Join Hands To Save Our Earth

WITH THANKS FROM

        ADITI OF
 LIFE Of An Indian Girl

When the temperature of your body goes higher than the normal body temperature of 98.6° F, means you are unwell. Similarly, when the temperature of our earth increases, it means our earth is ill too! In your case it is called as fever but in earth's case it's called Global Warming.  

Everyday, when the sun's rays reach Earth, a group of gases called greenhouse gases absorb heat from sun's rays and make our planet warm enough for us to survive. But if the levels of these gases in the atmosphere increases, they will absorb more heat, making our Earth too hot for us to live! Because of pollution, cutting down of trees and forests, burning fossil fuels like coal and petrol, the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is increasing, thus causing global warming. 

Global Warming is not having the same impact on all parts of the world. Some areas of our planet are warming faster than others. The polar regions are warming twice as fast as other parts of the world, thus making the wildlife at poles more vulnerable to rising temperature. 

 

Let's take a look at some of the things we'll have to say goodbye to, if our Earth get's any hotter.

 

1) While their mothers hunt for food Walrus pups rest on sea ice. Now as the ice melts, walrus pups are being stranded !

2)  Grass has started to grow in Antarctica in areas that were covered by ice sheets and glaciers previously. Warmer temperature are allowing grass to survive for the first time !

3) In 2002, a chunk of ice in Antarctica, larger than the state of Rhode Island, weakened by warm winds, collapsed into the sea. In the Swiss Alps, a rock twice as big as the Empire State Building collapsed onto the canyon floor, nearly 700 feet below due to melting glaciers !

4) About 2000 of Indonesia's islands could disappear by 2030 due to rising sea levels. Many islands in the Sunderbans in India have already disappeared !

5) Up to 72 % of bird species in Australia and more than a third in Europe could go extinct due to global warming !

6) Since penguins are flightless and unable to escape like birds, they are severely being affected by global warming.Over the past 50 years, the population of king penguins has declined by 50%. The number of emperor penguins in the Antarctic Peninsula have dropped from 300 breeding pairs to just nine !

The difference you can make  

• Using an air conditioner (2.5 ton) for an hour generates 3 kg of CO2. If you decide to go without AC for an hour a day, you can stop the release of 3 X 365 = 1095 kg of CO2 into the atmosphere per year.
• Using a geyser for an hour generates = 3.3 kg of CO2. If you cut down on your use of the geyser by just one hour a day, you can stop the release of 3.3 X 365 = 1204.5kg of CO2 into the atmosphere per year.
• One dripping tap in a house = wastage of 13 liters of water in a single day. Wastage in a year = 13 X 365 = 4745 liters of water.
• On an average, each person who runs the tap while brushing wastes about 2 X 3.5 = 7 liters of water. So, for e.g If 1.13 billion Indians ( estimated population as on March 2008) simply change the way they brush their teeth, we could save 1.13 billion X 7 liters = 7.91 billion liters of water in just a day. 
• A single tree absorbs one ton of CO2 during its lifetime. Even if each of us plant just one tree in our lifetime, we can estimate billion ton of CO2 from atmosphere. 

Every actions of yours, right from switching on washing machines, electric stoves, radio sets, music systems, computers to using refrigerator add to global warming. Your everyday actions have far reaching consequences. One thoughtful action of planting a tree, or even a simple change of habit can save our planet.

Reference