Have you noticed that the summers have been getting a little warmer? Have you noticed that the winters are not as long as they used to be? Or that the winters are not quite as cold? Have you wondered why? It's due to the greenhouse effect. What's the greenhouse effect? The green house effect is the rise in temperature that the Earth experiences because certain gases in the atmosphere (water, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane, for example) trap energy from the sun. Without these gases, heat would escape back into space and Earth's average temperaturewould be about 60 degrees farenhiet colder (1). This is what we call the "Natural Greenhouse Effect." This is supposed to happen. But what is happening to our planet is called the "Enhanced Greenhouse Effect." This is where the natural levels of these gases start to rise and concentrate thus making the Earth's natural temperature rise. This is a doubled edge sword. The increase in concentration of carbon dioxide is not necessarily a bad thing. Plants thrive on slightly higher concentrations of carbon dioxide and natural vegetation therefore can grow faster and healthier to help clean our air. But what's causing this increase in these gases? The main culprit or cause would be increased human activity or more precisely, The Industrial Revolution. New industrial processes, agricultural techniques, and a rapid growth in human population all contribute to this process.
             With modern industrial machines chugging away everyday, spewing smoke and other pollutants in the air its no wonder gas concentrations are increasing. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide have increased nearly 30%, methane concentrations have more than doubled, and nitrous oxide concentrations have risen by about 15% (2). Most of the scientific community agrees that the mass use of fossil fuels is a pr...