Download Carbon Dioxide Emission

Carbon Dioxide Emission
Carbon Dioxide Emission
Some gases in the atmosphere allow visible light to pass
through, but they block much of the heat which is reflected from
Earth's surface — in the same way as the glass windows in a
greenhouse. Without this greenhouse effect, temperatures in the world
would be lower by 35 degrees Celsius, most of the oceans would
freeze, and life would cease or be totally changed. According to the
theory of global warming, an increase in greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere will produce too high temperature increases.
Aside from water vapor, the main greenhouse gases are carbon
dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide. Of these, carbon dioxide is the most
important.
The most dramatic consequence of the warming would be a
rise in sea level from the melting of polar ice and glaciers, a rise that the
Environmental Protection Agency projects to be 20 feet in the year
2300. And then large parts of territories along sea and ocean coasts
will be under water.
Scientists don't think that mankind alone is responsible for
the melting of glaciers and the rise of sea levels up to 25 centimetres
this century. But we have created conditions that accelerate the
process.
A majority of climatologists feel that a risk of global warming
exists, although there is much disagreement about the extent and timing.
At the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, more than 150 countries signed the Convention on
Climate Change for the control of emissions of greenhouse gases.
In the early 1990s, the United States produced 23 per cent of
global emission, Western Europe 14 per cent, Japan 5 per cent and
China 12 per cent. Although emissions have grown much during the
past 40 years, they began levelling off in the late 1980s and early
1990s.
In December 1997 about 160 nations took part in the
conference in Japan which was to limit emission of carbon dioxide
and other greenhouse gases in the future.
Some gases in the atmosphere allow visible light to pass
through, but they block much of the heat which is reflected from
Earth's surface — in the same way as the glass windows in a
greenhouse. Without this greenhouse effect, temperatures in the world
would be lower by 35 degrees Celsius, most of the oceans would
freeze, and life would cease or be totally changed. According to the
theory of global warming, an increase in greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere will produce too high temperature increases.
Aside from water vapor, the main greenhouse gases are carbon
dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide. Of these, carbon dioxide is the most
important.
The most dramatic consequence of the warming would be a
rise in sea level from the melting of polar ice and glaciers, a rise that the
Environmental Protection Agency projects to be 20 feet in the year
2300. And then large parts of territories along sea and ocean coasts
will be under water.
Scientists don't think that mankind alone is responsible for
the melting of glaciers and the rise of sea levels up to 25 centimetres
this century. But we have created conditions that accelerate the
process.
A majority of climatologists feel that a risk of global warming
exists, although there is much disagreement about the extent and timing.
At the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, more than 150 countries signed the Convention on
Climate Change for the control of emissions of greenhouse gases.
In the early 1990s, the United States produced 23 per cent of
global emission, Western Europe 14 per cent, Japan 5 per cent and
China 12 per cent. Although emissions have grown much during the
past 40 years, they began levelling off in the late 1980s and early
1990s.
In December 1997 about 160 nations took part in the
conference in Japan which was to limit emission of carbon dioxide
and other greenhouse gases in the future.