Basis of Climate Change

There are many reasons for this happening. But mostly, climate change had been blame on to technologies. Although these technologies really help us make our work easier, these were also the primary reason of the global problem these days. The very common is the greenhouse effect. For a simple definition "The greenhouse effect is the rise in temperature that the Earth experiences because certain gases in the atmosphere (water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane, for example) trap energy from the sun. Without these gases, heat would escape back into space and Earth's average temperature would be about 60ºF colder. Because of how they warm our world, these gases are referred to as greenhouse gases.", as define by the United States environmental Protection agency or EPA.

The greenhouse effect is important, and without this the earth wouldn't be warm enough for us to live. But what happened right now is that this greenhouse effect has become stronger and stronger. There are many factors which add up heat and make greenhouse effect stronger. The NASA's article which talks about climate change sited some gasses that contribute to the climate change. There are the natural causes such us water vapor and the release of carbon dioxide through natural processes such as volcanic eruptions. But depressingly human causes have more impact that the natural processes which make it become worst.

Carbon Dioxide produced by human activities such as "deforestation, land use changes, and burning fossil fuels. Humans have increased atmospheric CO₂ concentration by a third since the Industrial Revolution began. This is the most important long-lived "forcing" of climate change."

"Methane. A hydrocarbon gas produced both through natural sources and human activities, including the decomposition of wastes in landfills, agriculture, and especially rice cultivation, as well as ruminant digestion and manure management associated with domestic livestock. On a molecule-for-molecule basis, methane is a far more active greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, but also one which is much less abundant in the atmosphere."

"Nitrous oxide. A powerful greenhouse gas produced by soil cultivation practices, especially the use of commercial and organic fertilizers, fossil fuel combustion, nitric acid production, and biomass burning."

"Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Synthetic compounds of entirely of industrial origin used in a number of applications, but now largely regulated in production and release to the atmosphere by international agreement for their ability to contribute to destruction of the ozone layer. They are also greenhouse gases ."

I believe that production of these gases mostly came from the technologies that we are using today. That causes to affects the entire living thing on earth. And it is all because of human activities which produce gases more gases than the natural way that contributes to the greenhouse effect.

The first on my list would be the motor vehicles that we are using of everyday. In the modern transportation, we are now using motor vehicles. Because of these technologies, travel had been made easier and quicker but they are also the biggest contributor of air pollution which harms our environment and so us our health. According to International Bicycle Fund (IBF), motor vehicles are the biggest source of atmospheric pollution. According to health experts, "Road traffic is the fastest growing source of pollution in Europe and in some countries more people are dying as a result of this air pollution than are being killed in accidents," as stated on the article "Environment, Health & Transportation: Motor Vehicles and Air Pollution" of IBF.

Talking about motor vehicle pollution, we also can't escape from this reality. In the Philippines specifically in Metro Manila where it is the most populated place in the country. According to Claire Wallerstein on her article "Philippine Tackles Air Pollution", Smog constantly covers the city with about 2.2 million of motor vehicles are from traffic jams. As stated consequently, "According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), levels of lead in the air in Manila are more than three times the established safety limit, and concentrations of suspended particulate matter are also dangerously high. Other pollutants have not been measured." Motor Vehicle air pollution is apparently an inescapable reality in life these days.

If we would go back from the time where motor vehicles are not yet present, where transportation is done with horses, our air should have been clean and we would haven't experience air pollution. But I think that would be a waste of time and nobody would want to go back in the old days. In order to solve these problems, many are helping right now to think of ways on how to reduce pollution from our vehicles. Primarily, many are working out in reducing car emission and formulating new friendly technologies that would reduce air pollution from motor vehicles. An example would be the hybrid cars technology. This hybrid car technology has become popular when the gas prices have arisen and to solve the environmental problems we are facing today. As a solution manufacturers are making large efforts just to produce cars that are environmentally friendly.

On his article about "The Facts about Hybrid Car Emissions and Global Warming", Alex Haber pointed out some facts about this technology.

"Hybrid cars rely on a combination of two powers – electricity and fuel injection."

"An idling or stopped hybrid car automatically uses electrical power. Once the car begins to accelerate, it reverts to using the fuel engine. Also most hybrids recharge the batteries automatically by converting the energy during braking. Different models of cars vary in terms of when the electric power is used. For example, the Honda Civic Hybrid uses electric power to assist the gas engine during acceleration or going up hills. Other models run on rechargeable electricity during city driving at low speed but run on gasoline when the car's speed increases such as during highway driving,"

"Hybrid cars emit far lower levels of pollutants in the air than conventional cars, resulting decreased pollution and reduced effects of global warming. Because no two people drive the same way, it is therefore difficult to estimate, but emissions can be reduced from 25% to 90%, when comparing hybrid cars to conventional gas-powered vehicles. Hybrid car emissions also vary depending on the type of car. Some manufacturers add hybrid technology to existing car models while other manufacturers completely redesign cars with low emission and efficiency at the core. In any case, lower toxic fumes are appreciated in our oil-based economies."

Hybrid cars technology is a good strategy that helps reducing air pollution that would cause to climate change. I am looking forward to changes that this cause and reduce global warming. Aside from the contribution of motor vehicles to air pollution, industry pollution is another factor which contributed to air pollution. These are the thick smoke produced by many factories and thus, also a contributor to global warming. The Episcopal Global Warming Wiki sited that factory pollution is more than 40% of the pollution that causes global warming. Similar to the smoke emitted from motor vehicles, this also have bad effects in our health and so as in our environment. The air pollution is one of the greatest factor that would harm our respiratory system. According to the article on Episcopal Global Warming Wiki about "factory pollution", "One of the diseases that it causes is asthma. More than twenty million people a year have asthma attacks and over 9,000 kids in the United States die a year from athsma attacks. Other diseases are heart and lung diseases, and respiratory allergies."

Another technology that has been one of the factors of climate change is the light bulbs. As far as I’m concerned, this light bulb produces heat and carbon dioxide that has contributed to climate change. The light bulb are examples of technologies that help us make our daily living more easier but what we haven’t know, this is also a contributor to global warming. Because of this, many scientists are suggesting to change the light bulbs which are generally used by people right now into Compact fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFL). “Compact fluorescent light bulbs use at least two-thirds less energy than standard incandescent bulbs to provide the same amount of light, and they last up to 10 times longer. Compact fluorescent light bulbs also generate 70 percent less heat, so they are safer to operate and can also reduce energy costs associated with cooling homes and offices,” according to an article on About.com, related on the environmental issues. But there are still some issues about these compact fluorescent bulbs. For the reason that every compact fluorescent bulbs have contained about 5 mg of mercury, a toxic heavy metal which can be a cause of serious health problems if it is inhaled or if ingested.

Another activity that has caused climate change is deforestation. As defined by Enviro Facts, "Deforestation is the permanent destruction of indigenous forests and woodlands." And according to Wikipedia "Deforestation is the conversion of (forest)ed areas to non-forested land, for uses such as ,pasture, urban use, logging purposes, and can result in arid land and wastelands." Based on the article I have read about deforestation at the Global Oneness, deforestation has been caused by either natural or human relate cause. Natural cause of deforestation can be linked to tsunamis, forest fires, volcanic eruptions, glaciation and desertification while the human related caused of deforestation includes agriculture, urban sprawl, unsustainable forestry practices, mining, and petroleum exploration. We are all concern that this is also a major problem our environment is facing today is mostly caused by human. Because of the occurrence of new technologies our forest are in harm. Enviro Facts itemize how deforestation has occurred. These are:

· conversion of forests and woodlands to agricultural land to feed growing numbers of people;

· development of cash crops and cattle ranching, both of which earn money for tropical countries;

· commercial logging (which supplies the world market with woods such as meranti, teak, mahogany and ebony) destroys trees as well as opening up forests for agriculture;

· felling of trees for firewood and building material; the heavy lopping of foliage for fodder; and heavy browsing of saplings by domestic animals like goats.

Deforestation is also considered as a source of greenhouse effect. This is because carbon dioxide (CO2) is a major contributor of greenhouse effect. Our forests act as a major carbon store because carbon dioxide (CO2) is taken up from the atmosphere and used to produce the carbohydrates, fats, and proteins that make up the tree. When forests are cleared, and the trees are either burnt or rot, this carbon is released as CO2 which leads to the increase in the atmospheric CO2 concentration.

Global Warming is a very alarming situation of all of us. Since it does not only pertain to a specific location or just a group of people but it refers to all of us around the world. If we won't be careful enough from using technologies, at the end it we are still the one who gets infected by it. If we love our own body then we should think first of loving our environment. Because the fact that we should be aware of is that if of environment will be damaged we are the very first to experience and feel the drawbacks of the damage of our environment.