who rely on it
for drinking water and electricity without a source of either.
 Some diseases will spread, such as malaria carried by mosquitoes.
 Ecosystems will -Wildlife research scientists has found that since the mid-1980s, with
less ice on which to live and fish for food, polar bears have gotten considerably
skinnier. Polar bear biologist Ian Stirling has found a similar pattern in Hudson
Bay. He fears that if sea ice disappears, the polar bears will as well.
Global Warming Solutions
 Green Computing or Green IT

 Green IT is the practice of designing, manufacturing, using, and disposing of computers,

servers, and associated subsystems—such as monitors, printers, storage devices, and
networking and communications systems—efficiently and effectively with minimal or no
impact on the environment.

 The goals of green computing are to reduce the use of hazardous materials, maximize
energy efficiency during the product's lifetime, and promote the recyclability of defunct
products and factory waste.

 Research continues into key areas such as making the use of computers as energy-efficient
as possible, and designing algorithms and systems for efficiency-related computer
technologies.
 Plant a Tree - Trees, when fully grown, will help keep the planet cooler. Also,
they absorb CO2 as they grow. On the same point, you could protest against the demolition of
the r rainforests.

When you are at home, and your getting a little cold. Put a jumper on and do
not adjust the heating. The extra heat produced by our homes also affects
the planet. So try wearing an extra layer in winter.

Walking instead of taking the car will help reduce pollution. As well as
stopping pollution, you are giving yourself exercise, something important for
our bodies. So the next time you get into your car, or your motorbike, think -
do I have to make this journey by vehicle or can I walk?

Use Solar Energy - after all it is free; all you need to buy is the equipment.
You can get much of your hot water and heating from the sun and even
generate electricity.
Keeping to the speed limit can also help the environment. The more you
speed the more petrol you are going to use, making the pollution higher. Also,
SUV’s make about six times their own weight in CO2 each year. A small
efficient diesel car covering the same distance not only uses much less fuel; it
makes two thirds less.

Reduce, reuse and recycle - Buy only what you need; don’t stock the
cupboards with things you may or may not use. Reuse whatever you can, like
containers and paper, and recycle what you cannot reuse. It really is as
simple as that.

Turning off unused sources of power such as Computers, televisions and

heaters will help the environment, as well as save money
Thank You