Essay on Global Warming: Causes, Effects, and Mitigation Strategies

This essay delves into the critical issue of global warming, examining its causes, effects, and potential solutions. It highlights the primary cause of global warming as the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, predominantly due to human activities like burning fossil fuels and deforestation. The essay explains the role of greenhouse gases in trapping heat and the detrimental effects of their excessive accumulation. It then emphasizes the need for immediate action, suggesting a shift away from fossil fuels towards alternative energy sources like solar and wind power. The importance of government policies, public education, and research in finding suitable alternative energy forms is also discussed. The essay concludes by underscoring the significant impact of global warming on human lives, including threats to food security and displacement, emphasizing the need for collaborative efforts from both governments and individuals to combat this rising global concern.

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The term global warming is used for a phenomena that relates to the unusually rapid
increase in the average surface temperature of the earth over the last century due to
multifactorial reasons. The impact of this phenomenon on human lives is far-reaching
(Crutzen et al., 2016). The present paper would discuss global warming as one of the most
serious issues faced by the world at the present times. It would highlight the causes of global
warming and the measures that individuals and government can take for handling the
growing issue.
Global warming has drawn the attention of concerned scholars since it brings about
drastic changes in the environment such as increasing global temperature, changing patterns
of precipitation, rising sea levels and expansion of deserts (Carvalho, 2017). Wallace et al.,
(2017) highlighted the causes of global warming in their paper. The primary reason of global
warming is the rising amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that are commonly
produced due to human activities. These activities include burning of fossil fuels and
deforestation. Both of these generate excess amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, such as
nitrous oxide, methane, carbon dioxide, leading to global warming. Greenhouse gases are
helpful since they trap heat within the Earth's atmosphere for keeping the earth warm for
sustaining life known as ‘Greenhouse Effect”. However the excessive amount of such gases
increases the temperature unsuitably. An abnormal level of the gases, when accumulated in
the air, leads to enhancement of the greenhouse effect.
According to Faaij et al., (2013) the major portion of carbon dioxide emissions are
from the burning of fossil fuels that humans use of electricity, vehicles and machinery.
Generation of methane is caused due to fossil fuel production and use, rice farming and
landfills. Nitrous oxide is generated due to use of synthetic fertilizers for agriculture.
Deforestation is now known as a substantial activity undertaken by humans that involves the
transformation of forests into farms thereby increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

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The severity of the issue demands immediate attention be given to preventing global
warming. One key approach would be to reduce the dependency on fossil fuels and increase
the use of an alternative form of energy. Governments must come forward and educate the
public about the benefits of using an alternative form of energy such as solar energy and wind
energy. There is a need of policy reforms that can bring advancements in the use of such form
of alternative energy. More rigorous policies are also needed in relation to prevention of
deforestation. Research is to be conducted to understand the suitability of different forms of
an alternative form of energy as per the needs of the country. Funding would be essential in
this regard. Collaboration between the government and public is of prime importance to
achieve success (Kosaka&Xie, 2013).
In the end, it can be concluded that global warming is a significant topic of discussion
among researchers across the world due to its large scale impact on human lives. Public
reactions to global warming and the concerns regarding its impact are also increasing. Further
initiatives from the governments as well as individual initiatives would be required to combat
this rising issue. Impact on humans includes a threat to food security and abandonment of
populated areas.

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References
Carvalho, L.M., (2017). A Global Warming Primer--Answering Your Questions About The
Science, The Consequences, And The Solutions. Bulletin of the American
Meteorological Society, 98(4), 833-836.
Crutzen, P. J., Mosier, A. R., Smith, K. A., &Winiwarter, W. (2016). N2O release from agro-
biofuel production negates global warming reduction by replacing fossil fuels. In Paul
J. Crutzen: a pioneer on atmospheric chemistry and climate change in the
Anthropocene. Springer International Publishing.
Faaij, A., Jager, D. &Kok, M. eds., (2013). Global warming and social innovation: the
challenge of a climate neutral society. Routledge.
Kosaka, Y. &Xie, S.P., (2013). Recent global-warming hiatus tied to equatorial Pacific
surface cooling. Nature, 501(7467), pp.403-407.
Wallace, J.M., Held, I.M., Thompson, D.W., Trenberth, K.E. & Walsh, J.E., (2014).Global
warming and winter weather. Science, 343(6172),729-730.