From Ecopedia

Overview

Global warming is the progressive increase in average temperatures of the earth’s near-surface air as well as oceans, since the past century, due to human-induced deforestation and fossil fuel burning activities.

The excessive emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane trap heat in the earth’s atmosphere causing greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is the major cause for global warming.

Environmental Impacts

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), created in 1998 by the World Meterological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), reported several serious, irreversible and inescapable climatic changes that are bound to occur as a result of global warming, which in future might show far-reaching impacts on the environment.

Apart from causing overall rise in global temperatures, global warming is reported to cause:

- extreme weather conditions leading to increase in the frequency of heat waves or warm spells over most land regions

- increased tropical cyclone activity

- droughts

- increased sea levels leading to beach erosion

- ocean acidification

- water scarcity

- reduction in dietary staple harvesting including rice and maize

- Oxygen depletion

- Increased Carbon dioxide levels

- Forest fires

- Sharp decline in overall global agricultural production, when warming is over 3°C (IPCC report)

- Ecosystem imbalance and species extinction

- Global dimming (caused when air pollutants from the used fossil fuels making clouds to reflect more rays of the sun back into the space) causing less energy and heat to reach the earth, and

- Emergence of newer diseases

Tackling Global Warming

By minimizing further emissions of greenhouse gases, global warming could be effectively tackled. Efforts towards achieving the goal commenced with the Kyoto protocol, which witnessed many national governments sign and ratify the protocol to undertake programs for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions. Macro-engineering or Geo engineering is another way of combating global warming. Geo engineering is a deliberate human attempt to change the regional or global climates by bringing about reduction in solar radiation amounts that are absorbed by the earth, reducing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and manipulating or altering the ocean currents to enable redirection of the already-present heat in the oceanic atmosphere. Although, no single geo engineering technology is considered to offer a feasible solution, a geo technology portfolio is supposed to offer solution.

Carbon Sequestration

Carbon sequestration, a geo engineering technique, is developed for dealing with already-released carbon forms. The technique allows long-term storage of carbon forms including carbon dioxide, which is said to mitigate global warming.

A common carbon sequestration occurring in nature is photosynthesis allowing plants and trees to soak up and store carbon, which would otherwise get released in the air and trap the atmosphere heat. Forestation, thus, plays an important part in mitigating global warming.

In the past, the Bush administration embraced carbon sequestration to minimize carbon dioxide emissions in the US. By granting over $49 millions as an annual fund for the technology’s R&D (Research and Development), the Bush administration strived to keep the greenhouse gas emissions in check. Furthermore, the US granted funds for conducting related research in the Chinese region, which at present is considered to be the largest global consumer of coal.

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_sequestration http://www.globalwarming.org.in/ http://www.global-warming-geo-engineering.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_global_warming http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=s&defl=en&q=define:global+warming&ei=poaJS9vSEMGwrAf7n8zUCg&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title&ved=0CBQQkAE http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming#Environmental http://environment.about.com/od/globalwarming/Environmental_Issues_Global_Warming_the_Greenhouse_Effect.htm http://www.globalissues.org/issue/178/climate-change-and-global-warming