“Global warming” is happening, and sea levels will rise as a result of the following reasons: First, thermal expansion of seawater raises the sea level. Second, melting glaciers from the Arctic and the Antarctic increase seawater.
You know:
CO2 can impede dispersion of the sun’s radiation which causes 'the greenhouse effect'. It causes glaciers to melt, temperatures and sea levels to rise.
Batteries which contain heavy metal like mercury can pollute the environment without proper recycling.
You don’t know：
What are 'the greenhouse effect' and greenhouse gases? The greenhouse effect occurs when the energy and temperature balance of the Earth is affected by infrared waves from sunlight absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere. With the protection of the atmosphere, the surface of the Earth maintains an average temperature of 15℃; otherwise the average temperature would be lower than -18℃. The process in which the atmosphere makes the surface of the Earth remain at a constant temperature by absorbing more infrared waves than reradiating to space is referred to “natural greenhouse effect”. However, as a result of more greenhouse gases produced by human activities, more infrared gases are retained on the surface, which contributes to the “enhanced greenhouse effect”.
The percentage of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is less than 1%. The concentration is dependent on the balance of gases' interaction. Human activities can affect the proportion of each greenhouse gas, and change the concentration of greenhouse gases. The dominant greenhouse gases are CO2, CH4, N2O, N2O and O3.
Consequences of the greenhouse effect The exhaust emissions of vehicles greatly increases the greenhouse effect and causes agricultural damage of over USD 10,000,000,000 every year. The main reason is ozone. There is a thin ozone layer in the stratosphere which protects us, because the layer can filter ultraviolet radiation which may damage our DNA. However, ozone is dangerous on the ground because it is harmful to our respiratory tract and shortens our lives. Unfortunately, ozone can be synthesized by CO and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from vehicles.
Climate change and ecological disaster Increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases causes less outgoing infrared radiation, so the Earth’s atmosphere must change to reach a new balance between incoming and outgoing radiation. The change will raise the temperature of the Earth’s surface and the lower atmosphere, and cause global warming. The average temperature of the Earth now is 0.6ﾟC higher than three decades ago. It’s the highest average temperature of the past one million years, and has caused 1/3 of all species extinctions. 27% of extinct species were marine life, 28% of them were in fresh water, and another 31% were on the land. 0.6ﾟC may be too small to adjust on an air conditioner, however, a 2ﾟC rise in the average temperature can destroy the whole ecological system. If the Earth was a machine, its current utility rate is 125%, and will be up to 200% in 2065. That means we will need two Earths to provide the resources to maintain our lives.
Sea level rise “Global warming” is happening, and sea levels will rise as a result of the following reasons: First, thermal expansion of seawater raises the sea level. Second, melting glaciers from the Arctic and the Antarctic increase seawater. The melting ice of Greenland could raise the sea level by 7 meters and the total melting ice of the Antarctic could raise the sea level by 65 meters, which would flood any residential areas lower than 20 floors. As we know, over half of the human population lives along the coast. If it happened, can you imagine how many refugees there would be? How would we relocate our living areas? And what would the outline of the world look like?
Agricultural impact Experiments have proven that higher CO2 concentrations can accelerate a plant’s growing path. However, due to climate change caused by global warming, global precipitation patterns change. Unusual flood and drought will cause more serious damage to the agricultural harvest. According to an investigation by the New European Commission, the most serious agricultural loss caused by global warming is in India, which loses USD 5 billion per year. China, in second place, loses 2.5 USD billion per year. Then come Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, and the east and west coasts of North America. Additionally, research has found that the farmers of Europe and the Soviet Union lose USD 7.5 billion per year because of global warming.
Traditional dry batteries or alkaline manganese batteries contain mercury which may cause the malfunction of the central nervous system and kidneys(primary battery pollution). On the other hand, although lead-acid batteries are rechargeable, the acid fog and toxic water brought about by production processes still cause serious environmental damage. The other widely used Ni-Cd batteries can poison the ground with leaking cadmium, or contaminate air with cadmium stream when incinerated(secondary battery pollution).
