The greenhouse effect and global warming are strongly interrelated because greenhouse gases are responsible for the rise of our planet’s temperature.
Greenhouse gases come from both natural and human sources. But the reason behind its increase can be blamed on us: human activities are the most significant source of climate change, due to our massive production of greenhouse gases.
So, here’s what we propose 👉 We’re going to do a recap of what the greenhouse effect is and how it’s connected to global warming. Of course, we’ll do a brief introduction to global warming's effects and its causes. Plus, we’ll explore what’s happening right now and what’s ahead for us in the future.
All you need to know about the greenhouse effect
The greenhouse effect describes the process of how heat is trapped in the atmosphere which results in temperatures suitable for life. Without the greenhouse effect, Earth would be too cold for life. So, the greenhouse effect by itself isn’t harmful. Without this greenhouse effect, the temperature would be cooler by 33°C more or less.
Greenhouse gases absorb the energy radiated out by the Sun and then reflect a part of it back to the Earth. The clouds and the atmosphere make sure that only more or less 26% of the energy that our planet gets from the sun is reflected back to space. Only around 19% is absorbed by the atmosphere. The rest (55%) is energy that makes it to Earth to heat its surface.
This energy, when radiated out of our planet, is transformed into infrared waves. These can warm the atmosphere too, so the atmosphere diffuses them upwards and downwards. Fun fact, this energy creates a higher equilibrium in temperature than if no greenhouse gases existed.
So, greenhouse gases are the ones that actually keep the temperature high. But an increase in those gases can, and actually is, causing major shifts in climate. Lots of them have the power to stay in the atmosphere for tens of hundred - some thousands - of years after they have been released, and their warming effects endure as well.
The greenhouse effect has been on Earth long before us, so why is it affecting our climate that much? Well, we, humans, are both the problem and the solution.
Human activities worldwide produce a significant increase in the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases. Almost every activity that we do releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, but some countries can produce far more than others.
The main reason why is because these countries have different economic activities, populations, income levels, land use, and climate conditions. All of these factors have an impact on the amount of greenhouse gases that each country produces.
Increased amount of greenhouse gases causes global warming: Learn more about each one of them
The greenhouse effect has greenhouse gases at its core. As we mentioned previously, these gases are responsible for creating a warming effect that makes life possible on our planet. Although part of them are generated naturally, most of their harmful effects are caused by us because we increase their amounts in the atmosphere. Let’s see how they work and learn more about each one of them.
Human activities are increasing the amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and, therefore, making our planet warmer day by day. Net emissions of greenhouse gases that come from human activities have increased by 43% from 1990 to 2015. Plus, the amount of carbon dioxide emissions, the main gas responsible for global warming, increased by 51% during the same period. This increase started before 1990, started actually when the industrial era began.
In the late 1700s and early 1800s, we’ve been releasing considerable quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The growth rate that greenhouse gas emissions had between 1970 and 2004 is 70%, and it scales up to 80% if we look at carbon dioxide emissions.
Actually, the truth is that the current concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are higher than ever, or at least if we compare them with the amount during the past 800 thousand years.
Where do these gases come from? Almost all atmospheric carbon dioxide is emitted by the burning of fossil fuels like oil, coal, and natural gas. That’s the way how we get the energy for our houses, and for our transportation necessities. Another human activity that increases carbon dioxide emissions is deforestation—you can check out more in this article.
Finally, another factor is overpopulation. The rise in global population is another reason that’s affecting the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere because more people and an increase in richness and consumerism increase the amount of greenhouse gases we produce.
Let’s explore the greenhouse gases that are causing trouble in our climate and how each one of them is produced:
Carbon dioxide. It’s produced mainly due to the burning of fossil fuels and, to a much lesser extent, deforestation. But solid waste and changes in land use can also be a source of emissions.
Nitrous oxide. It’s primarily emitted by agricultural and industrial activities, and also they can come from the combustion of fossil fuels and solid waste. Those gases can stay in the atmosphere for up to 109 years.
Methane. We can track its origins through the production and transportation of oil, natural gas, and coal. Other sources include livestock, especially cattle, and agricultural practices. Let’s not forget the anaerobic decay of organic waste in solid waste landfills. Those are only the main sources of methane. Adding to this, did you know that this greenhouse gas can stay in the atmosphere for more than 11 years?
Fluorinated gases. This type of gas includes the ones that have fluorine. Among them, you’ll find hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride. Want to know where they come from? They are released through industrial processes along with commercial and household ones. For example, they’re used in aerosol cans and refrigeration. The difference between fluorinated gases and the other categories: these gases don’t have a natural source. They can stay in the atmosphere for between just a few weeks and up to thousands of years, depending on their chemical structure.
Is there anything we can do to prevent the harmful results of the greenhouse effect? Of course, we have the power to decrease the amount we emit quite dramatically by making small changes in our routine—we’ve explored some solutions that we put into practice in our daily life in this article.
However, there are other kinds of actions that we need to consider. Some of them are: afforestation on a large scale, energy conservation (shifting to renewable sources on a large scale), and policy intervention. On this last point, we consider that governments must be involved in creating strict policies to keep the overall air quality in a good state, because we can achieve the reduction of the temperature increase only globally, for example by the Paris accords, which aim to keep the temperature increase below 2°C, ideally not more than 1.5°.
The global warming effect: A quick walkthrough
To better understand how global warming and the greenhouse effect are connected, we have to explore how global warming works, and where it comes from.
But first things first: What’s global warming? We can define it as the rise in the average temperature of Earth’s air, oceans, and land. It's the most famous aspect of climate change, here you can find the differences and connections between climate change and global warming.
As we’ve mentioned previously, global warming isn’t a new event in our planet’s history, but the issue is that nowadays is growing at an accelerated rate thanks to human activity. Actually, it’s happening faster than ever. The speed of its growth is a reason for scientists to worry because many species won’t be able to adapt to it. In this article, we’ve discussed its impact and what’s likely to happen with species in the nearby future.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), where thousands of scientists do up-to-date research about climate change, discovered that Earth’s temperatures have risen to 0.74 °C during the past 100 years.
Plus, the IPCC found that land regions are getting hotter faster than oceans. Of course, the IPCC had proved the connection between our planet’s temperature with human activities.
Let’s see what this increasing rate means to our planet and, therefore, our and future generations' lives. We have to keep in mind that it doesn’t have to be an extreme rise in temperature to create a great impact on the Earth’s balance. A slight increase in average global temperature can cause ice caps and glaciers to melt faster than they usually do.
Although ice sheets and glaciers advance and retreat naturally, the increasing changes in our climate make them grow and shrink. This is the reason behind the rise in sea level and the fact that oceans are becoming less salty. As mentioned previously, glaciers and ice grow and shrink, and that rhythm is followed by sea levels. If we focus on glaciers and ice caps, we’ll see that they represent 10% of Earth’s landmass. It doesn’t seem much, but it’s approximately 75% of our Planet’s fresh water.
So picture this: if all glaciers and ice caps melt, sea levels would rise about 70 meters. This would mean considerable damage to communities that live next to the sea, and millions of people would have to relocate because of flooding. Plus, this will have an impact on freshwater too, communities that rely on ice melting for drinking, irrigation, and hydroelectric power will be affected.
This was just a sneak peek to the effects of global warming on the environment and in our lives. We can add to that future changes in rain and snow, and the increase in droughts in some regions. As you can see, none of these effects have a positive impact on our daily routines and on the lives of millions of species that live on Earth too.
Long story short: How is global warming connected to the greenhouse effect?
We’ve mentioned many times that the greenhouse effect is a natural process that helps to warm Earth and make it a place where life can occur. We’ve also explored the role that greenhouse gases play in that process and how they can alter our balance by increasing temperatures beyond natural rates.
Therefore, we can say that the function that the greenhouse effect has (preserving life), is damaged by human activities. That damage is caused by additional greenhouse gases that translate to increasing global warming. Caused by gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.
So, what was supposed to be a process to make Earth habitable results now not only in increased average temperatures but also climate extremes such as floods, cyclones, droughts, cold spells, extreme temperatures, etc. They all come from the greenhouse effect and global warming, but we are responsible for this. We have to pay attention and take care of this urgent matter and its increase due to the burning of fuels and other human activities.
What should we expect in the future?
We’ve already explored the link between greenhouse gases and global warming. But what’s ahead if we continue to produce this number of gases? Well, although there are no time-travel machines, scientists have been trying many computer models to look at the future and how global warming will affect it.
The IPCC team says that if the greenhouse gas emissions increase as much as they do now, the average temperature on Earth will further rise too. They expect that it will increase by approximately 0.2 °C per decade. But what will happen if we achieve a reduction in greenhouse gas and aerosol emissions? If we get to the levels reached in 2000, we can reduce and achieve a rise of just 0.1°C per decade.
A rise in Earth’s temperature will also produce some major changes in water supplies. Actually, the IPCC says we’ll suffer from river runoff. While some locations that are placed at high latitudes and some tropical areas will enjoy an increase in water availability, many regions placed in the mid-latitudes and tropics will have to deal with a shortage of water resources.
Water shortages will also have an impact on agricultural output and food availability, resulting in high food prices. Plus, in the future, there will also be more frequent heat waves and extreme precipitation, boosting the chances of intense storms and tropical cyclones affecting weather patterns.
What can we do?
Did you know that some scientists are working to make artificial carbon sequestration possible? This refers to a process that absorbs carbon dioxide and stores it underground, so it’s not released into the atmosphere. But even if that works, the amount of artificially released CO2 in the atmosphere is already so high that artificial carbon sequestration will only be a drop into a large bucket.
But you don’t have to be a scientist to handle global warming. There are some actions that you can do to change our future. Although we’ve already made a special article about them, here are some considerations:
Being part of movements that protect our forests. You can also help plant new trees, so we have more natural sinks all over the world.
Building heat-health action plans and improving disease surveillance and control.
Creating roads and rail lines to cope with warming and flooding.
Shifting energy infrastructure by migrating to renewable energy sources and improving its efficiency. We have to make sure that we don’t rely on just one energy source.
Transforming current tourism attractions and creating more sustainable ones. Ski resorts and coral reefs are likely to disappear if we continue on this path.
Creating seawalls and storm surge barriers to protect coastal communities from the rise of sea levels.
Changing crop locations, variety, and planting dates.
This article is part of a sequence of seven articles that we wrote on climate change, global warming, and greenhouse gases. All of them make a complete guide through these key environmental concepts.
If you’re looking to be part of the change, explore them here. Plus, we invite you to check out and Download our app at Lemu to help protect our Planet 🌍
