Threat of Global Warming There are two burning questions that I feel need to be answered before exploring aspects of global warming. They are what is the greenhouse effect and how does the greenhouse effect contribute to global warming? Gases in the atmosphere are transparent to visible light but absorb infrared waves (heat) which are re-radiated from the Earth's surface (Cunningham, Cunningham, Saigo 05). However, some greenhouse gases occur naturally in the atmosphere, while others arise from human activities. Naturally occurring greenhouse gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when solid waste, fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, and coal), wood, and wood products are burned. Methane is emitted during the production and transportation of coal, natural gas and oil, and the raising of livestock. The atmosphere, when loosely compared to glass in a greenhouse, transmits sunlight while trapping heat inside is called the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is a natural atmospheric process necessary for life, as we know it. An excessively strong greenhouse effect, caused by the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, can cause harmful environmental changes. The greenhouse effect is only annoying when it becomes too strong and warms too much. And that's exactly what scientists say has happened over the last 150 years or so, as the populations of industrialized nations have mined Earth's vast, buried reserves of fossil fuels and burned them. Each greenhouse gas differs in its ability to absorb heat in the atmosphere. Methane traps over 21 times more heat per molecule than carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide absorbs 27… half the paper… what if deforestation stopped completely? Would the greenhouse effect stop immediately or would it take many, many years? We as human beings are intelligent enough to stop doing things that will ultimately destroy mankind. Aren't we? Further studies need to be done to find a definitive answer in order to save humanity. Or is it just how history dictates that in this million years global warming is inevitable? Works citedDiscovery Channel. 2005. Global Warming.discoverychannel.org.EPA. 2006. US Department of State website. Epa.gov/globalwarming.org.Science Express, September 30, 2004Knutson, Thomas R. and Tuleya, Robert, Journal of Climate, vol. 17, pp. 3477-3495.Geophysical Research Letters, 22 September 2004.Cunningham, W.P. Cunningham, M.A. and Saigo, B.W., Environmental Science, A Global Concern, ninth ed., editor, 2005.