Global warming

Preventing global warming

Global warming has been widely discussed in recent years. The terms greenhouse effect and global warming have become very common nowadays. This is just because we are feeling the effects of global warming and greenhouse effect in our day to day life. Increased earth temperatures and variations in the climate system are felt by us even more prominently in the last few years.

 So the need to control global warming and the emission of greenhouse gases are on the rise. Many think that it’s the industries and large corporations that have brought about this. But the fact is that we individuals are the main reason for global warming.

We are the consumers and corporations build stuff for us. Unless there is a demand for ecologically harmful products, the companies would not produce them. We as individuals need to keep ourselves informed and make more environmentally sound decisions in future. There are many substitute products that can replace the environmentally harmful products. We just need to search for them and find them.

"Even fire extinguishers, bubbles in plastic foam, spray paint, bleach, industrial chemicals and household chemicals are harmful to the environment."

Chemicals are one of the major contributors to global warming. Chlorine is very harmful to the environment and we should avoid using any type of chlorine compounds. Even fire extinguishers, bubbles in plastic foam, spray paint, bleach, industrial chemicals and household chemicals are harmful to the environment. The phosphates found in laundry detergents and soaps lead to water pollution. Aerosols lead to air pollution. Controlling pollution will help us control global warming.

We need to reduce the usage of electricity as producing electricity leads to emission of greenhouse gases. Electricity is produced mainly from fossil fuels and burning them emits greenhouse gases. An average home tends to contribute more to global warming than an average car. We can reduce the electricity usage by switching to energy efficient CFL bulb instead of the incandescent light bulbs. Doing so can reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide by almost 700 pounds over a bulb’s lifetime. Make sure that the appliances you buy are energy efficient. Energy efficient appliances are cheaper to run and can make sure that your energy bill is greatly reduced. Many countries have energy efficient labels on appliances which would indicate how energy efficient the appliance is.

Energy spent on heating and cooling our homes are on the rise. With warmer temperatures, the need for cooling has increased and that is consuming a lot of energy. The amount of energy spent on heating and cooling are pretty much wasted by us. Unless we have good insulation to keep our homes warmer we will be spending more energy to heat our homes. There are many ways to ensure that no cold air enters into your homes and that can reduce the energy used to warm your homes during winter. Also there are many natural cooling options that you can use to help you during the summer ensuring that less energy is spent on heating and cooling your home. Most of the options are simple and can be done using the do it yourself kits.

Vehicles emit carbon monoxide which is a greenhouse gas. With the number of vehicles increasing leaps and bounds, the carbon monoxide emissions are greatly on the rise. Every gallon of gasoline that is burnt emits about 26 pounds of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Good vehicle maintenance and smart driving would reduce the emissions by as much as 30%. If you are buying a new vehicle make sure that buy an efficient vehicle – something that would give out less emissions and would go extra miles for a gallon of fuel.

You also have the option of reducing the usage of your vehicle. Walk whenever you can or ride a bike to the nearest store. Car pooling is another idea which can help you reduce emissions. Vehicles running on hybrid fuels are available in the market nowadays. You can always go for such vehicles as they tend not to emit any green house gases. Make sure that you recycle your air conditioner coolant when you have your air conditioner serviced. Thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide emitted can be saved by this move. Even small change that you make to your vehicle and your life style will help your environment.

We should try whatever is possible to reduce the usage of energy in and around our homes and yards. Do whatever we can to ensure that the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere is reduced. Plants use carbon dioxide for photosynthesis and during this they give out oxygen. Planting trees and plants around our homes will help reducing the carbon dioxide present around as the plants would use up the carbon dioxide. Lawns need maintenance and an average lawnmower takes up a lot of energy. So plant more trees and do use a manual lawnmower to maintain your lawn. Destroying forests to make way for residential and industrial development are also reasons for increased global warming. So population control also can help reduce global warming

Remember, the more aware an individual is about global warming, the more he or she would contribute in trying to stop increase in global warming. Let us all work together and curtail the emission of green house gases and make our world get rid of global warming. Together we can!