About Global Warming

We Prothsahan TEAM a Delhi based NGO, is starting a project for Environment awareness among the young generation through The broad aim of the Area is to inculcate among the children, a sense of respect and responsibility towards the environment and build awareness among all age groups. Working towards achieving this task, the Area realizes that skills have to be developed in young children by means of which they can bring about a change in the existing state of the environment. Though formal education has an important role to play, when it comes to environmental education, the teaching and learning process must be done through a 'fun-and-learn' method, thereby generating a genuine interest for the subject in the young minds.

Global warming generally refers to the recent heating of the planet, which is also known as climate change. Our earth has both warmed up and cooled down in its geological history. Average global temperatures have increased around 1 deg. Fahrenheit the past century. They are projected to rise at rates five to 10 times as fast this century, which is the most rapid increase in 10,000 years, the end of the last ice age. The scientific consensus is that human activities are to blame. If projections are correct, the 21st century will see a temperature increase roughly equal to or greater than the entire global warming after the ice age. And our warming is not from ice age temperatures, but on top of an already warm atmosphere. The speed of change itself raises concerns that plants, animals and human beings will not be able to adapt rapidly enough to the changes.

  • Average temperatures have climbed 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degree Celsius) around the world since 1880, much of this in recent decades, according to NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
  • The rate of warming is increasing. The 20th century's last two decades were the hottest in 400 years and possibly the warmest for several millennia, according to a number of climate studies. And the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that 11 of the past 12 years are among the dozen warmest since 1850.
  • The Arctic is feeling the effects the most. Average temperatures in Alaska, western Canada, and eastern Russia have risen at twice the global average, according to the multinational Arctic Climate Impact Assessment report compiled between 2000 and 2004.
  • Arctic ice is rapidly disappearing, and the region may have its first completely ice-free summer by 2040 or earlier. Polar bears and indigenous cultures are already suffering from the sea-ice loss.
  • Glaciers and mountain snows are rapidly melting—for example, Montana's Glacier National Park now has only 27 glaciers, versus 150 in 1910. In the Northern Hemisphere, thaws also come a week earlier in spring and freezes begin a week later.
  • An upsurge in the amount of extreme weather events, such as wildfires, heat waves , and strong tropical storms , is also attributed in part to climate change by some experts.

Water vapor is a greenhouse gas that rapidly circulates in and out of the atmosphere. The major greenhouse gas that humans are adding to the atmosphere is carbon dioxide, CO2, which remains in the atmosphere a century or more. The second largest greenhouse gas being emitted by humans is methane, CH4, which is around 20 times more powerful than CO2. Much of this comes from agricultural sources such as farm animals and rice paddies. Nitrous oxide is another large greenhouse contributor. CFCs, the ozone depleting substances that are now being phased out, as well as their replacement, HCFCs, are also powerful greenhouse gases. Roughly three-quarters of human-caused greenhouse warming comes from the burning of fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas. Most of the remainder comes from deforestation, primarily of the tropical rainforests.

The best science indicates that to stabilize the climate, we must rapidly reduce human greenhouse emissions on the order of 70 percent. This is a huge task, but the longer we wait, the bigger the challenge when we finally get to it. Because the climate resembles a speeding train that takes a long time to slow, the longer we wait the greater the risk that we will set in motion natural forces we cannot stop. There are huge risks in waiting too long. The greenhouse effect could feed the greenhouse effect by unlocking huge amounts of greenhouse gases from natural ecosystems. The loss of tropical rainforests to drying and fires would release massive amounts of greenhouse gases, as would melting of Arctic tundras and heating of seabed sediments. Ironically, global warming could send the Earth back into the ice age by shutting off the Gulf Stream to the North Atlantic, which carries tropical heat north and keeps Europe 15 deg. F warmer than it would otherwise.

Global warming is a train that is speeding up right now. First we need to slow the train, and then we need to stop it. We can do so by transforming our energy system from one based on fossil fuels to one based on natural, renewable energies including sun, wind, tides, plant growth and geothermal energy. We have the technology, but applying it will take a large investment by government and business. In shifting to clean energy, we will also eliminate much air pollution, and build new industries and a new basis of sustainable prosperity. If we move quickly to clean energy, stop deforesting the tropics and move to more sustainable agriculture, we will eliminate most greenhouse gases, and avert climatic catastrophe. This is one of the largest challenges humans have ever faced, but we are richer now in economy, technology and scientific knowledge than we ever have been before. We are well up to the task. We just have to recognize its critical importance to our future.

  • "Very likely," the IPCC said in a February 2007 report. The report, based on the work of some 2,500 scientists in more than 130 countries, concluded that humans have caused all or most of the current planetary warming. Human-caused global warming is often called anthropogenic climate change.
  • Industrialization, deforestation, and pollution have greatly increased atmospheric concentrations of water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, all greenhouse gases that help trap heat near Earth's surface.
  • Humans are pouring carbon dioxide into the atmosphere much faster than plants and oceans can absorb it.
  • These gases persist in the atmosphere for years, meaning that even if such emissions were eliminated today, it would not immediately stop global warming.
  • Some experts point out that natural cycles in Earth's orbit can alter the planet's exposure to sunlight, which may explain the current trend. Earth has indeed experienced warming and cooling cycles roughly every hundred thousand years due to these orbital shifts, but such changes have occurred over the span of several centuries. Today's changes have taken place over the past hundred years or less.
  • Other recent research has suggested that the effects of variations in the sun's output are "negligible" as a factor in warming, but other, more complicated solar mechanisms could possibly play a role.
  • A follow-up report by the IPCC released in April 2007 warned that global warming could lead to large-scale food and water shortages and have catastrophic effects on wildlife.
  • Sea level could rise between 7 and 23 inches (18 to 59 centimeters) by century's end, the IPCC's February 2007 report projects. Rises of just 4 inches (10 centimeters) could flood many South Seas islands and swamp large parts of Southeast Asia.
  • Some hundred million people live within 3 feet (1 meter) of mean sea level, and much of the world's population is concentrated in vulnerable coastal cities.
  • Glaciers around the world could melt, causing sea levels to rise while creating water shortages in regions dependent on runoff for fresh water.
  • Strong hurricanes, droughts, heat waves, wildfires, and other natural disasters may become commonplace in many parts of the world. The growth of deserts may also cause food shortages in many places.
  • More than a million species face extinction from disappearing habitat, changing ecosystems, and acidifying oceans.
  • The ocean's circulation system, known as the ocean conveyor belt, could be permanently altered, causing a mini-ice age in Western Europe and other rapid changes.
  • At some point in the future, warming could become uncontrollable by creating a so-called positive feedback effect . Rising temperatures could release additional greenhouse gases by unlocking methane in permafrost and undersea deposits, freeing carbon trapped in sea ice, and causing increased evaporation of water.

Here is a list of 50 simple things that everyone can do in order to fight against and reduce the Global Warming phenomenon: some of them are at no cost, some other require a little investment but can help you save a lot of money, in the middle-long term!

  • Replace a regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb (cfl)
  • Clean or replace filters on your furnace and air conditioner & use on economic mode.
  • Choose energy efficient appliances when making new purchases
  • Do not leave appliances on standby
  • Defrost old fridges and freezers regularly
  • Cover your pots while cooking
  • Use the washing machine or dishwasher only when they are full
  • Take a shower instead of a bath
  • Use less hot water
  • Recycle your organic waste, By recycling organic waste or composting it if you have a garden
  • Reuse your shopping bag
  • Plant a tree & Switch to green power
  • Buy locally grown and produced foods
  • Buy fresh foods instead of frozen, Frozen food uses 10 times more energy to produce.
  • Seek out and support local farmers markets
  • Buy organic foods as much as possible, If we grew all of our corn and soybeans organically, we’d remove 580 billion pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere!
  • Eat less meat, Their grassy diet and multiple stomachs cause them to produce methane, which they exhale with every breath
  • Reduce the number of miles you drive by walking, biking, carpooling or taking mass transit wherever possible
  • Start a carpool with your coworkers or classmates keep your car tuned up.
  • Drive carefully and do not waste fuel
  • Check your tires weekly to make sure they’re properly inflated
  • When it is time for a new car, choose a more fuel efficient vehicle
  • Protect and conserve forest worldwide
  • Don’t burn the waste.
  • Stop using crackers on any occasions, as it creates lots of air / sound pollution.

Join the virtual march

The Stop Global Warming Virtual March is a non-political effort to bring people concerned about global warming together in one place. Add your voice to the hundreds of thousands of other people urging action on this issue.

Global warming isn't opinion. It's a scientific reality. The science shows that human activity has made enormous impacts to our planet that affect our well-being and survival. We can however begin to make significant repairs to reverse those impacts — but only through immediate action. That’s why we urge you to join us and have your voice counted.

This is a movement about change, as individuals, as a country, and as a global community. Join the supporters of the Stop Global Warming Virtual March, and become part of the movement to demand our leaders freeze and reduce carbon dioxide emissions now. We are all contributors to global warming and we all need to be part of the solution

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The Stop Global Warming Virtual March is a non-political effort bringing Indians together to declare that global warming is here now and it’s time to act.