Causes of Global Warming

One of the first things scientists learned is that there are several greenhouse gases responsible for warming, and humans emit them in a variety of ways. Most come from the combustion of fossil fuels in cars, factories and electricity production. The gas responsible for the most warming is carbon dioxide, also called CO2. Other contributors include methane released from landfills and agriculture (especially from the digestive systems of grazing animals), nitrous oxide from fertilizers, gases used for refrigeration and industrial processes, and the loss of forests that would otherwise store CO2.

When there is more carbon dioxide, the temperature gets warmer because it traps more heat from the sun inside.

                          -Al Gore-

Algore claims, we are seeing unprecedented levels of carbon dioxide in the atmostphere and carbon dioxide is driving temperatures higher! Thus there is definitely a need to slow down the effects of global warming, since it is rather impossible to stop it.

It is suggested that farmers are to be charged tax for every cow they own. This is because when the cow farts, it gives out methane, which is a green house gas. It is said that a molecule of methane produces more than 20 times the warming of a molecule of CO2. I feel that by creating Methane Gas Tax is definitely not a long term solution to global warming since farmers may not even reduce the number of cows they own if they have Pe the capital to pay the tax. I think chemist should created a chemical that is able to remove methane in the surrounding. It should also be placed in farms that rear animals and effectively slow down the effects of global warming.

If everyone is unable to use hybrid cars in the mean time, theres an alternative to a better fuel. Liquefied Petroleum can be used to power automobiles and is cleaner than standard automobile gasoline.
If everyone chooses to use LPG, lesser greenhouse gases will be emitted and it will be a great effort in slowing down the effects of global warming. Every bit of Greenhouse gas counts!

As coal provides electricity for us, it is important that we cherish the amount of coal we are left with! Saving electricity is a very important step to slow down the effects of global warming. It can be advertised through campaigns, encouraging people to save electricity.

Solutions to Global Warming

1. One way to prevent Global Warming from worsening is to STOP SMOKING, that is if you are are doing so.

Tabacco absorbs six times as much potassium from the soil as most crops do hence, farmers have carry out "shifting cultivation" and when they burn the felled trees, carbon dioxide is released into the air, contributing to Global Warming.

Four miles of paper an hour is also used to wrap and package the cigarettes. Due to the pollution from the manufacturing of cigarettes and the loss of trees, at least 22 million net tons of CO2 is left in the atmosphere. This causes Global Warming to worsen.

To stop people from smoking, you can:

Have advertisements

-showcase how smoking contribute to Global Warming

-promote nicotine gums

Increase the prices of the cigarettes significantly, so that people will think twice before buying it.

Reduce the production of the cigarettes.

2. Another way to prevent Global Warming is reduce the usage of paper.

Trees absorb carbon dioxide, which is one of the greenhouse gases. However, countless numbers of trees have been cut down to be made into paper. With fewer number of trees around, a chain-effect starts.

Fewer number of trees=> More amount of carbon dioxide=> More heat being trapped

Therefore we must reduce our usage of trees. Some solutions to this problem are to:

Plant more trees/plants

Do not waste paper (use up all the spaces in the paper before thowing it away of using a new piece)

Organise events to save or recycle paper (e.g. competitions, campaigns)

These few solutions can be promoted on television, flyers, posters or even through internet.

~Nicole Mui~

Links: http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2008-06/does-smoking-contribute-global-warming

Global warming solutions

Global warming-the heating up of the earth due to trapped light rays in the atmosphere.

The layer preventing light rays from escaping is a layer of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and many other gases such as methane. Thus, what we need to do is to find a way to reduce the amount of these types of gases in the atmosphere.

One known solution is by eating less meat. However, my research only shows that humans should eat less meat from animals, such as cows and pigs. What about the other types of meat? An example is fishes. What about eating less vegetables? Does that help us slow down the process of global warming? Read on to find out.

Eating less meat helps as the rearing of animals takes lots of land space and vegetables are grown to feed these animals. Thus, more vegetables are grown to feed the animals than to feed the humans. During the growing of vegetables, large land area are cleared to grow these vegetables for the animals. These land area are usually cleared by deforestation which thus contributes to the massive amount of carbon dioxide/monoxide in the air. Not only this, cows and pigs produce lots of methane, which is also a large factor contributing to global warming. Thus, stop eating meat from these poultry animals!

Eating less meat, from fishes also stops global warming. It is a known fact that ocean absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Fishes and other marine creatures play a big role in maintaining the concentration of carbon dioxide in the air. Marine creatures help in maintaining the concentration of CO2 in the sea.

Eating less marine plants, such as seaweed will help in reducing Co2 emission. Marine plants photosynthesise in the ocean, thus taking in carbon dioxide concentration in the ocean and in the atmosphere.

Eating more organic vegetables also helps in reducing carbon emission. Organic vegetables do not use pesticides which contains CFC, which contributes more harmful gases to the atmosphere.

Does eating less vegetables help in reducing carbon dioxide? I feel that if people eat less vegetables, there will be a lesser number of vegetables needed to be grown for consumption. Thus, i feel that lesser land area will be cleared to grow vegetables and lesser pesticides and fertilizers will be used, thus, reducing the number of carbon emission. However, we should grow more plants in countries to help the carbon emission as plants undergo photosynthesis which thus helps regulate the amount of carbon dioxide/other gases in the air. So, what do we eat then, if we cannot eat meat or vegetables? Humans can still eat these things, but just do so in moderation. For example, we should not go for buffet as during buffets, people tend to take lots of food and eat more than needed.(stuff food into their mouth)

-Samantha lye