Global Warming and Effects of Environmental Pollution

Global warming refers to the overall rise in the average temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere. The main source of global warming is the increase of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, methane and chlorofluorocarbon in the atmosphere.

The Concentration of greenhouses gases

The above table shows the concentration of gases in the atmosphere.

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When the sun’s rays shine on the Earth, part of the light energy is absorbed as heat by the Earth’s surface while the rest is reflected back into the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases act like the glass surface of a greenhouse and reflect the heat back to the earth, resulting in an increase in temperature.

The Greenhouse Effect

When sunlight enters the atmosphere, some of the solar radiation is reflected back into space but most of it is absorbed by the Earth’s surface to heat up land and sea surfaces. As the Earth is heated up, heat in the form of infrared radiation is reflected back into space. However, most of the heat does not escape as it is trapped in the atmosphere by greenhouse gases which in turn radiate infrared rays back to Earth.

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This heats up the Earth which would otherwise to be too cold for living organisms. This phenomenon is called the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effects is linked to global warming because when more greenhouse gases are produced, more heat is trapped, resulting in an increase of Earth’s temperature. Ways to reduce greenhouse gases and global warming: a) reducing the burning of fossil fuels b) using alternative sources of energy such as hydro, wind and solar energy c) reducing deforestation d) replanting forest trees.