Global warming is defined as the gradual increase in the temperature of Earth’s atmosphere. This occurs when a combination of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases collect in the atmosphere and absorb sunlight and solar radiation. These pollutants trap the heat inside the atmosphere and cause the temperature to rise. Many people know this to be called the greenhouse effect. You might be wondering what causes this to happen. Some of the major manmade causes of global warming are the burning of fossil fuels, transportation, and deforestation.
The burning of fossil fuels is primarily used to make electricity. It ends up producing over two billion tons of carbon dioxide a year. This makes it the biggest contributor to the phenomena. Transportation, such as cars, buses, trains, etc. cause over 1.7 billion tons a year. Deforestation is a major contributor because plants store carbon, and when they are cut down, it releases the carbon into the environment. This might not seem like that much of a problem, but some of the devastating effects can be seen as heat waves, droughts, powerful hurricanes, rising sea levels, endangered animals, and wildfires. Of course, these are only a few of the problems that can happen. Over time, this can potentially keep getting worse and our planet will start to see even worse effects.

Luckily, there are easy things you can do to start to combat the effects of global warming. For example, you can use fewer fossil fuels. In simpler terms, this means that instead of using regular electricity, you can switch to solar or even wind power. Many people are finding benefits in using solar power, and it’s surprisingly easy to afford. Another very easy thing you can do is get your hands a little dirty and plant some trees. The trees will take up the carbon dioxide, and release oxygen, which can help clean the atmosphere of dangerous levels of carbon dioxide. A lot of people think about the phrase, “reduce, reuse, and recycle” when thinking about the environment. While this is beneficial, the recycling tends to take the focus away from the other two. In fact, reducing and reusing materials is much better for the earth, compared to recycling alone. This is because of when the materials are sent to a plant to be recycled, a lot of electricity is used, and this only contributes to more carbon dioxide being released into the environment. By reducing the amount of trash you have, and reusing items, it cuts down on a lot of waste that can end up in the ecosystems. Perhaps the easiest one of all of them is conserving water. Cities consume significant amounts of energy when purifying and distributing water. Saving water reduces this energy, so whenever possible, turning off any faucets and hoses, and using less water anywhere you can, will help.

Whether you personally believe in global warming or not, doesn’t mean that caring for the earth should automatically be ruled out. Taking a few simple measures a day can help fix many of the problems that we’re seeing today. The more informed you are, the better you can assist with making the world a more positive and happy place to live in. It all starts with you.