Greenhouse Effect Described sample essay

A greenhouse, or a glasshouse, is a construction, roof and walls of which are made of glass. This construction is mainly used in cold weather to grow plants. What keeps the temperature warm inside the construction is the warm air. Because of the transparent panels sunlight penetrates inside and solar radiation heats up the surface under the greenhouse. Walls and roof constrain the warm air inside the construction, which allows growing plants even in sub-zero temperatures.

Unfortunately, the word greenhouse left the boundaries of florists! Now it is a well-known word in biology, geology, and many other natural sciences. What our planet experiences right now and what is has been experiencing since the industrial revolution times, is called the greenhouse effect.

The discussion about the greenhouse effect has long been an issue that requires a lot of concerns in society. Often it is centered around the influences that it can cause on human beings. In my opinion, the greenhouse effect is going to have massive impact on many things, including human way of life.

The physics of the greenhouse effect directly resembles what happens in the original glasshouse. In other words, the surface of the Earth is heated up by sunlight, but this heat is not emitted into space, but rather it is kept within the atmosphere of the planet. This way, the greenhouse effect directly causes global warming. The processes that take place in the greenhouse effect are of course much more sophisticated and complex, however the initial structure is the same. Layers of Earth atmosphere serve as glass roof and walls, which let the sunlight inside, but do not let the heat outside. Now let us look deeper into what happens in the greenhouse effect, and which processes influence it in positive or negative ways.

In general, life on Earth would not be possible without greenhouse effect. If there were no such thing as greenhouse effect, air temperatures in Earth atmosphere would be much lower than what is needed for plants. Greenhouse effect traps warm air, which is a requirement for all living things, including humans. Therefore we can see that greenhouse effect is actually good. However, trapping too much warm air is dangerous.

The key components of greenhouse effect are greenhouse gases. They are natural gases like water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and others. As they reach top of atmosphere they top there, and serve as a shield, which lets sun energy in, but doe not let it out. The mechanism is the following: solar radiation reaches earth; some of it reflects from earth surface and atmosphere, while the major part warms the earth and ocean. Afterwards, some of the heat should leave earth and head to space, and the remainder should return and provide the greenhouse effect.

Now let us discuss the financial effect greenhouse effect might entail. As average temperature, which comes together with greenhouse effect, increases more and more quickly by nearly 10 degrees, there will be changes in fertility of different areas. Some fertile plains can become deserts while it is likely that many empty lands will develop to be good farmlands. As a result, farming machines and services and even crops must be modified to adapt to the new environment. Moreover, due to these changes, a great proportion of population may migrate to new areas that require new buildings or, in general, new living system.

Another important factor, which contributes for cost rise, is the alteration of water level. The fact is that because of the influences of the greenhouse effect, number of rainfalls will definitely change. As a result, water supplies in some areas will drop and it can cause a lot of troubles. People have to find out different ways of farming in the condition of lacking water. Obviously, they have to build another better watering system to support their farming work. However, if the conditions are not optimistic at all and it is too difficult for them to continue basing on old water resources, they must find others in order to survive. It is clear that either these two possibilities can cost rather much and even worse, cause negative influences on the environment, which actually, takes us more time and money to overcome it.

Finally, it is obviously true that modification of living systems also cause this problem to happen. Because of changes in water supplies, water level can gradually rise or fall in certain places in the world. On the one hand, in some areas, the fall of water level may deprive supports for industry and some activities of inhabitants. To be specific, water is used for energy, industry and transportation. On the other hand, areas where water level is rising will experience a lot of severe effects in terms of serious epidemic or economic problems. Therefore, people living in these two places may have to move to others in order to ensure their lives. And the issue of expense again arises because of reconstruction.

In conclusion, the money we need to deal with the Green- house effect is really big. However, people should realize that even though such large amount of money is used, this problem can never be solved completely. Therefore, if we want to protect the environment, to maintain a good life for future generations and ourselves, every effort now is necessary. We should try our best to reduce as much as possible factors causing environmental problems. It, of course, costs a lot but still only a small amount in comparison with what will happen if we ignore them. The loss then would be irreversible, and the entire planet would change forever.

Works Cited

1. Johnson, R. The Greenhouse Effect: Life on a Warmer Planet. Lerner Publishing Group. 1990.

2. Hocking, C. Global Warming and Greenhouse Effect. LHS GEMS Publishing. 2002.

3. Greenhouse Effect. From Environmental Protection Agency at http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/kids/greenhouse.html

4. The Greenhouse Effect. From University Corporation of Atmospheric Research at http://www.ucar.edu/learn/1_3_1.htm

5. Morganstein, S. The Greenhouse Effect. Trafford Publishing. 2003.
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