HOT AND COLD: WHAT AWAITS US?
In general, there are two main points of view on the issue of climate change, caused by human activity.The first one is the most well-known one; it suggests that due to the so-called “Greenhouse effect”, when such gases as carbon dioxide accumulate in the Earth’s atmosphere and trap the heat within its lower layer – the troposphere, the overall temperature on our planet will significantly rise. This will cause irreversible climate changes that in turn will result in global ecological catastrophe: ice caps of mountains and glaciers will melt, the World Ocean’s level will rise, and terrible floods and tsunami will wipe many coastal cities and regions off the face of the Earth.
The theory of Global warming is actively promoted nowadays and is the basis for negotiations within COP-15.
Still, there is another opinion about the future related to climate change, and this one is not so warm. It definitely gets a bit chilly from the inside, when the other group of scientist predicts the upcoming of a new Ice Age. The “Icehouse” theory tells us that the same greenhouse gases in large quantities will block the life-giving sunrays and place our planet into the cold darkness. As the scientists point out, such situation had already happened in the long past, when the giant meteorite crushed into the surface of the Earth, raising an enormous cloud of dust and dirt that blocked the Sun for several years. They warn that consequences of pollution with industrial gases might be far longer and more severe.
While the followers of these theories argue with each other to prove who is right, it might occur that all of them are. The global warming might be the first stage of the possible climate cataclysm, when the amount of industrial gases still allows sunrays to reach the ground. Gradually their layer might increase and thicken, allowing less sunlight to warm the surface of the planet. Thus the “Icehouse” theory will also demonstrate its terrible truthfulness.
Still, in spite of the conceptual differences, the major point in both theories is one – the cause of the possible global climate cataclysm is the Mankind’s careless and destructive activity. How to stop it and prevent the frightening theories to become realities – this must be the focus of the COP-15 negotiations happening nowadays!
Note: the copy of this article can be found on the international blog “G-1 Billion”.
Sursa
2009-12-07 10:46:41