The world keeps talking about CO2 all the time, so one can be excused for thinking that it is the only greenhouse gas. Not so. There are many other greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming, though their overall contribution is significantly lesser than that of CO2 – and that indeed is why CO2 gets all the attention. Now, what are the […]
You may or may not like nuclear power, but there’s little denying that nuclear power produces pretty low life-cycle carbon emissions compared to fossil fuel sources. That is, nuclear power’s carbon footprint is quite low. Indeed, here’s some solid evidence: the speediest drop in greenhouse gas pollution on record occurred in France in the 1970s and ‘80s, when that country transitioned from […]
Global warming is mainly a result of the rich boys’ (and girls’) club enjoying their lives thoroughly and comprehensively. Even if you come from the developed world, you will surely agree to this, whether or not you like the fact. But look at how unfair the world is. While the effects of a warming planet are expected to be harmful […]
The ozone hole is not a cause of global warming. The ozone hole is an area in the stratosphere above Antarctica where chlorine and bromine gases from human-produced chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and Halons have destroyed ozone molecules and left a hole. Global warming is the rise in average global surface temperature caused primarily by the build-up of human-produced greenhouses gases, mostly […]
It’s true that water vapor is the largest contributor to the Earth’s greenhouse effect. On average, it accounts for about 60% of the global warming effect! However, the truth is, water vapor does not control the Earth’s temperature, but is instead controlled by the temperature. Let’s look at this in more detail. The greenhouse effect that has maintained the Earth’s […]
It’s all nice to talk about many interesting solutions to reduce CO2 emissions, but it is an entirely different story when it comes to walking the talk. Because implementing any of these solutions depend on two aspects: Technical and Economic Feasibility. Interestingly, the technical feasibility of a wide range of solutions needed to abate greenhouse gas emissions is fairly well established. The economic […]
Will climate change and global warming increase or decrease rainfall? An interesting question, but there’s no straight answer. A warmer world intuitively seems to suggest reduced rainfall, but as we will see in this post, it is not necessarily so, and it could be quite the opposite! So far, any impact that climate change may have had generally on regional rainfall cannot […]
Air pollution occurs when the air contains gases, dust, smoke from fires, or fumes in harmful amounts. They are also released from natural processes such as volcanic eruption. Tiny atmospheric particles, called aerosols, are a subset of air pollution that are suspended in our atmosphere. Light, white aerosols reflect solar radiation, making the air and Earth surface below them a […]
The extent of CO2 in the atmosphere is measured in terms of PPM, which stands for Parts Per Million. In 2023, the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is estimated to be around 420 PPM. That is, for every millions parts (by volume) of the atmosphere, 420 parts are those of CO2. (In terms of total amount of CO2 in the […]
If the whole world is slogging it out to reduce carbon emissions, it will be nice to have a metric by which such emissions can be measured, wouldn’t it? Enter Carbon Footprint. A carbon footprint is a measure of amount of greenhouse gases produced directly and indirectly by human activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons or Kg of carbon dioxide (CO2). In […]
