GREEN HOUSE EFFECT Global Warming

What does a greenhouse look like?

Most greenhouses look like a clear mini glass house. They are used to grow plants in any environment. Greenhouses work because when the sun comes out the green house can trap the sunlight and use it to grow plants. The glass panels trap as much sunlight as possible but keeps heat in. This causes the greenhouse to heat up and help the plants grow.

How is the earth like a greenhouse?

Like a greenhouse the earths atmosphere traps heat and energy from the sun.

incoming radiation

Solar energy reaches the Earths surface

incoming radiation

infrared radiation

Earths surface warms, emits radiation

incoming radiation
greenhouse gases

infrared radiation

Greenhouse gases absorb IR leaving the surface

incoming radiation
greenhouse gases

infrared radiation

Gases are energized, then emit radiation (IR)

incoming radiation
greenhouse gases

infrared radiation

Some of this IR reaches the planet surface, warming it further

THE GREEN HOUSE EFFECT

Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
Methane (CH4) Nitrous Oxide (Nox)

Methane

Greenhouse Gases
The following pie chart displays the percent of each gas which plays a role in the greenhouse effect.

Without It
Without the greenhouse effect, the Earth would not be able to support life. But if the greenhouse effect becomes too strong, the earth will be too hot to support life. Even a little too much heat could hurt the animals, plants, and everything else on the planet.

Concentration of GHGs

Top ten Co2 emitters

1. United States 25% 2. China 15% 3. European Union 11% 4. Indonesia 6% 5. India 5% 6. Russia 5% 7. Brazil 4% 8. Japan 3% 9. Canada 2% 10.Mexico 2%

How we contribute
Burning natural gasses Population growth

Effects of Global Warming

The earths temperature will rise from 1-3 degrees C in next few decades. Rise in temperature may rise the sea levels by 0.5 ft. to 5.0 ft because of melting mountain glaciers and expansion of oceans. This would result in islands like Maldives getting submerged and many costal cities getting flooded.

Impact of Global warming

Temperature extremes 2. Rise in sea level, and change in precipitation 3. Injuries from storms, coastal flooding 4. Interruption of power supply, contamination of drinking water 5. Food shortages due to shift in agricultural food production 6. Air pollution ( made worse by warming) 7. Asthma, bronchitis, emphysema complications 8. Strain on public health systems 9. Increased need due to population migrations 10. Unable to contain spread of infectious diseases
1.

Earth has a fever and needs help!

WHAT CAN WE DO?

We must move to a carbon-free economy.

That means reduce or eliminate use of fossil fuels to limit damage in the future.
Increase forest cover. Remove carbon from the atmosphere. If all excess carbon dioxide release stopped today, it is estimated that it would take hundreds of years for levels to return to normal (NASA, 2007).

How to combat GW
In 1992 Earth Summit held at Rio de Janeiro 153 nations signed the convention on climate change and committed themselves to reduce emissions of Co2 and other GHGs. Finally in December 1997 in Kyoto a conference finalised the protocol on GHG emission.

Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the UN aimed at fighting Global Warming. It is an environmental treaty with a goal to achieve stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous human-emitted interference with the climate system

Kyoto Protocol
The Protocol was initially adopted on 11 December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, and entered into force on 16 February 2005. As of September 2011, 191 states have signed and ratified the protocol Protocol has 3 mechanisms
Emissions trading Clean development mechanism Joint Implementation

Kyoto protocol
US declared to stabilise emission to 1990 levels by 2010, whereas EU, China and other nations demanded reduction in 15% below 1990 levels. US came up with a market based emission trading mechanism that was included in the protocol. US insisted even the developing countries to be included, which were not obliged earlier to reduce the GHG emission.

Post Kyoto
US decided to abandon the protocol, as trading for carbon credits proved costlier and they were unsuccessful to pressurize developing countries like India and China to reduce the carbon emission. Unfortunately the economic and political compulsion of the US presidency have put the Kyoto Protocol in deep freeze.

GW and Business
Daimler-Chrysler, Ford, GM and Toyota are working on projects that would produce cars that would run on fuel cell technology with no carbon dioxide emission. US Insurance companies have shown concern that a single hurricanes can cost $ 50 billion to global insurance companies

Ozone depletion

The Ozone Layer

Layers of the atmosphere

Ozone Layer a shield/barrier to UV rays

Formed by a natural process. Produced by O2 interacting with lightning and UV radiation. Absorbs most of the shorter wavelengths - UV radiation which is damaging to living things causing cancer, sunburn, cataracts etc. allows life to live on earth ozone depletion - a reduction of the ozone layer.

Hazards of UV radiation
Hazards of UV radiation include increased rate of skin cancer and cataracts, depression of the immune system, impaired crop and tree growths etc. Affects the photosynthesis process in plants. 1992, NASA reported that chlorine found in high level in northern hemisphere.

Ozone depleting substance

CFCs, used in air conditioners, refrigerators They move high into the atmosphere and damage the Ozone layer. Industrialize nations have halted the production of these compounds. Scientists dont expect the ozone layer to fully recover until the middle of this century. One CFC molecule can destroy 100,000 ozone molecules

Chlorofluorocarbons

Health effects of Ozone depletion

Each 1% drop in ozone is thought to increase human skin cancer rates by 4-6%. The United Nations Environment Program predicts a 26% rise in cataracts and skin cancers for every 10% drop in ozone. This translates to 1.75 million cases of cataracts and 300,000 more cases of skin cancer every year.

Major CFC pollutants

USA 23% Japan 16.4% Russian countries 11.6% Germany 5.7% UK- 4.3%

Ozone Hole above Antarctica

During the 1983 scientists discovered a "hole" in the ozone over Antarctica. By the 1990s atmospheric scientists had detected an annual loss of 40-50% of the ozone above Antarctica, which produced an ozone hole.

The largest Antarctic ozone hole ever recorded (September 2006).

The Antarctic ozone hole is an area of the Antarctic stratosphere in which the recent ozone levels have dropped to as low as 33% of their pre-1975 values.

Montreal protocol
A successful multilateral environmental agreement on substances that decrease ozone layers The treaty was opened for signature on September 16, 1987. It has been ratified by 197 states and European unions.

 Aimed to phase out 95% of global consumption of ozone depleting substances in just 20 years. Ozone layer on the path of recovery by midcentury. New control schedule,
2015- 10% reduction 2020- 35% reduction 2025- 67.5% reduction 2030- 97.5% allowing 2.5 % for refrigerators and Acs serving until 2040. 2050- 100% reduction

India and Ozone negotiations

Montreal protocol controls 96 chemicals India who had not signed the protocol until 1990 after the protocol was amended in favour of developing countries. India calculated the cost of producing an alternative to CFC prior signing the protocol. IICT (Indian Institute of Chemical Technology), BPL India, Godrej GE Appliances (joint venture) and other companies switched to CFC free products.

 3M developed the worlds first safe and effective alternative to CC driven asthama inhales. The Coca-Cola company committed to use refrigerators that contain no equipment containing CFCs. Dupont, largest manufacturer of CFC started with an alternative .

 Pesticides and their harmful effects on agriculture are well known. Recently the govt. has insisted upon creating awareness about sustainable development and identifying unsustainable practices and phasing them out from the agricultural sector. As a district collector with responsibility for agricultural development prepare an action plan for spreading awareness and implementing plan for discontinuing the use of harmful pesticides and alternative methods.