All living things need to respire. This process is the natural balance that god created that the amount of Carbon Dioxide and Oxygen in the atmosphere remain constant. But because of the factors that I will
mention later, the content of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing and it is more then it should be.
The main source of carbon is carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. In nature, there is a balance between the amount of CO2 absorbed by
plants in photosynthesis and the amount returned to the atmosphere by respiration of living organisms. Man's burning of fossil fuels can upset this balance.
The Carbon Cycle is the most important cycle in which Carbon Dioxide circulate between all living and non- living things in the environment. Carbon dioxide forms 0.04 per cent of the atmosphere and is used by plants for photosynthesis, during which they 'lock' carbon into carbohydrates. These compounds can be stored by the plant or used in respiration, releasing some of the carbon back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.
The first thing affecting the amount of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere is Deforestation. Deforestation is basically the destruction of the forests. This threatens the balance of nature on a global scale. The world's trees consume the gas carbon dioxide through the process of photosynthesis, which is a major contributor to the greenhouse effect, and they give out the oxygen animals, including humans, need to
breathe. Cutting down these forests means the natural balance is disturbed because reducing the amount of plants means there is too much oxygen the atmosphere for the remaining plants to respire.
The second thing affecting the amount of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere is world population. Day by day world population is increasing. More people means a lot of damage is done to the environment. As the poorer countries become more and more industrialized the demand for limited resources on the earth is increasing leading to problems like deforestation, as they need to make room for the increase in population. The effect this is having the Carbon Cycle is that the process of Carbon being released into the earth that occurs naturally through weathering and erosion is being released
too quickly mainly because of humans burning fossil fuels. Therefore because of this increase the Natural Balance is disturbed which may also lead to Global Warming.
The last thing affecting the amount of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere is the burning of Fossil Fuels.
Fossil Fuel’s are substances from which we can obtain useful energy. We normally get this energy by burning the fuel. They are also substances that are a convenient source of energy. They are called fossil fuels because they are made from fossils. Fossils are made when the preserved remains of animals, humans and plants that died millions of years ago become trapped in rocks. They contain chemical energy. We use fossil fuels by burning them to release the energy.When we burn fossil fuels they mostly release Carbon Dioxide, which then causes the Greenhouse effect, which is a good thing. The burning of fossil fuels for energy is a major source of air pollution, contributing in particular to acid rain and the greenhouse effect.
The green house effect is a natural effect and it is good. It does not occur because of the pollution in the air.
The green house effect occurs when sunlight hits the earth’s surface, it
is then changed into heat energy. Soils, plants and water on the earth’s surface absorb some of this heat. A lot of it reflected back into space but not all of it is lost.
When the Greenhouse effect occurs the atmosphere acts like an insulating layer and keeps therefore keeps some of the heat in.
There are several different gases in the atmosphere, which are very
good at keeping the heat in. They are called the greenhouse gases. The main ones are methane and Carbon Dioxide; this is because the levels of this are rising very quickly. The greenhouse effect is causing the earth to warm up very quickly.
Global Warming occurs more when we increase the amount of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere, which cause the greenhouse effect, which in turn causes the earth to become warmer. It is believed that all the Global Warming is caused by Carbon Dioxide.
Global Warming is a problem because a warmer atmosphere will lead to increased evaporation from surface water resulting in high amount of precipitation. The equatorial regions will become wetter then present and the inner continents will become warmer and drier.
In conclusion I think the level of Carbon Dioxide was balanced in the atmosphere between the Carbon Dioxide being absorbed by Photosynthesis and Carbon Dioxide being released by respiration. However because of humans burning massive amount of fossil fuels: the deforestation to make more space for the increase in population. The level of Carbon Dioxide has gone up and will continue to keep going up if we keep burning fossil fuels and cutting down the forests and increasing the population.
