Posted on June 26, 2007 in Latest News
The main natural cause for global warming is emission from fossil fuels and the greenhouse effect is further increased due to Carbon dioxide and other air pollution covering the earth’s atmosphere, akin to a blanket covering. This traps the heat from the sun and causes the atmospheric temperatures to rise significantly.
Industrialization-in the form of numerous coal-burning power plants-is another source of carbon dioxide pollution in the U.S., which is responsible for producing close to 2.5 billion tons of it every year. A close contender in this attribution race for global warming caused by the greenhouse effect is the automobile industry in the United States, which is the second largest source of increased heat on the earth, creating as it does, nearly 1.5 billion tons of this deadly gas annually.
Other possible theories for natural causes of global warming are major climate changes occurring. Some possibilities that scientists consider are explosions on the sun (sun spots), the changes in the earth’s orbit and in its orientation to the sun, volcanic eruptions on a massive scale and explosions caused due to large meteors striking the earth. Any small change in the earth’s orbit could have caused the earth to move closer or farther from the sun, which may have resulted in drastic change in temperatures considering the relative distance from its principle source of heat. These natural causes could have generated intense heat than what the sun normally gives off and some of this heat could have contributed to global warming.
Effects of natural causes of global warming
The effects of the natural causes of global warming, a complex phenomenon, can be serious if they are continual and go unchecked. Its full-scale impacts are hard to predict far in advance but scientists believe that certain consequences are most likely. Glaciers melting, severe droughts and early snow may result in dramatic water shortages and rising sea levels could be the precursor of coastal flooding on the Eastern seaboard, Florida and places like the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricanes are another possibility with warmer sea surface temperatures, especially in the southeastern Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Disease control may be difficult with newer troublesome pests and mosquito-borne diseases affecting forests, farms and cities. Natural habitats- coral reefs and alpine meadows- being disrupted could cause extinction of plant and animal species.
Hope for problems arising from natural causes of global warming
All is not lost as far as global warming concerns are directed. New age awareness and technology have ensured that with research and superior machinery, cars can run cleaner and burn less gas; the state can modernize power plants and generate electricity from nonpolluting sources, being energy efficient citizens of the earth, the use of electricity can be considerably reduced. The challenging part is in the consistent implementation of these solutions after creating world level awareness about them in every strata of society.
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