What is Global Warming and How can we prevent it?

This generation is just now starting to realize the important issues that have existed for a very long time.

Learn everything you can about global warming and take the initiative to educate others such as family members, friends, co-workers and everyone you meet.  The more people are aware of these issues the more likely they are to make constructive decisions.

Stay informed and actively involved.  E-mail relevant articles to friends, family and community leaders to get them up to speed or to keep them apprised about any and all ongoing global warming endeavors.

What is it?
Global warming is the increase in the average surface air and ocean temperatures on our planet.

What’s causing it?
It’s believed there is a link between human activities and global warming due to industrial carbon dioxide emissions.  Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas thought to be responsible for this increase in these temperatures around the globe.

Global warming is predicted to generate significant changes in weather conditions such as more extreme ranges in temperature, melting of glaciers and ice sheets which will lead to a global rise in average sea levels.

Why is it occurring?
Scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) report that over the past 50 years more than 13 000 sq km of sea ice in the Antarctic Peninsula has been lost.  Melting in the Antarctic Peninsula removes sea ice that held back the movement of glaciers resulting in glaciers flowing into the ocean up to 6 times faster than before.

Global warming is the result of interconnected physical, ecological and social changes that have been caused by decades of unsustainable use of earth’s resources.

How does global warming work?
The greenhouse effect makes our earth’s atmosphere habitable by trapping heat and light from the sun inside water vapors, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane and other combined chemical vapors, both natural and manufactured.

This greenhouse effect forms a shield that allows the sun’s radiant heat energy into our atmosphere and moves excess heat concentrations out of our atmosphere.  When gas concentrations in this shield are increased, excess gases become trapped inside our atmosphere thus causing increased global temperatures.

What actions can be taken to stop it?
Explore new, innovative strategies and technologies that can be used to make environmental initiatives cost effective and efficient.

• Plant a tree or plant native or drought-tolerant plants.  Avoid using pesticides or herbicides on your lawn.  The runoff can contribute to water pollution.
• Implement effective methods that encourage environmental sustainability such as supporting and advocating alternative energy sources such as wind or solar which do not emit CO2 gases.
• The consumable products we all purchase represent over half of the average family’s carbon footprint!
• Seek out products that have a low CarbonCounted footprint number.  There is a logo called CarbonCounted that companies can put on their products to publicize their carbon footprint.  (http://www.carboncounted.com
• Buy a carbon offset.  Find entities that allow you to “buy off” your CO2 usage.  Carbon offsets are attempts to neutralize one’s carbon debt through planting trees or giving money to organizations that help businesses go green or encourage green-friendly research and development.  Most people are said to be accruing a carbon debt, or an increasingly high level of carbon consumption, due to activities such as driving a gas-powered car or using electricity.
• Buy only post-consumer recycled paper products, including toilet paper and tissues. The paper industry is the third greatest contributor to global warming emissions.
• Don’t purchase from companies that refuse to make post-consumer paper.  Producing new paper, glass, and metal products from recycled materials saves 70% to 90% of the energy and pollution that results from products made from virgin materials.
• Work and volunteer locally.  Get involved with environmental organizations that help lower pollution, reduce urban sprawl and preserve natural places.
• Shop at area stores and purchase locally grown foods, fruits and vegetables.
• Join a national or local environmental group that is serious and dedicated to fighting the climate crisis.
• Buy certified wood to support sustainably managed forests.  According to the Natural Resources Defense Council certified forest products ensure that the wood was harvested in a sustainable manner from a healthy forest, and not clearcut from a tropical rainforest or the ancestral homelands of forest-dependent indigenous people.
• Encourage architects and builders to use more natural resources when building houses such as solar energy to heat water.
• Promote sustainability.  Believe in doing business in a way that ensures a great tomorrow.  Go the extra mile to help preserve the environment by staying on top of your conservation practices and be diligent by evaluating and reevaluating them on an on-going basis.
• Work together.  Create equitable relationships with customers and in your community.  Support local causes as well as charitable and volunteer organizations.  Listen to suggestions and act on feedback from customers to ensure on-going, prosperous relationship.