Global warming is a hot, controversial topic, that seems to be eating away at every citizen, every leadership and every country, but the sad fact; people don’t care less. So what exactly is this thing called, “Global Warming”? Let’s have a closer look.

As Public Opinion

As an opinion global warming means, the end of the world. Ask any common citizen or even a kid as to what they think is global warming, you’ll get a straight answer, “the Earth dying.” No scientific claims, no political answers. And this public opinion is in a way true. With the constant pollution and emission of dangerous gases, our planet Earth is slowly, gradually suffocating and dying, and if this is the pattern that we continue to live in, Mother Nature might as well bid us farewell. Still people will continue to use a car for a five minutes walk, continue to burn stuff, continue to live life like as if nothing affects them.

As a Political Opinion

Politicians in collaboration with multinational leaders may state global warming as a “social and financial concern”. Social as it would require  massive setups to control it and financial as most politicians and corporates don’t really want to waste their invested money in carbon fuels and oil.

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We all remember learning terms such as “climate” and “weather” back in our primary school days, but not all of us stay in touch with these (until commonly used) to be able to differentiate them. Let us take a look at what the weather of the earth is and what the climate is.

Climate of the Earth

The climate of the earth can be defined in different ways. It all depends on the speculations of the people. However, climate can be defined as the weather averaged for a long period of time. We can judge the climate, considering a number of years, by the rainfall and the changes in it’s amount, the pressure of the wind and the fluctuation of the temperature. Every place has a different climate. It depends on the location of the place, the sea level and the height from the sea level. Read the full story

Geothermal power plant uses geothermal energy to generate power and electricity. This is a natural energy source and is also a form of renewable energy which is also environmentally friendly. Geothermal power plants are usually setup at geothermal hot spots around the world. In order to harness energy, deep holes are drilled into the earth, until a geothermal source is reached. A pipe is then inserted into the hole which allows steam from the geothermal hotspot from within the earth to rise up to the earth’s surface. The steam is then forced into turbine which is connected to a generator, the pressurized steam begins to move the turbine which helps the generator to produce electricity.

This is a renewable source of energy . the earth’s crust lies on a sea of molten rock which produces tremendous amounts of heat. Cold water is then pumped down into another pipe which is then heated and converted into steam by the earth which is then sent back up the first pipe. The central problems with such a process is firstly , if too much cold water is pumped into the earth, this would cool down the geothermal hotspot. Read the full story

Most countries of the world are trying to lessen or completely end their dependency on fossil fuel; this is because of the rising prices of fossil fuel and its pollution effects on our environment and our health, which is also contributing a great deal in the climate change and global warming. The use of natural energy for heating, electricity production and fueling purposes is gaining in popularity day by day. By investing in natural and alternative sources of energy can help reduce the burden of fossil fuel on our country’s economy. Anyone can contribute to improve the current condition of our environment by switching to an alternative or natural energy sources. Some natural energy sources are wind energy, solar energy, tidal energy. There are other renewable energy like hydrogen fuel and biomass also.

Solar energy:

Solar energy is the energy which the sun produces in the form of solar radiation. Through the use of solar panels or solar cells, the photons in the solar radiation are converted into electricity. However one disadvantage going with this form of energy is the high prices of solar panels. Large numbers of solar panels are necessary to produce a substantial amount of electricity. Read the full story

It’s a well known fact that fossil fuels have toyed with our environment and this has resulted in pollution and global warming besides many other issues. Now with the awareness of environmental hazards and the entire world going green, the popularity of Bio-fuels is growing by the day

Biological Fuels or Bio-fuels are prepared from reusable or recycled materials. And thanks to the modern-day scientific research, bio-fuels are playing a vital role in contributing to the world a number of benefits. Below are just some of the benefits illustrated. Read the full story

With global warming on its rise, glaciers have started to melt and this has caused an alarming rise in sea levels. As the sea level rises, islands surrounded by it could be entirely submerged and vanish from the face of the Earth. This is not a mere statement, but a fact, an event that has recently occurred in India where an island of the Bay of Bengal has been completely eaten up by the rising sea.

Scientists at the The School of Oceanographic Studies at Kolkata’s Jadavpur University confirmed the submerging of the island, which was known as New Moore Island. The island was also part of Bangladesh and was given the name of South Talpatti Island.

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In third world countries, solar power refrigerators are used most commonly. These solar refrigerators works by harnessing the solar energy, and they preserve the goods like meat, vegetables and dairy. The much needed vaccines are also placed in those refrigerators to avoid them from spoiling. The portable devices of the solar refrigerators can be constructed easily by use of simple components, and it really works in the areas where there is no electricity or unreliable power supply.

Different size and technology solar power refrigerators are being already employed in Africa. The biggest challenge for solar power refrigerators is unreliability of the sunshine, as its available several hours in the day but sometime it’s cloudy for days. So to have constant refrigeration phase, change material is added.

Solar Refrigerators Impact on Environment:

Conventional refrigerators are having some dangerous impacts on the environment such as contributing to ozone layer depletion and global warming. The substances in refrigerators that cause the ozone layer depleting and global warming are chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s), in their insulation foam or their refrigerant cycle are the most harmful. In 80′s, CFC’s were banned then they were replaced with substances such as hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) both are the ozone depleting and contribute to global warming chemicals. Solar energy use for refrigeration tries hard to have minimum impacts on the environment. Read the full story

According to the researchers of Purdue University and the University of New South Wales, Australia, we could face some severe effects of global warming quite soon. Although we have already seen a wide range of different natural disasters that all link back to the changing climatic condition, the researchers claim that if the green house emissions continue at the same rate, planet Earth would soon be inhabitable by humans and mammals.

Keeping in view the fact that if the temperature of the earth keeps rising considerably due to global warming, it will have extremely harmful consequences for living beings. The present pace of global warming is considered to be the maximum tolerable temperature for the survival of living beings that can be surpassed.

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The overall global climate change has finally convinced everyone that climate change is for real, has begun, and is mostly due to human activities.

According to experts, the effects of global warming are extremely hazardous and extensive. Most of the times, these consequences are only thought of as threats to polar bears, exotic wildlife, and beautiful glaciers. But it is important to understand that climate change threatens more than just the animals and natural landscapes. It can also cause harm to human health and pose serious problems.

In order to understand the effects of global warming, we must first understand how global warming works. We all know that sunshine warms the earth. But when the sun’s radiations enter the atmosphere, a part of the radiations are bounced back into space, and another portion is absorbed by clouds and water vapors, but the majority strikes the planet’s surface.

We already know about the increasing hazards of climate change, but instead of accepting the disasters as nature’s revenge and continuing to burn fossil fuels into CO2, it is extremely important that we take appropriate steps to control the problems.

The rate of success will rely on our efforts and whether we are able to control the issue through scientific research, new public policies, and better personal choices that are environment friendly.

Here are some of the things that we can do to help towards the conservation of energy and environment and thus alter the increasing rate of climate change.

1. Walk instead of Drive

Try to walk or ride a bike for transportation. This way, you won’t just cut back on your fuel bills and generate less CO2, you’ll burn off that extra fat that, helping to reduce the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, dementia, depression, colon cancer, and osteoporosis.

Global warming is not only hazardous for animals and environment, it can have some serious effects on human health as well. Being exposed to the hot weather directly can majorly affect one’s health. In the 1980s and ’90s, heat stroke was responsible for killing almost 200 Americans a year, but the average number is now about 700 a year.

Bad news is that as the earth warms up, heat related illnesses and deaths will increase greatly as well. In addition to the hot weather, climate change includes several other changes as well including an increase in the number of typhoons, floods, and wildfires, causing some major injuries, deaths, psychological traumas, and damages to the human lives.