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Global Warming
Causes and Consequences
of a current problem
I.T.S. “E. MATTEI”
DECIMOMANNU
ITALY
COMENIUS - HELP
2012-1-RO1-COM06-22185 5
Melting of glaciers
Fossil fuels
Deforestation
Temperatures
raising
Garbage problem
Greenhouse
effect
Greenhouse gases
Natural thermal evolution
Ozone’s hole
GLOBAL
WARMING
Sea current
upheavals
Extinction
of animals
and plants
Eutrophication
Desertification
CAUSES OF GLOBAL WARMING
Fossil fuels
Some Fossil fuels:
•Coal
•Oil
•Natural Gases
We use fossil fuels to warm our homes, to cook,
to move conveyance, to make industrial plants
work , and to produce electricity.
Deforestation
Deforestation consists in breaking of trees for
commercial reasons or to use the land for
cultivation.
Since ancient times we cut trees for firewood for
domestic heating , for using it as a building
material, to obtain new land for agriculture and
urban expansion.
This phenomenon is particularly present in
the tropical areas where it is carried out with
the method of "slash and burn": at first you
cut down trees and then the remaining
undergrowth is ignited. Once the fire has
finished its work, the ash on the ground
fertilizes the soil.
Garbage problem
The industrial waste is especially dangerous for man and the
environment
because many of these contain toxic and carcinogen chemicals .
The disposal of urban and
industrial waste causes the
emission of gases that contribute
to global warming.
Greenhouse effect
The greenhouse effect is a phenomenon
without which life, as we know it
now, would not be possible. This
process consists in a global warming due
to the action of so-called greenhouse
gases.
Greenhouse gases allow solar radiation to
pass through the atmosphere and into space,
they hinder the passage of part of the infrared
radiation from the Earth's surface and lower
atmosphere (the heat reissued), effectively
acting like the glass of a greenhouse and they
help to regulate and maintain the temperature
of the Earth to the current level.
This process has always naturally
happened and it makes the
temperature of the
Earth about 33 ° C warmer than
that it would be without the
presence of these gases. The
progress you will make in the
reduction of greenhouse gas
emissions in the near future
will determine the level of
global warming to whom the
generations to come have to face.
Greenhouse gases
Greenhouse gases are
atmospheric gases that
absorb infrared
radiation and for this
they cause the
greenhouse effect.
The natural greenhouse
gases
include water vapor,
carbon dioxide,
methane, nitric oxide
and ozone. Certain
human activities,
however, raise the
level of all these gases
and other gases
released into the air.
The water vapor is
present in the
atmosphere due to
evaporation from
all water sources
and as a product of
the different
combustions.
Carbon dioxide is
released into the
atmosphere when
burned, especially
from solid waste,
fossil fuels, wood
and wood
products.
Methane is emitted
during the
production and
transport of coal,
natural gas and
mineral oil. To
better define the
contribution that
each determined
greenhouse gas
supplies to the
phenomenon of
global warming,
the GWP (Global
Warming
Potential)has been
conceived.
EFFECTS OF GLOBAL WARMING
Melting of glaciers
One consequence of climate change is the
melting of the glaciers that, if it is not soon
stopped by drastic measures coordinated
worldwide, will raise the level of the rivers and
seas, creating a chain effect.
The melting of
glaciers has
resulted in the
rising of waters.
According to a new study,
considering that the ice melts at a
moderate speed, by 2100 the water
level will rise by tens of meters,
killing millions and millions of
inhabitants of the metropolis that
will never be what they are today,
admitted that they still will be
there!
The famous glacier of the Gran Sasso, the only glacier in Central
Italy and the Apennines in general , is now reduced to a
minimum; the glaciers of the Alps are agonizing and visibly
decreasing.
Val di Peio
Presena
Mandrone
Monte Rosa
Alto Adige
Ozone’s hole
The ozone forms a band of about
30 kilometers thick in the
stratosphere to protect against
the most dangerous ultraviolet
rays that the sun sends to the
Earth's crust.
In 1986, scientists
discovered that over
the Antarctic an
abnormal thinning of
the ozone layer
occurred.
The phenomenon is
called "ozone hole".
The progressive enlargement of the ozone hole
means that more harmful ultraviolet UV-B
radiation reach the Earth's surface with negative
effects on human health.
Ozone’s hole
Sea current upheavals
Sea currents are very important:
In fact , they heat up or cool an area
surrounding them, such as the Gulf
Stream, which warms the whole area
surrounding the North Sea. Without them
we would fall into a possible ice age that
would affect especially the countries of
the North.
The global
warming affects
the current state of
glaciers, which
would result in the
rise of the oceans
but also in a
cooling of sea
currents.
The greenhouse effect alters the
processes that occur in the oceans,
with drastic consequences for the
planet's biological and climatic
situation.
Floods in Italy
Landslides
Extinction of animals and plants
In Italy, more than three hundred species are considered by international
experts on the verge of extinction or already extinct like, for example, the
monaco vulture, the white-headed duck, the duck-billed, a beautiful
turquoise.
A lot of exclusive and
almost unknown plants
are at risk, too. Sicily and
Sardinia are the richest
regions of biodiversity
and today they are called
to fight this problem
with special politics of
safeguard.
Many animals are at risk, including
sharks, manta rays, common dolphins,
monk seals, sea turtles, fin whales and
dozens of birds that live in our lakes and
ponds, including ducks , bats, lizards,
newts and snakes.
Even the biodiversity of rivers is at risk.
Dozens of species of fish are considered
almost extinct, including the sturgeon,
the carp of Garda, the bleak of
Apennines.
Eutrophication
It’s an abnormal proliferation of
biomass (microalgae) plants. It is the biological process resulting in such
enrichment and abnormal growth of algae with
often deleterious consequences for
the environment.
Eutrophication is one
of the main environmental problems
affecting the coastal waters of Emilia-Romagna. The extent and frequency
with which these phenomena occur make the area south of the Po Delta
among the most critical in the Mediterranean.
The problem emerged in all its drama in the public eye when in the mid-70s
the coastal waters of Emilia Romagna, due to eutrophication, were
affected by the first extensive die-offs of benthic organisms (bottom
fish, mollusks, crustaceans, etc ...) with deleterious impacts on tourism
and fishing.
Desertification
Desertification is a phenomenon caused by the climate change.
The causes that contribute most to the process of desertification
are many and complex and include, in addition to the traditional
activities of deforestation, overgrazing, poor irrigation practices,
and more generally unsustainable practices of land use , and some
complex mechanisms related to international trade, too.
Once again, the human pollution proves to be a major factor to
global warming and its impact on our planet includes
desertification.
According to estimates of
the United Nations
Environment Programme
(UNEP), a quarter of the
earth's land is threatened
by desertification. The
existence of more than one
billion people in more than
100 nations is, in turn, put
at risk by desertification,
since cultivation and
grazing become less
productive.
In Italy, in
particular ,the
regions of Sicily,
Sardinia, Apulia
and Calabria are
affected by this
phenomenon,.
.
Sardinia is among the five Italian regions at risk of desertification
Irgoli- Sardinia: erosion phenomena
Sardinia: soil salinization
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Sardegna agricoltura