Have you been wondering and asking yourself what this infamous term global warming is all about?

Or perhaps, in the course of your daily life, you have been hearing about it on television, radio stations, social media, newspapers or from various  environmental scientists but you don’t know what it entails? If yes, worry no more because you are in the right place. 

This article is just in place to help you and in five parts, you’ll learn and understand more about global warming and its effects on all the earth’s inhabitants, these are: human beings, the plants [flora] and the animals [fauna].

Then, what is global warming?

Global warming is the gradual and progressive increase in the temperature of the earth’s atmosphere, land and oceans due to air pollution caused mostly by greenhouse gases [GHGs] which comes as a result of human activities of burning fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal, and also wood and charcoal as source of energy.

Is global warming the same as climate change?

There exists a never-ending debate about global warming and climate change and what causes the other. However, this article is just in place to debunk all these theories and myths whether real or percieved.

Again, there are also doubts, confusion and contradictions among some people who say that global warming is the same as climate change. But no, they are not the same thing!

It is also not true to say that weather is the same as climate.

These terms [weather, climate, global warming and climate change] are different. However, they are very much inter-connected to a point where one cannot talk about one without mentioning the other.

For instance, weather is an aspect of climate whereby climate is the weather pattern of a particular region observed over a long period of time – usually between 30 to 35 years.

In the same way, global warming is intrinsically connected to climate change because global warming is the major cause of climate change. This means one effect of global warming is climate change through a process called The Greenhouse Effect.

As we move forward, we will see how global warming  is not the same thing with climate change and how it causes climate change.

What is The Greenhouse Effect?

The earth is supposed to naturally regulate its overall temperatures through a process called The Greenhouse Effect.

The Greenhouse Effect is a natural cycle or process whereby the earth warms and cools itself in a very balanced manner making it possible for humans, flora and fauna to live on earth.

But, on the other hand, global warming is the man-made gradual heating of the earth raising the overall temperature of the earth’s atmosphere, land and sea.

The gradual increase of earth’s temperature has been recorded since the Industrial Revolution of the 1880s.

From the 1880s onwards, fossil fuels were hugely exploited to produce more energy to heat and power our homes, businesses, institutions, industries and to operate the machines that were being invented. Fossil fuels causes air pollution through production of Greenhouse Gases [GHGs].

This trend of burning fossil fuels has been increasing since industrial revolution and so air, land and sea pollution also increased.  

The main greenhouse gases

The main greenhouse gases are six, which are;

1. Carbon dioxide – (CO2)
2. Methane – (CH4)
3. Nitrous oxide – (N2O),
4. Hydro fluorocarbons – (HFCs),
5. Per fluorocarbons – (PFCs)
6. Sulfur hexafluoride – (SF6).

When these greenhouse gases are emitted into the atmosphere, they form a blanket or a barrier that traps heat bouncing off the earth surface i.e when some of this heat from the sun reaches the earth’s surface it is supposed to be radiated back into the air space. But because of the blanket or the barrier formed by greenhouse gases, the radiated heat remains in the atmosphere making our atmosphere warmer.

Therefore, every time we burn fossil fuels, we release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, we prevent the earth from warming up and cooling down naturally thus making planet earth get hotter.

If these gases are released continuously for a long time, the earth’s temperature rises gradually and the people, animals and plants experience extreme hot conditions making life difficult. Some earth’s regions are uninhabitable due extreme hot temperatures.

Analogy

We can compare The Natural Greenhouse Effect of the earth with you cooking in a kitchen with good ventilation whereby you can regulate the room temperature when it becomes too hot or cold hence making the temperatures conducive.

Then on the other hand, we can compare Global Warming of the earth to what happens when cooking in a kitchen with little or no ventilations at all. Doors and windows are completely closed. The room temperatures will keep on increasing to a point making the room very hot and inhabitable. Any person inside might collapse or even die.  

Effects of global warming

1. Climate change
2. Disappearing glaciers, ice caps and early snowmelt
3. Rising sea levels. A rising sea can wipe coastlines and is a threat to coastal communities
4. Disruption of habitats such as coral reefs, mangrove forests and alpine meadows. Many plants and animal species face extinction e.g Mangrove trees, polar bears etc.
5. Due to higher levels of air pollution, allergies, asthma and respiratory infectious disease outbreaks are more common .Hot temperatures forms the spread of conditions favorable to pathogens.
6. Forests, farms and cities face troublesome new pests and diseases. Eg. Army worm, asthma  

What next?

In our next article we shall talk about climate change in a detailed way.

Keep leaning from us! Green energy is the future we want!