GlObA

l WaRmInG
Global warming is the observed and projected increases in the average temperature
of Earth's atmosphere and oceans. The Earth's average temperature rose about 0.6°
Celsius (1.1° Fahrenheit) in the 20th century

Cause and effect for global warming

Cause of global warming
Almost 100% of the observed temperature increase over the last 50 years has been due to
the increase in the atmosphere of greenhouse gas concentrations like water vapour,
carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and ozone. Greenhouse gases are those gases that
contribute to the greenhouse effect (see below). The largest contributing source of
greenhouse gas is the burning of fossil fuels leading to the emission of carbon dioxide.

The greenhouse effect

When sunlight reaches Earth's surface some is absorbed and warms the earth and most of
the rest is radiated back to the atmosphere at a longer wavelength than the sun light.
Some of these longer wavelengths are absorbed by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
before they are lost to space. The absorption of this longwave radiant energy warms the
atmosphere. These greenhouse gases act like a mirror and reflect back to the Earth some
of the heat energy which would otherwise be lost to space. The reflecting back of heat
energy by the atmosphere is called the "greenhouse effect".
The major natural greenhouse gases are water vapor, which causes about 36-70% of the
greenhouse effect on Earth (not including clouds); carbon dioxide CO2, which causes 9-
26%; methane, which causes 4-9%, and ozone, which causes 3-7%. It is not possible to
state that a certain gas causes a certain percentage of the greenhouse effect, because the
influences of the various gases are not additive. Other greenhouse gases include, but are
not limited to, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons
and chlorofluorocarbons.

Global warming causes by greenhouse effect

Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (see above) 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 emission of carbon dioxide into the
environment mainly from burning of fossil fuels (oil, gas, petrol, kerosene, etc.) has been
increased dramatically over the past 50 years .
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 two major effects of global warming:

• Increase of temperature on the earth by about 3° to 5° C (5.4° to 9° Fahrenheit) by

the year 2100.

• Rise of sea levels by at least 25 meters (82 feet) by the year 2100.
More details about the effects of global warming :

Increasing global temperatures are causing a broad range of changes. Sea levels are rising
due to thermal expansion of the ocean, in addition to melting of land ice. Amounts and
patterns of precipitation are changing. The total annual power of hurricanes has already
increased markedly since 1975 because their average intensity and average duration have
increased (in addition, there has been a high correlation of hurricane power with tropical
sea-surface temperature).
Changes in temperature and precipitation patterns increase the frequency, duration, and
intensity of other extreme weather events, such as floods, droughts, heat waves, and
tornadoes. Other effects of global warming include higher or lower agricultural yields,
further glacial retreat, reduced summer stream flows, species extinctions. As a further
effect of global warming, diseases like malaria are returning into areas where they have
been extinguished earlier.
Although global warming is affecting the number and magnitude of these events, it is
difficult to connect specific events to global warming. Although most studies focus on the
period up to 2100, warming is expected to continue past then because carbon dioxide
(chemical symbol CO2) has an estimated atmospheric lifetime of 50 to 200 years. For a
summary of the predictions for the future increase in temperature up to 2100.
Slowly but surely the information about global warming seems to reach the most
obstinate ignorants. Therefore let's sum up the current knowledge:

• The global warming does indeed exist and it was mainly caused by humankind
who is even still accelerating it.

• From global warming we expect a rise of the average temperature leading to -

among other things - melting of glaciers and melting of the polar ice, increase of
the mean sea level as well as generally more of extreme weather events and nature
disasters like droughts, floods, tornadoes, etc.

• Only a drastic reduction of the waste gas emissions in the very near future can
stop this trend.
 • CO2 (Carbon dioxide) emissions belong to the most important causes of global
warming. CO2 is inevitably created by burning fossil fuels like e.g. oil, natural
gas, diesel, organic-diesel, petrol, organic-petrol, ethanol.

• Recent investigations have shown that inconceivable catastrophic changes in the

environment will take place as soon as the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere
reaches the level of about 450 ppm. Today's concentration is already at 380 ppm
and it raises on average 2 - 3 ppm each year, so that the critical value will be
reached in approximately 25 to 30 years from now. See here for some graphs.
In the past, there was more or less a direct relation between the energy consumption
(mainly fossil fuels) and the welfare of a country. This has so far prevented many
countries from taking serious actions to reduce their consumption of fossil fuels. As of
today however, this relation is not true any more. Germany is a good example of a
country where the CO2 emissions have been decreasing for several years despite of a
growth of the economy.
In the Kyoto conference many countries have agreed to reduce their CO2 output until the
year 2012, on average to 5% below their respective emissions of the year 1990. The USA
- as the largest CO2 producer world wide - and most developing countries refused to sign
this agreement.