Serena Cuoghi
Title of Professor of Biology
During the last decades, much has been discussed and disseminated about climate change on the planet. A certain greenhouse effect is eventually mentioned among the incessant reports about the phenomenon that is completely transforming the fragile balance of ecosystems, but how much importance does this greenhouse effect really have on said change?
Solar radiation, together with that emanated by the earth itself, have the capacity to generate heat, which in turn ends up promoting particular temperature conditions depending on the region of the planet and the greater or lesser incidence of solar rays. The presence of an atmosphere around the earth offers in this sense a considerable reinforcement on this phenomenon. In addition to allowing us the existence of oxygen available for the respiration of the majority of living beings, the atmosphere is made up of a very varied accumulation of gases, which, depending on their own molecular composition, can offer a certain degree of resistance against of light waves and even electromagnetic waves.
This resistance offered by the gases in the atmosphere plays the most important role on the displacements of the air masses, as well as on the increase in the total temperature of the earth, hence it was possible to demonstrate the fact that the greatest accumulation of gases that obstruct the natural flow of rays and heat dissipation, is considerably affecting terrestrial phenomenological dynamics.
The higher the density of what are currently called greenhouse gases, the lower the dissipation of accumulated heat in a certain region and even the entire planet, in turn causing the temperature to increase progressively due to excess radiation absorbed by these same gases, with an also increasing reduction in the release of heat to the outside, hence all the concerns about climate change point towards a massive intervention on the increase in greenhouse gases, such as the mostly mentioned carbon dioxide carbon.
small scale benefits
The assembly of a greenhouse at home allows the development of a small-scale crop with great efficiency, with which multiple variables can be controlled such as: 1) the humidity present in the environment, reducing the amount of irrigation necessary; 2) the temperature avoiding its extreme changes; 3) the amount of light that could excessively and directly deteriorate plant species that require shaded environments and 4) insects and pathogens that can attack plants causing damage to the crop. All this as a result of the observation processes that humanity has generated, with respect to the various phenomena that occur on a larger scale and constantly throughout the earth.
Everything in excess is bad
The long-term consequences of the increase in the greenhouse effect are seen as potentially catastrophic, however, this phenomenon is not being experienced for the first time on our planet, it is in fact an event that has had a certain cyclical frequency and, certainly, always with important consequences on the species that could be present throughout that period.
Great mass extinctions of all types of species, with a greater proportion in those of larger dimensions, important geological changes resulting from abrupt atmospheric phenomena such as hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis, as well as long periods of glaciation have been part of the evidenced consequences of the various climate change processes on the planet, therefore, it is not surprising the enormous concern that revolves around this issue and the need to spare no resources, to minimize the negative impact that human activity has generated, against the stability of the terrestrial temperature and the atmospheric composition throughout the last centuries.
Many alterations have already begun to manifest themselves and with them the ecological affectations in most of the ecosystems, especially in those with the lowest temperatures, where the volume figures of the thawed ice sheets are reported daily, which in turn They end up increasing the volume of the oceans, and with masses of water that, due to alterations in their physicochemical characteristics, begin to represent a danger to their own inhabitants, as just some of the direct consequences of the increase in the greenhouse effect that we have produced.
References
Caballero, M., Lozano, S., & Ortega, B. (2007). Greenhouse effect, global warming and climate change: a perspective from the earth sciences. University digital magazine, 8(10), 1-12. Mexico.
Martinez, J. & Fernandez, A. (2004). Climate change: a vision from nMexico. National Institute of Ecology. Mexico.
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