Green energy: Did you know?! - The history of global warming debate

Global warming has become a debatable issue these days. Now, most people still wonder whether it is for real. The subject refers to the process of increase in the temperature of earth which in turn, produce changes in climate. When the earth gets warmer, the process brings out some changes in the usual rainfall patterns and then a rise in sea level. All this create a huge impact on plants, wildlife and human beings. The global warming debate provides us good information on this subject.

The issue of change in climate provides us information on the global warming caused by human activities. It also tells us about the cleansing process, the earth goes through. One of the groups feels that all human beings are responsible for the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere via the burning of fossil fuels while driving, automobiles or utilizing other means of mass transit. The utilization of these fossil fuels is directly responsible for global warming and in turn the destruction of biodiversity and ecosystems of the earth.

Some of the scientists also believe that global warming is caused due to the use of fossil fuels. One must be aware of the various cycles and temperatures of the earth in conjunction with the natural cycle associated with the evolving planet. The debate on this topic may continue for several years to come. The important actor to realize is that we are contributing to the pollution of the environment we should work towards reducing the use of fossil fuels. Prevention of rainforests from being harvested will also solve the problem. The focus on planting tropical trees, specially new ones would play the trick.

The original theory of global warming came into existence in the year 1824. In this year, Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier, the French mathematician discovered the fact that the temperature of the earth is increasing gradually. According to Fourier, the atmosphere of earth traps solar radiation and reflects it back to earth. This theory of Fourier was known as the greenhouse effect in the late nineteenth century. During this era, Nobel laureate Svante Arrhenius used this term in order to elaborate the way carbon dioxide traps heat into the atmosphere of the Earth According to Arrhenius, the greenhouse effect was fully responsible for the starting of the ice ages.

In the 1950s, G.S. Callendar, a great scientist warned that the greenhouse effect has some truth in its’ theory and it puts a great impact on the atmosphere of the earth. All the claims made by calendar were termed as the ‘Callendar effect’. This in turn, led to the enhanced research on the global warming. Most of the scientific studies predicted that increase in carbon dioxide emissions that takes place due to the excess use of fossil fuel would initiate a global warming outbreak.

However, in the late twentieth century, another ice age was predicted. Some also predicted the melting of ice caps that would result in flooding all over the world.