Submerged Lands

Penguins are moving away from the polar bears and they also move away from the water, which is where they find their food source.  Those that move too far out die of starvation.  Life under the sea isn’t much better either.  Fish, the primary food of seals, aren’t used to this new temperature.  Many of them flee the area in search of a new climate.  As such, much of the food that all of the polar carnivores rely on is gradually diminishing.  Some are even turning to slaughtering the young of their own kind for food.  The natural balance in the Arctic Poles has been greatly disturbed due to the effect of global warming.

One does not need to look to our Poles, however, to see the effects of global warming.  As the icecaps continue to melt, water levels worldwide are rising.  As temperatures continue to rise, the ice will continue to melt, endangering many coastal cities and villages worldwide.  As the water levels rise, there will be less oxygen in the water. While this amount will not be drastic, it will be enough to kill off or endanger some of the smaller sea life we’ve come to know.

Storms have been prevalent in the world in the past few years. The sudden and violent turn in the weather can be attributed largely to the effect of global warming as well.  As our atmospheric temperature rises, so does the amount of precipitation in the air, because more and more water is evaporating. Thus, we see higher rainfalls in areas that may normally see little. This results in the flooding and landslides that are making headlines world-wide.

As our global temperature continues to rise, the effect of global warming may actually inverse. It is thought that, instead of increased rainfall, we will begin to see a serious increase in the amounts of droughts around the world. This would have devastating effects on the world as a whole.  With droughts comes short of food supply.  Less food and an ever-growing world population do not lead to a good outcome. The violent fighting going on in the North Pole between polar bears and other animals could become a reality for humans as food becomes scarce.

Rising water levels, shrinking habitats, devastating storms, and food-stealing droughts are problems that affect us all, no matter where in the world we live, what our social class is, or how much money we have. The effect of global warming does not have preferences. It is all too easy and all too common to assume that someone else will fix the problems. But when we live in a world where everyone shares that mindset, no action is taken and we are left at the mercy of the effect of global warming.  The time for action is now, and the place is where ever you are. Act now, before it is too late.

Global warming can lead to heavy rain fail and prolong drought. I know many people may wonder how these two opposites can be caused by the same global warming. It is very simple. When the earth’s surface temperature increases more rapidly, more water vapor will evaporate into the atmosphere. This will continue until the weight becomes too heavy for the cloud to bear. At this point, the cloud will simply let go some amount of these water molecules. This will definitely give rise to heavy rain fail that will destroy a lot of things. Farm lands will be washed away.  Houses will be devastated by flood and animals will lose their lives. Man is not even safe. If you are not in a safe place you will be carried away by flood.  Many properties will be destroyed. This has started happening in some places. So, it is no longer what the scientists are postulating.  It is a reality that manifests itself everyday for everybody to see.

How can global warming give rise to drought? Drought will affect those in the tropic region due to high temperature. The rivers and lakes will dry up. This will spell doom for both man and wild animals.  Many people will die as a result of lack of food. There will be no agricultural produce because trees and plants will be scorched to death by the heat of the sun. Besides, there will be no river for irrigation which will help to supply water to the plants in the farm lands.

Wild animals will die of dehydration. Once the source of their drinking water has been dried due to prolong drought, they will die of dehydration. Besides, herbivorous animals will die due to lack of plants and trees to feed on.

Global warming does not affect weather alone. The sea and oceans together with the lives that it supports will be affected also. Global warming will give rise to the increase in the sea level. The more the icebergs are melting away the more the sea levels are increasing. When this happens, the coastline regions will suffer greatly. Coastal floods will obliterate some island nations. The coast will be eroded. The effect of global warming on the ocean level seems to be worst because a reasonable percentage of population of the world is living in coast areas.

The marine lives will also suffer greatly. Definitely, those in coastline region will build high solid walls in order to prevent the rising sea level from devastating their lands. This will also affect the marine lives that are looking for escape to cooler region of the sea. Some marine lives that prey on wild animals that come to the sea side o drink will totally be blocked away from their prey.

The ecosystem, carbon cycle and man himself will also be affected by the global warming. We are already seeing the effect of global warming today.

In comparison to other global threats, global warming is more complex. Identifying the impact of a rise in average global temperatures is an evolving science, and that requires a significant amount of data on a range of factors. Scientists are attempting to plot projections of future climate based on this data and that only adds to the complexity of the problem.

The public understanding of the issue is not helped by a frustrating tendency to use the terms global warming and climate change interchangeably. As long as the people who have the ear of policy makers do not make the difference clear then we do not worry about it unduly. However, if we want to see action taken at an individual level, then surely it is more likely to happen if people do know the difference between the two.

The scale and complexity of the challenge gives us some explanation of the level of response. However, the debate over whether we are observing natural or man-made warming, gives us a valuable insight in to how environmental challenges are viewed. Responses to other environmental issues have used the precautionary principle; that is, given an incomplete understanding of the nature of environment issues, authorities tend to err on the side of caution by not taking action to solve problems.

Whether it’s due to the sheer magnitude of what has to be done, or because of who stands to lose or gain from such a fundamental change economies are going to have to face the fact that serious and concerted action needs to start right away. Initially, in the debate over the causes of global warming, it seemed that those who challenged the idea of man-made global warming, were a disproportionately vocal group. We are now more aware, however, of the powerful lobby and interest groups they represent or were supported by, and thus the way they had the resources to ensure the debate raged, despite the scientific consensus pointing to it being man-made global warming. It demonstrates that one of the major obstacles to dealing with environmental challenges is with those who have benefited from its exploitation, and that in some cases it is deeply ingrained.

Recently, the international summits staged to find solutions to the problem have highlighted the reluctance to compromise in this area, at least at governmental level. What is depressing is that at the individual level, there is a real groundswell of opinion on this subject and a very strong agreement that people want their governments to act decisively. That most observers have come away from such summits disappointed, shows that either most people don’t fully understand the sacrifices that actually need to be made or that governments are incapable of affecting the change that people want to see. It is probably a combination of both and while it is easy to throw the towel in and let global climate change run its course, it could mean that it has to be at the individual and local level that the most effective responses emerge.

Reference Hybrid Cars: The Evolution of the Hybrid Car

While reducing waste is one successful way to help with global warming, another way we can help is to use resources smartly.  One specific thing that you shouldn’t forget to do at least once a month is to plant a tree. They may look like they don’t fit in any of these global warming issues but they are the ones which have everything to do with it.  They are our superheroes when it comes to global warming for while you and I continue to emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, they ensure that the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere remain low.  

When was the last time you actually thought of planting a tree?  Does it take more than ten minutes?  It definitely doesn’t and by just doing that, you have helped yourself and others more than they know it but not so many people see it that way.  Among some of the trees that you should consider planting are the bamboo trees which grow extremely fast and produce 35% more oxygen than oak and birch.

Other than planting trees, you could also ensure that your car is completely efficient so that you don’t have to add more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than we already have. If you don’t have a car yet and you really need one, you should think of buying fuel efficient hybrid cars which use gas electric engines. Less green house gases are produced by these cars and thus you end up preventing global warming. Even if you do have a car, whether hybrid or not, it won’t be a sin to walk in a while or use public means of transportation since you also get to be fit rather than always sit back in your car. In addition to that, you can also use a push mower to mow your lawn other than using one that uses fossil fuels.

You don’t have to be an eco-boy or an eco-girl to encourage other people who are preventing global warming like people who produce renewable energy. By just doing this, you get more people to see the need for being keen to preventing global warming. Educating people who don’t know about global warming is another thing that you might do while encouraging others to be “eco aware”.

Basically, we have approximately a hundred years to live on this earth.  It wouldn’t be smart to leave it the way we found it; we should always try to make it much better than we found it. Among the achievements that you will look back at, let “preventing global warming” be one of them, for only open minds know how our environment influences our lives.  All these things that we do are always tied up.  It won’t be wrong to say that these complications of the skin and our health come as a result of ignoring about our environment.  Global warming is just one of the effects; there are others which need our attention too.

The ice formed by the oceans helped the polar bear in hunting for their prey.  When the ice is no longer there as a result of global warming that melts it way, the polar bear will find it difficult to hunt for their prey again.  The implication of this is that they will be heading for extinction due to lack of food.  Besides, the melting away of the ice not only deprives them of their prey, it also displaces them from their natural habitat.  

Penguin is a species of sea bird that does not fly.  Penguins feed majorly on small aquatic organisms like krill and shrimp.  Such organisms depend on algae that grow around the sea ice.  When the sea ice is melted the algae will begin to decline drastically.  This will backfire on these organisms that penguin feeds on.  Penguins will not only suffer from the loss of its habitat, it will also suffer from shortage of food.  When the situation becomes too hard for the bird to bear, it cannot but give up the ghost.

The arctic fox survives under cool region.  But the global warming is making it difficult for some cool regions of the earth to retain the tag again.  There is undue increase in temperature which is making the colder region to become warmer and warmer.  These arctic foxes are forced to migrate to a region colder than where they were before.  But the migration will not continue ad infinitum if global warming continues to be on the increase. Time will come when there will be no place for them to migrate again.  Two options await them.  Either they adapt to the circumstances or they die.  Many will simply die while some may adapt to the situation.

Animals in the tropical regions are not left out.  As many trees are dying due to the scorching heat of the sun, the forest will be more exposed. There will be no hiding place or shade for these animals again. They will be exposed to the sun.  Many of them will die. Besides, the herbivorous animals will lack food to eat while the carnivorous animal will hunt for their prey to no avail.  Oasis and rivers will dry up.  This means that that there will be no drinking water for the animals.  They will simply die of dehydration.

Plants are also affected.  Owing to the changes in weather, the growing season of some plants is affected.  There are some plants that grow well during the rainy season.  As the rainy season is gradually becoming shorter and shorter and drought is becoming more prolonged, such plants will find it difficult to survive the brunt of the global warming.

In regions with heavy rain fall, such natural disasters as floods, erosion and leaching will lead to the death of many plants.  Other natural disasters like hurricane will help in clearing more agricultural plants.

From the above, it becomes clear that global warming affects plant and animals too.

The next step in fighting global warming is creating awareness about the dangers of global warming and why people should help in controlling it.  It is not an exaggeration to say that many people do not know what global warming is all about.  Indeed, there are millions of people out there who are ignorant of what global warming is all about let alone knowing the causes and the effect of global warming on man and the entire created being. If awareness should be created especially in the developing countries, people will know what it is and then appreciate the need for them to join hand in fighting it. There are some people who have been hearing about global warming over the TV and radio but they do not know what it is. Creating public awareness will help them to know what it is.

The Government should come up with a program which should not be limited only to the media. The object of the program will be to spread the information across. In the program the meaning, causes and effect of global warming should be explained properly in such a way that the common masses will understand what global warming is all about. The information should be taken to people even in their homes through flyers and posters.    

We are still on the stage of creating awareness. The next stage is the real thing, namely, taking action. There are a number of things you as a person can do in order to help control global warming. Do not think that it is too much. You should begin from your home and with yourself.

Do you have incandescent light bulb in your home?  Do you now that you can join hand in controlling global warming by changing those bulbs with fluorescent light? Yes, this is true. Fluorescent light takes up little amount of energy than incandescent bulb. This will help to conserve some quantity of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is the chief gas that depletes the ozone layer. Imagine the amount of carbon dioxide that will be saved if every house should change their incandescent bulbs to fluorescent lights. Can you see now that it will not cost you much if you join in controlling global warming?

The next thing that you can also do in order to control global warming is afforestation. Afforestation means the planting of trees. From our study of biology, we know that trees breathe in carbon dioxide and then exhale oxygen. When you plant trees like flowers around your homes, you are helping in saving the earth from the damaging effect of global warming. This will also benefit you in a number of ways. By planting trees and flowers around our homes we will have enough oxygen to breathe in since the trees and flowers will be supplying it to us. Afforestation will also provide shed to both man and animals.

The most important reason why you should plant trees and avoid deforestation is that trees will help in taking some amount of carbon dioxide that will ordinarily go into the atmosphere.

You should also learn to use eco friendly items as well as biodegradable and reusable material.

There are many different species of land and water that are disappearing.  The circle of food has become imbalanced and it is affecting the animal and marine kingdom.  While we might see that we have almost everything that we require, what goes around always comes around and it’s only a matter of time before this imbalance gets to us. While these animals are losing sources of food, they also lose their habitats and end up moving to places where they can’t survive.

As global warming continues to cause climate change, great deserts such as The Sahara Desert become too unbearable for animals that have been living there to continue living there. Additionally, migration patterns have changed due to global warming. Very many animals travel great distances in annual migrations and especially those animals which live in cold regions since they have to travel from one pole to another if the conditions there are bad. Animals that rely on some of the seasonally linked phenomena have to suffer more because of the change in weather patterns.

Terrestrial animals aren’t the only ones that get to suffer; marine animals experience the same thing too. Owing to the fact that land gains more heat quicker than the oceans and seas, the increase of temperature in our atmosphere has slowly caused an increase in the surface temperature of water by one degree over the past century. If you thought that was too little, you should know that it has caused large numbers of fish to die since phytoplankton couldn’t survive with the increase in temperature and thus more fish die because of lack of food. The amount of carbon dioxide in the water is also increasing since the plant life that uses up carbon dioxide is slowly dying away.

Just like terrestrial animals, marine animals also migrate to places they find suitable for their survival. Heat tolerant organisms such as shrimps will end up moving northwards while the heat intolerant species such as clams will retreat northwards. These movements will lead to an entirely different mew mix of organisms in a new environment thus causing a change in predatory habits. Less adapted animals will end up dying at a higher rate and thus leading to their extinction.

Increase in carbon dioxide in the oceans will also alter the ocean chemistry since the acidity of the water will change. Increase in ocean acidity also reduces the number of phytoplankton and thus leading to more death of marine life. As they die, the food chain gets more imbalanced and everything gets imbalanced too.  Global warming is more serious than just the death of animals and the change in weather patterns. The end line will be whether we get to live or don’t get to live since that’s all we think about as human beings. Everything being connected to one another, the answer is quite obvious so we better start doing something about it.

Humans are not the only ones affected by the trend of global warming. Both our North and South Poles are experiencing serious consequences. Polar bears, especially, are feeling the heat. Their homes are melting away, and their food sources are retreating, looking for colder climates. The majestic bears are resorting to killing their own kind just in order to survive another week.

Also suffering the consequences are the Arctic penguins. They feed on fish, and fish are migrating in search of the colder waters they are used to.  In search of food, many penguins venture across the shrinking ice they call home in search of food, only to find polar bears, forced as well to scavenge for food. Both animals are in serious danger….

As illustrated above, we face potential tragedy.  This tragedy not only affects us, but our children and our grandchildren.  Animals face the same threat as we do. We all share this planet, and it is time we all take responsibility.  Knowing where to start, however, can prove just as difficult a task as actually taking responsibility.

There are small steps that can be taken to begin with.  As mentioned at the beginning of this article, there are a multitude of “green” products that are now on the market. When a product is claiming to be “green”, this usually means it was both made in an environmentally friendly way, and is safe for the environment during use.

If you are feeling that you’d like to be more proactive in the fight against global warming, however, you could begin decreasing your vehicular transport time.  A common misconception is that simply taking a bus instead of driving makes a large impact.  However, buses put out much more carbon dioxide than a regular 4-passenger car. While this may be a good solution for work transport, a much more effective method for shorter commutes would be a bicycle or a walk.  Not only will this help the environment, but your overall health will be better.

There are also numerous “green” organizations that are always on the lookout for new recruits. It is these organizations that bring about change in businesses, negotiating with them to reduce their carbon footprint by creating a cleaner, safer factory.  These organizations also offer many helpful, more in-depth tips to further your “green” life goals.

Although it is true that one person alone cannot change what has been done to our planet, change does start with one person. We have not passed the point of no return. It could get much worse than it is now, and it is up to us to insure that does not happen. This affects each of us individually, and all of us as a whole, and must not be taken lightly.  Change can, and must, be made if we plan to invest in the future of not only ourselves, but our planet.

Do you know that landfill can be used to control global warming through the recovery of landfill gas? We all know the dangers of global warming. The issue of global warming and the threats it poses to mankind are issues to worry. Global warming has continued to attract the attention of many scientists in the world today. Through the use of climate models developed by some scientists, the effects of global warming on future generation have been determined. The question now is; how does global warming concern landfill or what has landfill got to do with global warming?

Global warming means the rapid increase in the temperature of earth’s surface over the years. This is caused as a result of the overconcentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. One of these gases, namely, methane is generated in the landfill as the trashes are decaying through the action of microorganisms.  Methane gas is fiercer and more deadly than carbon dioxide. It is believed that a huge quantity of methane is generated by landfill today. But with improved method of landfill, methane is no longer released to the atmosphere. There are features set in place in order to recover methane gas so that it will not be released to the atmosphere. A huge quantity of methane is recovered from landfill such that many people are of the opinion that the amount of methane recovered is equivalent to the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by 14 million functional cars in the US alone. Through such means, global warming is controlled.

This gas is not just recovered, but it is diverted to some other things that are useful to mankind. Methane and other gases recovered from landfill can be used as a means of generating power. Such gases can be used to substitute coal and natural water in generating water vapour that is used in powering turbines for electricity. These gases are therefore renewable source of power. They are recovered in large quantity and therefore reasonable quantity of power that can serve many homes can be generated through the gases.

When landfill recovered gases are burnt down, they do not generate much nitrogen oxides like coal. Nitrogen oxide is another greenhouse gas and it is the cause of smog. If these landfill gases are used in generating power, they will help in reducing the amount nitrogen oxides that are being emitted to the atmosphere. The recovery of landfill gases can reduce emission of nitrogen and as well as bad odour oozing out from the landfill.

There are also some other organic compounds that are emitted in the landfill as the refuse is decaying. Though these gases may be emitted in smaller quantity, they are also dangerous to health. Through the recovery of landfill gases man is served from the effect of such harmful gases.

From the above, it is undeniably true that landfill in general and then the recovery of landfill gas can be great benefit to man in the contemporary times.