Global warming is one of the most serious issues that the world is facing today.What are the causes of global warming and what measures can governments and individuals take to tackle the issue?

Global warming has become a really worrying issue for whole world today. There are multiple factors contributing to this increase in global temperature but the governments of all countries and everyone individually can take steps to curb this major problem.

The biggest cause of global warming is deforestation. Reduction in total surface area of earth covered by forests and trees due to increased cutting down of trees and plants for agricultural, industrial, residential and wood fuel purposes is one way to define deforestation. In nature, trees and plants act as biological buffers for various dangerous gases, that if accumulated result in raised temperatures, called green house gases. Increment in rate of deforestation has been marked in recent times and according to a study by US department agriculture it was estimated that about 6 football fields surface area is being deforested every hour at the moment. The results of this would be disastrous for the global environment.

One of the other reasons of these new spikes of heat is the disproportionately increased number of automobiles in the recent decades that use petroleum and related fuels leading to increased combustion product gases like Carbon dioxide and Nitric oxide which have green house effect. Nowadays, personal small vehicles have become so common that every other household has a car or two. Along with this, industrial waste produced in the form of gases or dangerous chemical liquids if not disposed off properly result in phenomenons like acid rain and have deleterious effects on air and fresh water ecosystems.

One of the measures that governments can take to tackle the situation is to make legislation that condemns cutting down of trees and makes it illegal. Rigorous punishment and fine should be imposed on those found involved in such activities. Plantation of new trees should be promoted and governments should invest in such drives. Similarly, to alleviate the problem of increased vehicles, taxes should be imposed on production and sales of small automobiles and at the same time mass public transit should be made accessible and comfortable for everyone. Companies should also be encouraged to find new sources of energy for their motor vehicles that do not affect the environment. Another step that can be taken is to force industries to make sure that they dispose their waste material through a proper mechanism without causing air or water pollution.

It is not the responsibility of governments alone to keep their environment clean, the individual citizens have to take similar steps to ensure the safety of their planet for future generations. Everyone should make sure that they through their garbage in bins installed by government and avoid littering. Citizens should use public transport like subways more often and reduce the usage of personal vehicles for intra and intercity traveling. Another way people can help in this cause is by participating in plantation drives initiated by governments and plant more trees that would help them in the longer run.

To conclude, deforestation, luxurious cars for everyone, industrial wastes and inability of countries to use newer sources of energy on larger scales are just a few causes of this climate change but if serious measures are taken by everyone including individuals and governments realizing the gravity of the issue, the rising temperatures can be controlled or at least can be delayed to a greater extent.