Global Warming Effects

Causes Of Global Warming

What are the main causes of global warming?

As defined in wikipedia.org, global warming is a term that "refers to the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans in recent decades and its projected continuation." The average air temperature near the the Earth's surface has increased by almost 1°C during the last century, and this effect is mostly due to the increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations.

Global warming is a very disturbing phenomenon and it could eventually cause the extinction of the human race. Yes, it is that serious and we are causing it. Governments have been manipulating people for years, making them believe that there is nothing wrong with the climate, there is nothing wrong with CO2 emissions or cutting out 30% of the Earth's forests. Well, obviously there is, and now we are starting to feel the effects.

But we shouldn't blame ourselves for the current situation. It happened, because it was supposed to happen, but that doesn't mean it can't be changed. The period of contemporary industrial development (1960 - 2000) was very important for technological advancements. But during this period, the extraction of fossil fuels increased 4 times. Services and manufactured goods amounting to $30 trillion (being 5 in 1950 and forecasted to be 130 in 2050). This leads to overwhelming exploitation of the planet's natural resources.

This increase is related to the demographic "explosion" - the doubling of the Earth's population over the last 40 years and the increased duration of life expectancy (from 47 to 64 years).

The world economy cannot further expand in this manner of "industrial revolution" and exploit its natural resources without finally self-destructing. If Earth's biosphere is perceived as a single organism, then such a "growth for the growth itself" resembles the ideology of the cancer cell - so called "Cancer on the Earth".

Our progress is based on the availability of easily obtainable natural resources (fossil fuels and raw materials). More customers' demands for goods and services stimulate the introduction of new technologies and further increase of production. At the same time human damage to the environment ultimately will limit the world's carrying capacity.

All our factories and transport vehicles are keeping us alive, but at the same time are the main cause of global warming. The question is how can we get the right balance between productivity and ecology? Every day 6 billion people wake up with real needs for food, energy and materials. The challenge for sustainability is to provide for those needs in ways that reduce negative impact on the environment.