Understanding the Greenhouse Effect

It’s one thing to understand that carbon trading is designed to benefit the environment through decreased greenhouse gas emissions. But what exactly is the “greenhouse effect,” and how will decreasing CO2 and other emissions potentially alleviate the problem?

What are Greenhouse Gases?

Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, ozone, and methane are gases released into the Earth’s atmosphere. They are called “greenhouse gases,” because they act in a way similar to a greenhouse enclosure – they have some control over the temperature here on the surface of the Earth by absorbing the sun’s heat rather than letting is escape the atmosphere.

How Does the Greenhouse Effect Work?

We all know that the sun heats the Earth’s surface. Without the sun’s heat, life would cease to exist here. However, that heat isn’t beamed down to the surface and then absorbed into the ground. Rather, its infrared energy is reflected off the surface back into the atmosphere.

Greenhouse gases (which overall only make up a very small portion of the atmosphere) absorb some of this heat, keeping it from passing back through – essentially these gases act to insulate the Earth.

Is the Greenhouse Effect Really Bad?

The short answer is “no.” The greenhouse effect, in and of itself, is not a bad thing. It’s actually necessary to maintain our current ecosystem. It helps to regulate the temperature on earth by retaining certain amounts of heat that we need.

That said, when greenhouse gas emissions become excessive, this insulating “blanket” around the Earth can do its job a bit too well. By retaining too much of this infrared radiation bouncing off of the Earth’s surface, our climate starts to change – we call this “global warming.” This is what emission reduction programs like carbon trading are trying to combat.

Why be Concerned About Climate Change?

It’s inevitable that the Earth’s climate will eventually change. The problem is the fact that the greenhouse effect and excessive greenhouse gases can cause it to change too quickly.

While scientists disagree about global warming in various respects, the worry is that increasing temperatures rapidly even by just a few degrees will cause draughts (especially in countries like Australia) and more extreme weather patterns globally. Not only could extreme weather (such as more hurricanes or tsunamis) be destructive, but droughts could seriously affect agricultural industries around the world, especially in already-dry regions.

Last updated 22 September 2008