What Is The Greenhouse Effect?

Many people automatically assume that the greenhouse effect is a bad thing but by itself it is not. The greenhouse effect is what allows our planet to stay warm enough for life forms to survive on it. It is only when the warming of the earth increases too much that things get bad and this is what is happening when you hear people talk about global warming. Even though the additional warming of the earth has not increased to the point that life is no longer able to be sustained, there have been studies that are showing that the temperatures are steadily increasing. While the temperatures are rising at a slow rate, they are still rising which is a cause for concern for many people.

While there are a large amount of sun rays hitting the atmosphere and the surface of the earth, not all of that collected energy stays put. Thankfully about seventy percent of the energy collected will stay through being absorbed by land, plants and the oceans. The remaining thirty percent finds itself reflected back out into space. This happens by the energy being reflected through the help of snow fields, clouds, and other kinds of reflective surfaces. Luckily though, out of the seventy percent of the energy that is collected on the land and in the ocean, not all of that remains. If all of the seventy percent collected remained within the earth it would become a nice sized fireball in space.

Everything that absorbs energy eventually lets it back out and the energy is released into space or it can come back down to earth as water vapor. Thankfully the planet is able to stay nice and warm for life to continue and this is because there is always a greater amount of heat and energy coming into the earth’s atmosphere than there is leaving it. But is all of this really needed? What if the greenhouse effect never existed?

Well, the earth would look like Mars, which is very cold. Mars is an environment where plants cannot grow and humans cannot live. We need a certain temperature to survive and we need plenty of oxygen to be able to survive. So now that you are more aware of what the greenhouse effect is, you will be able to understand what the fuss is all about the next time someone starts talking about the global warming situation.