Archive for June, 2010

Over the last few years most people have been aware and talking about the greenhouse effect. The Greenhouse effect relates to the warming of our planet as a result of changes to our atmosphere caused by us. Mounting evidence is revealing that a major contributor to these changes is our own activities, most significantly the burning of fossil fuels.

The predicted consequences are predicted to be quite severe.

1. They include major changes in climate which will have impact on food production.
2. The sea levels will rise because of the melting polar caps which could submerge coastal and other low lying communities.

We have recently discovered that our near neighbor, the planet Venus has what some have described as having runaway greenhouse effect, Because of its dense atmospheric gases. This is giving it surface temperatures of about 8000F. Now you may love the warm summer weather, but that would be a little too hot for anyone. These facts are lurking in the background giving us much concern, will that happen here?

The villains in our greenhouse effect are gases in our atmosphere such as carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide by the way is the gas we all exhale as we breathe, has an unusual habit. Its habit is to absorb infra-red radiation. Infra-red radiation is actually heat radiating away from a warm object for those of you who might need a little refresher on their science.

So it works like this. During the day the sunlight warms the earth and during the night the Earth cools. This happens by it radiating heat into space in the form of infra-red radiation. Carbon dioxide, with a little help from some other gases, absorbs this radiation, not allowing it to exit out into space. Thus limiting the earth’s natural ability to cool itself.

One of the biggest contributors to carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is exhaust for cars and industrial plants etc. Some people may think it would be better to have no greenhouse effect at all. But that is not what we want either.

Water vapor is another member of the heat absorbing group. There is a large amount of water vapor in our atmosphere all the time. This is why it rains. This water vapor absorbs heat and keeps the Earth comfortable and warm. Without this warming ability the planet would freeze, and the earth would not be able to support life as we know it. We therefore do need some greenhouse effect, just not too much and not in ever increasing amounts no matter how small those increases may be.

Mother Nature tells us that both extremes (extreme hot or cold) are harmful. Our atmosphere is what makes our planet earth different than any other known planet. It moderates the temperature so that we can survive temperature wise and it gives us air to breathe. That is why it is so important to protect and pressure what we have.

Going green to protect our planet is not an option in my opinion. I trust you feel the same way so let’s do what we can before it’s too late.