Global Warming Issues: A Short Guide To Climate Change And Global Warming

Discussions about the environment often involve talks of global warming

, climate change, ozone depletion, air pollution and greenhouse gases. No doubt you have heard these terms many times before but are you familiar with what they mean? In order to understand the environmental issues being discussed and how these apply to your small business, it is important to have a basic knowledge of how these terms are used and how they are interconnected. This article provides a short introduction to the most well known climate terms:

Climate Change: While the terms climate change and global warming are often used interchangeably they are slightly different. Climate change describes regional changes in climate including temperature, humidity, wind rainfall and severe weather events over long periods of time. Climate changes occur for a number of reasons both natural and synthetic. Natural causes include the continental drift, volcanoes and ocean currents. Manmade causes are attributable to greater levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Global Warming: The term global warming describes a general warming of the planet, based on average temperatures over the entire surface. While global warming has both natural and manmade causes, it is largely attributable to greater levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. These gases spread around the earth like a blanket effectively trapping solar radiation that would otherwise be radiated into space resulting in increased temperatures.

Greenhouse gases: Greenhouse gases are the primary cause of global warming. These are gases in the atmosphere that prevent solar radiation being released into space. Some greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and water vapour occur naturally while others such as chlorofluorocarbons are manmade. Although some greenhouse gases are naturally occuring in the enviornment, the levels of these gases in the atmosphere has been altered through human activiites such as burning oil, coal, natural gass and wood.

Ozone depletion: The depletion of the ozone layer is different to climate change. The ozone layer is a gaseous layer mostly in the upper atmosphere (stratosphere). The layer is made of ozone molecules which have three atoms of oxygen (the oxygen we breath has two atoms of oxygen). This layer is important to earth as it absorbs ultra violet radiation from the sun. Depletion of this ozone layer increases the ultra violet radiation that can reach earth increasing dangers such as skin cancer and affecting crop growth. Down at ground level the impact of ozone is very different and the ozone released at this level is a greenhouse gas that plays a part in global warming.

Air Pollution: This is another related problem to climate change and global warming. Most of the pollutants causing smog and poor air quality are also greenhouse gases contributing to climate change and global warming. Although conversations about air pollution focus on air quality and visibility, reducing emissions that cause air pollution will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

There is good news in that ozone depletion is well known and there are measures in place to look after the ozone layer. On the other hand, global warming and climate change are still serious issues that need to be addressed. Understanding what is happening in our atmosphere and the different terms used is a start to understanding the changes that need to be made.

by: Manda Trevarthen

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