Global Warming Causes, Effects & Solutions
Cause
Climatologists, who predict short and long-term climate trends, believe carbon dioxide and other emissions, mainly from industrial and commercial activity over the last two centuries, have altered the Earth's atmosphere. This change has caused a "greenhouse effect" which is rapidly warming the planet.
Effects
The predicted effects of global warming include the melting of polar ice caps; a significant rise in sea levels; more extreme weather events; a reduction in agricultural land; water shortages; food shortages; loss of rain forests; and more species becoming extinct.
Solutions
Scientists believe all nations must take immediate and urgent action to dramatically reduce carbon emissions. Technological solutions have been proposed, ranging from "carbon scrubbers" that remove carbon from the atmosphere and reduce greenhouse gases to placing giant mirrors in space to reflect enough sunlight to cool down the planet.
Controversy
Although an overwhelming majority of scientists accept the man-made global warming theory, a minority have questioned this consensus. They suggest that man's impact on the climate is negligible and that global warming is wholly the result of natural cycles.
David Kennedy, nd. Basic Causes of Global Warming Retrieved February 27, 2013 from http://www.ehow.com/about_5057613_basic-causes-global-warming.html
Basic Causes of Global Warming
Greenhouse Effect
When sunlight hits the Earth some is absorbed but most is reflected. The greenhouse effect is when sunlight escaping back into space is absorbed by gases in the atmosphere and then reflected back onto the Earth's surface. Most greenhouse gas is water vapor, but other gases that contribute to it include carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, and other