What is the 'Greenhouse Effect' and What's Going on With It?

This is a topic that we're all familiar with, directly through personal research or indirectly, hearing it in passing and not paying much attention to the term greenhouse effect.

However, it makes sense to know something about the greenhouse effect.  A global conversation is being had on this subject around the globe, as we speak. 

Officials obtain scientific reports on the cause and effect of bad gases, as to adapt policy that reduces human contribution to air pollution.

Many of us hear the term 'greenhouse effect' mentioned on news reports and during political conversations. But we have no idea what the term means. 

What IS the "greenhouse effect?" What does it do? How did it happen? These are questions many of us ask when we hear terms like greenhouse gases or greenhouse effect.

We will also be able to identify top greenhouse gas emitters, raising public awareness, forcing manufacturers to produce more earth-friendly products. However, humans manipulate most greenhouse gases in the pursuit of modern advancement and endanger life on the planet in the process.

Let's answer some fundamental questions; then we can understand why the little things we can do to save our planet are important.

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What's good about greenhouse effect?

"When functioning normally, the greenhouse effect keeps our planet warm. This happens when natural gases in the atmosphere form a blanket (of sorts) which allows sunlight to reach the earth's surface, but prevents heat from escaping, much like the glass of a greenhouse. This gas blanket traps heat close to the surface, and warms the atmosphere." ---Global Warming: The Greenhouse Effect, Friends of the Earth

What are the Bad elements? 

"For the first time in history, human activities are altering the climate of our entire planet. In less than two centuries, humans have increased the total amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 25% from the burning of fossil fuels and the destruction of forests...Unless we reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, the stable, hospitable climate on which civilization is based could become a thing of the past." ---Cooling the Greenhouse, NDRC

How Do Greenhouse Gases Contribute to Climate Change

Greenhouse Gases:

• Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is responsible for about 71% of the greenhouse effect. Every year, people add at least 6 billion tons of it to the atmosphere. 1.5 billion of it comes from the U.S. Main sources of CO2: burning fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas, and destruction of forests, which release CO2 when they're burned or cut down. 

• Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCS) are not only responsible for 10% of the global warming, but also destroy the earth's ozone layer.

• Methane causes 9% of the greenhouse effect. Cattle, rice fields, and landfills produce methane.

• Nitrous Oxide is responsible for 3% and is formed by microbes, breaking chemical fertilizers, and by burning wood and fossil fuels.
• Carbon Monoxide, Ozone, and other gases come from ground-based pollution caused by motor vehicles, power plants, oil refineries.

Some people woke up to the reality of the 'greenhouse effect' sooner than others

Were you ever one of those people who made mockery whenever you saw a group protesting, carrying signs that said save our planet?

Many of us don't realize the seriousness of the cause. We are either busy contributing (unwittingly) to the problem or busy trying to fix it. It's ironic. Making fun of things that are actually beneficial is a testament to ignorance

Reference: The Earth Works Group