To understand anything about global warming let us start by understanding first what climate is and why it changes. Climate of a region is the long term average weather condition of the region in terms of temperature, humidity, and clearness/cloudiness. Temperature at a place may go through fairly large changes within the span of a day of 24 hours; that only constitutes a change of weather in the day not a climate change. A sharp shower at noon in summer rapidly brings down the temperature, people sigh with relief due to the pleasant weather after the shower; but it does not cause a climate change – because this is only a short term change.
Eruption of a volcano on the other hand not only causes a change in the weather conditions and cause large scale devastation immediately, but it slowly causes irreversible, permanent changes to the climate of that region. The eruption spews out tons of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere and contaminates the atmosphere for hundreds of miles around. It causes acidification of sea in the region affecting the marine life; it pollutes the soil causing irreversible damage to crop patterns. In the region closer to the eruption, the droplets of sulfuric acid suspended in air cut down visibility and cut down energy from the Sun received by that area for a long period of time. All these effects of the volcano take place over a number of years; that region goes through drastic climate changes.
Deforestation of large areas of land is also known to cause change of climate in that region. What is presently engaging attention of scientists and leaders of the world is not the climate change of a small region but that of the entire planet earth. Since 1900, there has been an average increase of about 1 ۫C in temperature the world over, ringing alarm bells of impending disaster. Extensive investigations by renowned international scientists over two decades have established that the cause of this increase is mainly the human passion for burning fossil fuels to satisfy their hunger for energy.
When you burn oil or gas or coal a bye product of that combustion is carbon dioxide (CO2). It rises into the atmosphere and contributes to the greenhouse effect. Low temperature radiation from the earth, which could allow the earth to maintain temperature by throwing out the excess energy received from the Sun, is absorbed by the greenhouse gases; the temperature of the atmosphere rises and it radiates more energy back to the earth. This causes an overall increase in temperature of the earth; and we have global warming!
More fossil fuel you burn – whether to drive to work and back or to enjoy the cozy warmth of your fireplace - greater is your contribution to the greenhouse gases, and the consequent climate change and the global warming. We all have got addicted to using fuel recklessly and soon our children and grandchildren will be living the horrors of hot weather, shortage of water, flooding and devastations of large areas of the earth due to rising sea levels, more frequent hurricanes and storms, shortage of food……..