Greenhouse

 Gases   1  

Greenhouse Gases

Soukvilay Vilavong

Academic Writing and Research

Instructor Wendy Nelson

August 1, 2011
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Greenhouse Gases

One of the world’s most prevalent issues is environmental pollution, which tends

to be constantly increasing and threatening plant and animal species, and all of humanity.

One of the significant factors contributing to such pollution is a high concentration of

greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the earth’s atmosphere. GHGs refer to carbon dioxide

(CO2), methane (CH4), and other harmful gases emitted into the earth’s atmosphere,

resulting from both natural phenomena and human activities. However, scientists believe

that human activities are significantly responsible for this issue (Paterson, 2011). In this

research paper, human-caused GHGs, their negative effects on the environment and

human beings, and possible solutions will be discussed.

In many developed and developing countries, industrialization is the key factor

for the national socio-economic development. To drive this development, factories,

power plants, and cars burn fossil fuels (e.g. coals, natural gas, and fossil fuel oils) and

release huge amounts of GHGs such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2).

Also, in some countries where conventional agriculture is widely practiced, application of

synthesized nitrogen fertilizers to the productive soil and natural composition of

agricultural residues and biomass are key factors contributing to the GHGs’ emission

such as nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4). These gases then can cause serious

negative impacts on the environment and human beings (Watts, 2007). Two of the

dominant effects from GHGs are global warming and acid rain.

The most serious effect of GHGs is global warming. A recent study showed that

man-made GHGs, especially CO2 and CH4 intensively caused global warming over the

past 100 years with an average temperature rise of 0.7 °C. The reason is that the
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greenhouse gases emitted from man-caused activities trap radiation from the sun and then

warm the earth’s atmosphere (Paterson, 2011). Evidence for global warming is that the

earth is constantly warmer than in the past. According to NASA’s Goddard Institute for

Space Studies [GISS] (2011), 2010 and 2005 were the warmest years in recorded history.

The consequent results of global warming are climate change, melting polar ice caps and

glaciers, rising sea levels, severe windstorms, floods, droughts, and alteration in

infectious diseases, threatening ecosystems and all of humanity (Riebeek & Simmon,

2010).

Another serious effect of man-caused GHGs is acid rain. Acid rain refers to acid

substances dropped from the atmosphere with a pH of less than 5 such as rain, fog, hail,

and snow. The primary sources of acid rain are GHGs such as CO2, SO2, and NOX

emitted from burning fossil fuels in industrial plants and in automobiles. Such gases are

then released into the earth’s atmosphere. After that, they react with vapors in the

atmosphere and form acid pollutants such as carbonic acid (H2CO3), sulfuric acid

(H2SO4), and nitric acid (HNO3). As a result, such chemical pollutants return back to the

earth’s surface as a form of acid rain, which can cause serious damage to ecosystems,

valuable architecture, and human health (Singh & Agrawal, 2008).

A recent study revealed that most soil profiled in European forests was polluted

by a large increase in acidity during 1982 – 1983. In addition, acid rain also polluted

natural rivers, resulting in the loss of aquatic lives. In Canada, sport fish populations have

been lost in acidified lakes and rivers. Furthermore, acid rain was found to have damaged

approximately 7.7% of 7.4 million hectares of West German forests in 1982 (Singh &

Agrawal, 2008). Additionally, acid rain accelerates the decay of buildings and ancient
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monuments that are a part of human cultural heritage. For instance, in Europe, where

buildings are much older and pollution levels have been ten times greater than in the

United States, building and monuments are being deteriorated by acid rain (Watson,  

1997). Significantly, acid rain causes serious respiratory infections in the human body

such as asthma and bronchitis (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], 2007).

In short, human activities such as burning fossil fuels and practicing conventional

agriculture are the main causes of increased GHGs in the atmosphere, resulting in global

warming and acid rain, which affect ecosystems and human beings. In order to reduce

such harmful gases, two possible solutions are recommended: promotion of reforestation

and the use of biofuels from feedstock crops.

There are several benefits to promoting reforestation. Two of the most significant

benefits of trees are their production of O2 and their absorption of CO2. According to

Lecocq, Caurla, Delacote, Barkaoui, & Sauquet (2011), trees can absorb CO2 in the

atmosphere and then sequester it in biomass. The Northern Research Station of the

United States Department of Agriculture (n.d) also reported that forests in the United

States absorb and stock approximately 750 million metric tons of CO2 each year,

equivalent to 10% of the country’s CO2 emissions. Therefore, planting the trees will not

only provide O2, the most essential gas for all living things, but also reduce the emission

of CO2, one of the main greenhouse gases.

Other significant benefits can be obtained from promoting the use of biofuels

from feedstock crops. A recent research study revealed that the combustion of biofuels in

gas turbine based power plants produced less CO2 emissions than fossil fuels.

Furthermore, the CO2 emitted during the combustion was recycled through
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photosynthesis of the plants from which the biofuels originated (Gupta, Rehman, &

Sarviya, 2010). This means that biofuel plants play the same role as other trees in

absorbing CO2 and stocking it in biomass, and then releasing O2 back to the air through

photosynthesis. Therefore, promoting the using of biofuels will not only alleviate the

emission of greenhouse gases, but also provide fresh air for all living things on the earth.

There might be an objection that planting biofuel crops will interfere with the

productive land for food production, leading to food deficiencies. In this case, some

biofuel plants can grow in poor soil or wasteland, where food crops cannot survive. For

example, Jatropha curcas L., a drought resistant biodiesel shrub originated in Mexico

and Central America, and now distributed throughout the tropical countries worldwide,

can thrive on about 250 mm of annual rainfall in Cape Verde. It can thrive even in the

poorest rocky soils (Wiesenhuetter, 2003). In India, where agriculture is mainly

concentrated, a large proportion of poor wasteland is dedicated for Jatropha plantation for

biodiesel production (Rehman, Phalke, & Pandey, 2011). In addition, in Laos, where

cultivation of biofuel plants has been strongly promoted by the government since 2006,

26,057 ha of non-fertile land was assigned for Jatropha cultivation for biodiesel

production in 2009 (Gaillard, Robert, & Rietzler, 2010). Therefore, planting biofuel

plants would definitely not interfere with food crop production.

In conclusion, man-made activities such as burning fossil fuels in industrial plants

and in automobiles as well as conventional agriculture are extensively responsible for

high concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, resulting in several

significant environmental issues. Two of them are global warming and acid rain. These

problems can probably be mitigated if the use of biofuels from plants and reforestation
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were strongly promoted through global cooperation. A small simple action from ordinary

people such as planting trees around their houses or using biofuel in their own cars may

able to heal the world and make it a better place to live.

References

Gaillard, L., Robert, P., & Rietzler, R. (2010). Biofuel Development in the Lao PDR:

Baseline Assessment and Policy Evaluation. Retrieved July 23, 2011 from

http://www.lao-ire.org/Data-Research/academic-publications.html

Gupta, K.K., Rehman, A., & Sarviya, R.M. (2010). Bio-fuels for the Gas Turbine: A

Review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 14, 2946–2955.

Lecocq, F., Caurla, S., Delacote, P., Barkaoui, A., & Sauquet, A. (2011). Paying for

Forest Carbon or Stimulating Fuelwood Demand? Insights from the French Forest

Sector Model. Journal of Forest Economics 17, 157–168.

NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. (2011, January 12). NASA Research

Finds 2010 Tied for Warmest Year on Record. Retrieved July 14, 2011 from

http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/news/20110112/

Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science. (n.d). Forest Cabon Basics – Forest

Absorb Carbon. Retrieved July 14, 2011 from

http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/niacs/carbon/forests/

Paterson, N.R. (2011). Global Warming: A Critique of the Anthropogenic Model and Its

Consequences. Geosciences Canada, 38(1), 41–48.

Rehman, A., Phalke, D.R., & Pandey, R. (2011). Alternative Fuel for Gas Turbine:

Esterified Jatropha Oil – Diesel Blend. Renewable Energy, 36, 2535–2640.

Riebeek, H. & Simmon, R. (2010, June 3). Global Warming: How Will Earth Respond

to Warming Temeratures? Retrieved July 17, 2011 from

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/GlobalWarming/
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Singh, A. & Agrawal, M. (2008). Acid Rain and Its Ecological Consequences. Journal

of Environmental Biology, 29(1), 15–24.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2007, September 6). Effects of Acid Rain.

Retrieved July 17, 2011 from http://www.epa.gov/acidrain/effects/

Watson,  J.  (1997,  July  21).  What  is  Acid  Rain?  Retrieved  July  29,  2011  from  

http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/acidrain/2.html

Watts, R.G. (2007). Global Warming and the Future of the Earth. San Rafael, CA:

Morgan & Claypool Publishers.

Wiesenhuetter, J. (2003). Use of Physic nut (Jatropha curcas L.) to Combat

Desertification and Reduce Poverty. Bonn, Germany: Convention Project to

Combat Desertification (CCD Project).