What is global issues on environment?

Question

What is global issues on environment?

Answer 1

Earth’s ozone layer has been significantly depleting since 1982 from the use of cleaning agents, refrigerants, fire-extinguishing fluids, spray-can propellants and insulating foams.  In the late 1990s, the ozone levels above the north and south poles decreased by 50%.  

Since, the poles consist entirely of ice, loss of the ozone layer has intensified the heat of the sun’s rays and caused melting.  Fifty-three nations had an agreement that by the year of 2000, they would ban the production of the above chemicals, also referred to as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).  Unfortunately, the agreement was not effective as the usage of these chemicals peaked in 1997.  

Many marine species have been suffering due to the loss of the ozone layer since they cannot tolerate such high levels of heat.  Likewise, polar bears who live on ice-caps  have lost their homes from the melting caused by the sun’s rays.  



Greenhouse gases have contributed to global warming since they trap heat in the atmosphere.  When the heat cannot escape, it is absorbed mostly by the ocean, causing dramatic change to the habitats of marine species.  

The productivity of phytoplankton has dropped 7%-9% in the last twenty years due to the warming.  Because they are a source of food for other marine animals, this change alters the life of the entire marine ecosystem and species will begin to become endangered.  

Many people do not think about the consequences that will be suffered by marine life; instead, they are only concerned about humans, which are also going to be affected.  This is because global warming will cause flooding in many low-lying regions such as Florida, California, India and the Maldives.  We are in great danger and need to act fast!

Answer 2

Global warming. Global cooling. Drought. Flooding. Increased frequency and damage caused by tropical storms such as hurricanes, typhoons and so on. Some of these are contradictory because we don't really know what will happen in the future, whether it will be warmer or cooler and what impact that will have on the other worries. Pollution is said to be the cause of global warming since CO2 is part of many emissions. In China and Mexico City it's difficult to breathe outdoors without the use of a surgical mask to keep pollutants out of your lungs.

Jaz has some interesting ideas but not all are worrisome. The ozone layer is essential to life on Earth, before we had it life was impossible on the surface. But it appears to be regaining it's strength and the dire predictions about the ozone hole did not come to pass. The ban on CFCs was effective so I don't know why you'd say it was not.

The oceans are not getting warmer as the climate models predict so they are still absorbing much of the CO2 we put into the air. If they do begin to warm appreciably then CO2 levels may rise much faster than they do now.

Polar bears have not lost their homes due to the ozone hole or the sun's rays, other than the fact that the radiation is trapped by greenhouse gases and causes warming. Polar bear populations in nearly every colony have continued to increase and they weathered the past several ice ages and intervening warm periods quite well.

Ocean levels are also not rising dramatically and they won't do so suddenly. They can't, unless something made all of the ice in Greenland and Antarctica suddenly melt. Since Greenland's glaciers are rebounding and Antarctica continues to get colder with thicker glaciers, that's not likely.

In short, global climate change is a major issue along with the possible impact either warming or cooling would have. So is pollution of the water and the air, deforestation, loss of wetlands, overuse of aquifier waters, nitrous oxide emissions from rice fields, methane emissions from cattle and wetlands, and volcanic heating under part of the ice sheets in Antarctica.