Global Warming Causes and Consequences of a current problem

1. Global WarmingCauses and Consequencesof a current problem I.T.S. “E. MATTEI” DECIMOMANNU ITALY COMENIUS - HELP 2012-1-RO1-COM06-22185 5

2. Meltingofglaciers Fossilfuels Deforestation Temperaturesraising Garbageproblem Ozone’s hole GLOBAL WARMING Greenhouseeffect Seacurrentupheavals Extinctionof animals and plants Greenhousegases Naturalthermalevolution Eutrophication Desertification

3. CAUSES OF GLOBAL WARMING

4. Fossilfuels Some Fossilfuels: • Coal • Oil • NaturalGases We use fossil fuels to warm our homes, to cook, to move conveyance, to make industrial plants work , and to produce electricity.

5. Deforestation • Deforestation consists in breaking of trees for commercial reasons or to use the land for cultivation. • Since ancient times we cut trees for firewood for domestic heating , for using it as a building material, to obtain new land for agriculture and urban expansion. • This phenomenon is particularly present in the tropical areas where it is carried out with the method of "slash and burn": at first you cut down trees and then the remaining undergrowth is ignited. Once the fire has finished its work, the ash on the ground fertilizes the soil.

6. Garbageproblem The industrial waste is especially dangerous for man and the environment because many of these contain toxic and carcinogen chemicals . The disposal of urban and industrial waste causes the emission of gases that contribute to global warming.

7. Greenhouseeffect This process has always naturally happened and it makes the temperature of the Earth about 33 ° C warmer than that it would be without the presence of these gases. The progress you will make in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the near future will determine the level of global warming to whom the generations to come have to face. The greenhouse effect is a phenomenon without which life, as we know it now, would not be possible. This process consists in a global warming due to the action of so-called greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases allow solar radiation to pass through the atmosphere and into space, they hinder the passage of part of the infrared radiation from the Earth's surface and lower atmosphere (the heat reissued), effectively acting like the glass of a greenhouse and they help to regulate and maintain the temperature of the Earth to the current level.

8. Greenhousegases The water vapor is present in the atmosphere due to evaporation from all water sources and as a product of the different combustions. Carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when burned, especially from solid waste, fossil fuels, wood and wood products. Methane is emitted during the production and transport of coal, natural gas and mineral oil. To better define the contribution that each determined greenhouse gas supplies to the phenomenon of global warming, the GWP (Global Warming Potential)has been conceived. Greenhouse gases are atmospheric gases that absorb infrared radiation and for this they cause the greenhouse effect. The natural greenhouse gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitric oxide and ozone. Certain human activities, however, raise the level of all these gases and other gases released into the air.

9. EFFECTS OF GLOBAL WARMING

10. Meltingofglaciers One consequence of climate change is the melting of the glaciers that, if it is not soon stopped by drastic measures coordinated worldwide, will raise the level of the rivers and seas, creating a chain effect.

11. The melting of glaciers has resulted in the rising of waters. According to a new study, considering that the ice melts at a moderate speed, by 2100 the water level will rise by tens of meters, killing millions and millions of inhabitants of the metropolis that will never be what they are today, admitted that they still will be there!

12. The famous glacier of the Gran Sasso, the only glacier in Central Italy and the Apennines in general , is now reduced to a minimum; the glaciers of the Alps are agonizing and visibly decreasing. Val di Peio

13. Presena

14. Mandrone

15. Monte Rosa

16. Alto Adige

17. Ozone’s hole The ozone forms a band of about 30 kilometers thick in the stratosphere to protect against the most dangerous ultraviolet rays that the sun sends to the Earth's crust. In 1986, scientists discovered that over the Antarctic an abnormal thinning of the ozone layer occurred. The phenomenon is called "ozone hole". The progressive enlargement of the ozone hole means that more harmful ultraviolet UV-B radiation reach the Earth's surface with negative effects on human health.

18. Ozone’s hole

19. Seacurrentupheavals The global warming affects the current state of glaciers, which would result in the rise of the oceans but also in a cooling of sea currents. Sea currents are very important: In fact , they heat up or cool an area surrounding them, such as the Gulf Stream, which warms the whole area surrounding the North Sea. Without them we would fall into a possible ice age that would affect especially the countries of the North. The greenhouse effect alters the processes that occur in the oceans, with drastic consequences for the planet's biological and climatic situation.

21. Floods in Italy

25. Landslides

26. Extinction of animals and plants In Italy, more than three hundred species are considered by international experts on the verge of extinction or already extinct like, for example, the monaco vulture, the white-headed duck, the duck-billed, a beautiful turquoise. Many animals are at risk, including sharks, manta rays, common dolphins, monk seals, sea turtles, fin whales and dozens of birds that live in our lakes and ponds, including ducks , bats, lizards, newts and snakes. A lot of exclusive and almost unknown plants are at risk, too. Sicily and Sardinia are the richest regions of biodiversity and today they are called to fight this problem with special politics of safeguard. Even the biodiversity of rivers is at risk. Dozens of species of fish are considered almost extinct, including the sturgeon, the carp of Garda, the bleak of Apennines.

29. Eutrophication It’s an abnormal proliferation of biomass (microalgae) plants. It is the biological process resulting in such enrichment and abnormal growth of algae with often deleterious consequences for the environment. Eutrophication is one of the main environmental problems affecting the coastal waters of Emilia-Romagna. The extent and frequency with which these phenomena occur make the area south of the Po Delta among the most critical in the Mediterranean. The problem emerged in all its drama in the public eye when in the mid-70s the coastal waters of Emilia Romagna, due to eutrophication, were affected by the first extensive die-offs of benthic organisms (bottom fish, mollusks, crustaceans, etc ...) with deleterious impacts on tourism and fishing.

33. Desertification Desertification is a phenomenon caused by the climate change. The causes that contribute most to the process of desertification are many and complex and include, in addition to the traditional activities of deforestation, overgrazing, poor irrigation practices, and more generally unsustainable practices of land use , and some complex mechanisms related to international trade, too. Once again, the human pollution proves to be a major factor to global warming and its impact on our planet includes desertification.

34. According to estimates of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), a quarter of the earth's land is threatened by desertification. The existence of more than one billion people in more than 100 nations is, in turn, put at risk by desertification, since cultivation and grazing become less productive. In Italy, in particular ,the regions of Sicily, Sardinia, Apulia and Calabria are affected by this phenomenon,.

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37. Sardiniaisamong the fiveItalianregions at riskofdesertification

38. Irgoli-Sardinia: erosionphenomena

39. Sardinia: soilsalinization

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