The Greenhouse effect - Part 1

                      

Hello people, so today i decided to educate people on the Greenhouse effect. This is a topic i'm sure a lot of people have heard of but may not understand. I also think it is a good place to start in discussing environmental matters. Although now that i'm thinking of it, perhaps defining the environment may be a better starting point. So by defintion, the environment is the totality of the surrounding of an individual while the ecosystem encompasses the living (biotic) and nonliving (abiotic) components of the surrounding and their interactions, which result in nutrient cycling and energy flow. For a long time man's activities, in his effort to develop his world, have interfered with the natural ecosystem leading to a number of environmental concerns such as pollution, loss of biodiversity, greenhouse effect, global warming and climate change.

The "greenhouse effect" is widely discussed in the media, and although its details are complicated, its principles are not difficult to understand. Without a greenhouse effect, radiation from the Sun (mostly in the form of visible light) would travel to Earth and be changed into heat, only to be lost to space. This scenario can be sketched as follows: 

Sun's radiation → absorbed by Earth → Re-radiated to space as heat

The greenhouse effect is a process where energy from the sun readily penetrates into the lower atmosphere and onto the surface of Earth and is converted to heat, but then cannot freely leave the planet. This can be sketched as follows: 

Sun's Radiation → absorbed by Earth → some re-radiated to space as heat → some trapped by the atmosphere

Due to the presence of certain greenhouse gases that trap heat, like carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, and CFC's, the atmosphere retains the sun's radiation and warms up the planet. By increasing the abundance of these gases in the atmosphere, humankind is increasing the overall warming of the Earth's surface and lower atmosphere, a process called "global warming."

That would be a wrap for now. We shall discuss further in the part 2, plus we shall discuss our habits and day-to-day activities that contribute to global warming and climate change. So stay tuned. See the REFERENCE for further reading. I do Hope you have gained something. Feedbacks, comments, suggestions, ideas etc are most welcome.

Stay blessed.

L.