In recent years, there have been many alarming reports that the world’s climate is undergoing a significant change. All these reports provide strong evidence that world temperatures are increasing day by day. This increase in global worming is caused by increased amounts of carbon dioxide around the earth. Most climatologists believe that the ‘greenhouse effect is the most likely cause of this global warming.
What is the greenhouse effect? It is the gradual warming of the air surrounding the earth as a result of heat being trapped by environmental pollution. This is exemplified by the destruction and burning down of tropical rain forests, by traffic that clogs up city streets, by the rapid growth of industry, the use of chlorofluorocarbons in packaging and manufacturing commercial products, the use of detergents such as washing powder and washing-up liquid and so on. The oceans are also said to be affected both because of human waste and because of pollution caused by industrial waste products, oil seeping from damaged supertankers and from other maritime disasters. However, the main culprits for global warming are carbon dioxide gas, produced by the burning of fossil fuels and forests and pollutants such as methane and chlorofluorocarbons.
Climatologists predict that by midway through the next century temperatures may have risen by as much as 4◦C. This could catastrophically reduce mankind’s ability to grow food, destroy wildlife and wilderness, raise sea levels and thereby flood coastal areas and farmland. The alarming news about many small countries is that as a result of the rise of the sea level a large parts of their coastal areas may go under water.
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