Is carbon dioxide a main
culprit of global warming? Recently, this is a very debatable topic. One of the
group claims that carbon dioxide is a normal gas like hydrogen, nitrogen,
oxygen. It is not the reason for global warming. Another group consider carbon
dioxide as culpable. I might give a logical reason here. In our surrounding we
have a large number of nutrients but not all are of equal importance, they are
micro and macro. Similarly, their ratio in our diet matters a lot. If one of
them exceeds its normal limit, it causes malfunctions. Due to the presence of
carbon, which is the main building block of nature and nature believes on
balance of every thing. Carbon dioxide is a slightly toxic, odourless and a
colorless gas with a pungent, acid taste. It is currently occurring at an
average concentration of about 390 parts per million by volume or 591 parts per
million by mass. Carbon dioxide gas is 1.5 times as heavy as air, thus if
released, it will concentrate at low elevations. Warmer air temperatures would
result in an increase in the water temperature, decreased duration of ice cover
and in some cases, lower water levels. These changes may contribute to decreased
concentrations of dissolved oxygen. About three-quarters of the anthropogenic
emissions of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere during the past 20 years have been
due to fossil-fuel burning. Activities consuming fossil fuels include power
generation, transport, industrial/manufacturing processes. The rest of carbon
dioxide emissions are predominately due to land usage, mainly deforestation. The
primary reason identified by climate scientists is the excess emitted by the
human consumption of fossil fuel. Human have increased the content of this
carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere some 30% since the beginning of the
industrial revolution. Large quantities of this gas is produced by lime kilns,
which burn limestone to produce calcium oxide (lime, used to make cement); and
in the production of magnesium from dolomite (calcium magnesium carbonate).
Other industrial activities which produce large amounts of carbon dioxide is
ammonia and hydrogen production from natural gas or other raw materials. Global
warming is also by the result of an excess of greenhouse gases, by destroying
tropical rainforests, which threatens to change climate in an unprecedented
manner. Heat from the sun, reflected back from the earth is trapped in this
layer of gases And as a result, global temperature rises. Carbon dioxide is
constantly being exchanged among the atmosphere, ocean and the land surface as
it is both produced and absorbed by many micro-organisms, plants and animals.
Since the Industrial Revolution began around 1750, human activities have
contributed substantially to climate change by adding carbon dioxide and other
heat trapping gases to the atmosphere. Trees play a huge role in life on earth
and are basically the only reason we are alive. It is very common that trees
absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, convert it into carbon and oxygen
which is stored as carbohydrates and sugar and releases oxygen back into the
atmosphere, so they acts as lungs of earth. They purify the atmosphere from
toxic gases. Air combination also disturbed by theses climatic chain pummels
chain reactions. In addition, the ratio of oxygen to nitrogen in the atmosphere
has declined as carbon dioxide has increased. This is as expected because oxygen
is depleted when fossil fuels are burned. The Southern Ocean is the largest of
these ocean carbon sinks, soaking up about 40 % of carbon dioxide absorbed by
the seas. According to an estimate, in near future carbon dioxide will
presumably continue to rise at a rate of about 2 ppm per year. The rapid
increase in global temperature is a normal scenario in current situations.
Unfortunately, alone we can do nothing, but with the help of a team we can do
things to save our mother land i.e. by curing its lungs which can only be made
possible by increasing the number of trees.