fear #3: the fading of our atmosphere

1. Global Warming, Greenhouse Effect, Climate Change. Undoubtedly, these words sum up the single biggest threat to humanity.

“The era of procrastination, of half measures, of soothing and baffling expedients of delay are coming to a close. In its place, we are entering a period of consequences.” Winston Churchill

Source found in: http://www.global-greenhouse-warming.com/

 Atmosphere…. Honestly, if you gave me a test about atmosphere, I would flat out get a zero. I don’t know much about this…this topic but one thing I know is that when our atmosphere starts to get thinner and thinner, we’ll all be in big trouble. From what I searched up in Wikipedia, the Earth’s atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding our planet and retained by Earth’s gravity. From a rough estimation, the earth’s atmosphere contains 78.08% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.038% carbon dioxide, some other gases, and around 1% of water vapor. As said in Wikipedia, this mixture of gases is commonly known as air. Now the most important thing about atmosphere is that it protects life (as in which humans, animals, and all living creatures) by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation and reducing temperature extremes between day and night. First if we want to know why the earth’s atmosphere is important, then we’ll have to find out what UV radiation is.As I have learned in my science class, UV radiation (aka Ultraviolet Radiation) is a radiant energy emitted by the sun that is harmful to our body. Scientifically speaking, UV light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than visible light, but longer than X-rays. We humans mostly know UV radiation through the sunburn, but it also has many other effects that are both beneficial and harmful. Here is a list of the beneficial effects and harmful effects (source found in Wikipedia): BENEFICIAL EFFECTS

1. Gives vitamin D to the skin
2. Treats skin conditions such as psoriasis and vitiligo.

HARMFUL EFFECTS

1.  Cause sunburn and some forms of skin cancer
2. “Prolonged exposure to solar UV radiation may result in acute chronic health effects on the skin, eye, and immune system.”
3. Can cause direct DNA damage

So, as you can see, UV radiation is both good and bad. But no matter what, if our atmosphere thins away, we won’t be protected from the bright and strong sun and be harmed by the UV radiation. Truly speaking, although with farther research, I am still confused. What do greenhouse gases have to do with the atmosphere and why is the atmosphere thinning anyways? This is what I found: increasing greenhouse gases lead to dramatic thinning of the upper atmosphere.“The highest layers of the Earth’s atmosphere are cooling and contracting, most likely in response to increasing levels of greenhouse gases, according to a new study by scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory.” First, what is a greenhouse gas? A greenhouse effect (scientifically speaking) is the process in which the emission of infrared radiation by the atmosphere warms a planet’s surface. So basically it means that radiation warms the planet’s surface. And this is NOT a good thing. The greenhouse effect would change climates and weather patterns, our sea levels are rising, melt ice caps, and it’d be too hot to live in Earth. We are experiencing more water shortages and we see more and more of hurricanes, typhoons, and cyclones then before. It is also possible that the deserts will expand and the world will have difficulty growing food.  We have to, no, we MUST change the way we live. How? I am not so sure. But I will research more about the greenhouse warming and get back to you later.