The story begins with greenhouse gases. Examples include carbon dioxide (the most famous) methane (CH4—extremely potent), nitrogen dioxide (N2O---from exhaust in cars), ozone (O3---found in photochemical smog), and most surprisingly, water vapor (H2O). Who knew that everyday water vapor is actually contributing to global climate change? Let’s spend a minute discussing carbon dioxide. This compound comes from industrial processes, smoke stacks, car engines, etc. Worse, Co2 stays in the troposphere for over 100 years, affecting not just the current generation, but also their children and grandchildren as well. Co2 is the biggest threat to temperature stability because of its abundance in the atmosphere; according to CBS news, “[Carbon dioxide] accounted from 80% of the increase in overall greenhouse gas concentrations.” Nitrogen dioxide comes primarily from cars, but it isn’t nearly as potent as methane, a key component of natural gas. To touch on another topic briefly, methane is the reason why fracking is so controversial. Sure, the process is efficient and cost-effective, but if some of that methane slips into the atmosphere, devastating climate effects could ensue (methane is 23 times from powerful than carbon dioxide). However, methane is a great energy source because it burns cleanly and can be created from trash/manure in third world countries. Finally, as far as who emits the most greenhouse gases, China is definitely taking the lead on this front. In 2010, the giant of a country emitted around 7,500 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere; it is predicted that by 2030, they will have released around 12,000 million metric tons. Scan this graphic here.
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| http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WhereIsTheHeatOfGlobalWarming.jpg |
The warmer climate affects the environment in several ways. First, crop yields decrease because of an increase in desertification and salinization instances. Organisms are forced to migrate to higher latitudes because they cannot tolerate the warmer climate. Amphibians die off because their outer skin is susceptible to different temperatures and toxins. Additionally, GHGs and criteria pollutants are causing the troposphere to become inhospitable and dirty. In the future, we will have to contend with these nasty pollutants, and they will definitely have an effect (I predict a nefarious one) on our health.
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Atmospheric Methane http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane |
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