The Earth’s Blanket

The Earth's climate has fluctuated over the last 2.5 million years, passing through ice ages and warm periods where life prospered. These cycling periods are associated with steady reductions or increases in the planet's temperature and also with steady levels of carbon dioxide that historically reached a maximum of 280 parts per million.

However, recently there has been a considerable increase in carbon dioxide levels up to 400 parts per million, values that had never been registered before in centuries .

Our planet counts on a unique and very special layer on the stratosphere known as the ozone shield. This layer has just the right size to reflect the excess ultraviolet rays coming from the Sun (harmful for all life on Earth) and only allow to pass a 70% of the solar irradiance levels that reach the planet and that are suitable for life.



The ozone shield is composed of greenhouse gases like water vapor, carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), methane, nitrous oxide and ozone that absorb and reflect solar radiation, keeping the temperature of Earth at 15°C, instead of -18°C if this layer did not exist. This is called the Greenhouse Effect and is a process that occurs naturally.



However, if there is a rapid increase in the levels of greenhouse gases on this layer, that would lead to an increase on the Earth’s temperature above 14.5°C, heating up the atmosphere of the planet and leading the problem known as global warming.

As you can see, an increase of over a third of normal levels of carbon dioxide can lead to an important influence on global warming.

Are we responsible?

Scientists believe that all of these factors take part in the Greenhouse Effect:

Volcanic eruptions

Solar irradiance fluctuations

Changes in the available amount of land and trees.

Increases in greenhouse gas emissions.

Tiny pollution particles (aerosols)

While for volcanic eruptions and solar irradiance fluctuations are naturally occurring processes, all the other causes can be directly attributed to humankind.

Greenhouse gas emissions and aerosols have been dramatically increasing since a century ago, casually coinciding with the beginning of the industrial revolution. Factories, power plants, and the transport sector have consumed fossil fuels like oil and coal to manufacture products and produce valuable resources like electricity. While all these benefits have made our lives much easier and pleasant, there is also a big cost to pay when we consider the consequences to our planet's climate.

Another important factor driving the concentration of greenhouse gas emissions is the deforestation. In their impulse to create new cities and expand the industrialization to every corner of the Earth, humankind forgot the crucial importance of forests and woods for our planet. The so-called "lungs" of the planet are those full green covered areas like the Amazonas in South America that highly contribute to the reduction of CO2 through the photosynthesis, and even large green areas like the Amazon jungle are starting to lose the fight against CO2.

If we sum up all the contribution from the factories to the greenhouse gas emissions and the reduction in the only life form that can transform CO2 into oxygen due to human desires, and we compare it with the naturally occurring process like volcanic eruptions and solar irradiance fluctuations (which are minimal), then the balance turns against humanity.

What happens if we don’t do anything about it? The effects of global warming can be devastated for the planet, starting with the oceans. Recent studies from NASA on Greenland and the Arctic have proven that huge blocks of ice are now melting due to the excess heat and have reduced over 10% in the last 30 years. This excess water that once was frozen, is now ending up in the ocean, increasing water levels and leading to more and stronger floods per year on coastal regions. Besides, higher temperatures also affect the weather of the planet. These effects can be seen on stronger storms and hurricanes, heavy snowfall, along with longer and more frequent droughts across the planet. All of these environmental factors present harder challenges for life on Earth that could lead to destruction and diseases of human beings but also plants and animals. Food supply is another worrying factor. As the weather becomes harsh, there will be fewer places where crops and livestock be able to flourish and grow, probably leading to shortcuts on food supply, and therefore leading to famine and hunger. Besides, since world population keeps growing at tremendous rates (around 80 million people more per year), then the food supply should be increasing, not decreasing.