You’ve probably heard of the terms “greenhouse effect” or “gases” used in the news and on social media, so what exactly are they and what do they do to our environment? Great question and we’re glad you asked. The greenhouse effect is actually a natural occurrence that warms the Earth’s surface but it can also happen in places such as a greenhouse (hence the name) where it’s used to regulate optimal environments for plant growth. Wherever it occurs, it has to do with how the Sun’s energy is retained in the respective atmosphere.

From Earth’s perspective, when the Sun’s energy (solar radiation) reaches its atmosphere, some of the energy is reflected back into space and the rest is absorbed and re-radiated by greenhouse gases. These gases include water vapour, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and ozone all of which naturally exist but can also be manufactured. Artificial chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) can be considered greenhouse gases as well. The clear and present danger is our human activities in the excessive production of greenhouse gases via burning of fossil fuels (eg. coal, oil and natural gas), agriculture and land clearing. This overload of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is trapping extra heat from the Sun and is causing Earth’s temperature to increase, otherwise known as global warming.

On 9th May 2013, the world’s carbon dioxide concentration was measured to exceed 400 parts per million (ppm) for the first time in approximately more than 3 million years of Earth’s history. Scientists are able to measure historical atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations from digging up ice cores. For the 10,000 years leading up to the mid-18th century when the Industrial Revolution happened, the CO₂ concentration was 280 ppm which gives us a whopping 45% increase in a relatively short ~170 years. And we should know that it was only in 1988 that the carbon dioxide concentration surpassed 350 ppm. This increase of 50 ppm in CO₂ concentration above 300 ppm within 25 years is absolutely staggering because of the extreme exponential growth. As our world forever furthers its industrialisation, it is deeply concerning that global carbon emissions continue to grow at an unbridled rate.