You may have heard the words “greenhouse effect”, “global warming” and “climate change” around, but do you really know what they are? Our planet is suffering today the consequences of a process that human beings began centuries ago.
Since the invention of the great steam engines, the Industrial Revolution has made human beings constantly increase their capacity to produce different products. Factories were built and more people were employed in the emerging industries. This generated important gains in the economy and allowed a much wider range of society to have access to various commodities. It was the beginning of an era that promised to bring only growth and prosperity to all. However, since then, few people have asked themselves how this transformation affects the environment in which we live.
Large-scale production has consumed enormous amounts of energy, water and various other natural resources over the years, leaving a trail of deforestation, destruction and pollution in forests, rivers and oceans. The smoke released by the boilers and chimneys of large factories, the burnings carried out on large pieces of land and other activities caused the level of greenhouse gases to increase in a worrying way.
What is greenhouse effect?
But after all, what would be the greenhouse effect? It's a natural process on planet Earth, which keeps its temperature higher than it would be if there were no atmosphere – exactly the same way a greenhouse is heated when the sun shines on its window panes. This effect guarantees the life of all living beings on our planet as we know them, without it the Earth would be too cold and almost none of this could exist.
Some gases in our air are responsible for this effect, the main one being carbon dioxide, also called carbon dioxide (CO2). The big problem is that, since the Industrial Revolution, we have been releasing excessive amounts of this gas into the air. This happens every time we ride in a car or train, travel by plane, use electronic devices and carry out a series of activities in our daily lives.
The increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere also increases the Earth's temperature, and this is what we call global warming. Scientists around the world have already discovered that the temperature of our planet is increasing critically.
Consequences
The most alarming consequence of the global warming process is the change in the regime of rainfall, droughts, winds and marine currents that act all over the world – and climate change it means exactly that. Scholars point out that our climate has already changed and will continue to change in the coming years: storms will be more intense, droughts will be more severe and sea levels may rise in several places, putting the lives of millions of people at risk.
Climate change also negatively impacts the economy, businesses and companies. Extreme weather events are responsible for huge capital losses every year. According to economist Nicholas Stern, doing nothing will cost you dearly: it is estimated that economic losses caused by global warming reach up to a quarter of the entire world economy annually. However, it is already known that it is possible to preserve the environment while promoting economic growth. Several organizations have already business opportunities who follow this thought.
If we want to live well in the future, we need to stop global warming now!
