Does Global Warming affect outer space?

We have always been told that global warming is slowly damaging our Earth’s

atmosphere. However, does global warming affect our planet? Read to find out…

Credit: Rbkomar via Getty Images

What is Global Warming?

Global warming refers to the heating-up of the earth’s surface due to human activities

(like fossil fuel burning). This heating-up is caused by an increase in greenhouse gases

which are responsible for trapping heat inside our earth’s atmosphere. If you didn’t

know, without greenhouse gas our planet would be uninhabitable because of its low

temperatures. The greenhouse effect acts as our planet’s greenhouse, trapping the heat

that the sun provides inside Earth. However, too much greenhouse gas can create

unnecessary heat and even cause glaciers to melt!

Global Warming causes and effects

To start out, a big portion of greenhouse gas is made up of CO2. This means that the

more carbon-dioxide present in our atmosphere, the more greenhouse gas it will

generate. On that note, one of the main causes of global warming is burning fossil fuels

since they emit a huge number of CO2 into the atmosphere. Another leading cause is

deforestation since fewer trees are there to switch the CO2 to Oxygen. According to

WWF, one-fifth of global greenhouse gas pollution comes from deforestation and forest

degradation.

Now onto the effects of global warming… The effects of global warming range from

simple weather differences to devastating droughts, wildfires, and floods! Due to our

earth getting hotter and hotter by the year, it has resulted in extreme weather

conditions. Some are super dry (droughts and heat waves) to super wet (floods and

hurricanes). Global warming can also cause things like rising sea levels, melting glaciers,

and even disruption of habitats. It is even believed that the extreme heatwave that

happened in London was the effect of global warming.

Does Global Warming affect our planet? 

Though we don’t know yet if other planets have global warming, it is believed that the

greenhouse effect also occurs on Mars and Venus. If you think about it that’s why Venus

is so hot, because its atmosphere is mainly made of carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas).

Global warming has also been proven that is now reaching the upper atmosphere. This

may be causing a decreased atmospheric drag on satellites and space debris! 

Final thoughts

What we do know is that global warming is an issue we should be dealing with it NOW.

The effects and impacts are only going to get worse. Let’s not wait to start doing

something when our planet has already been cooked. The change needs to happen

now!

Thank you for reading and feel free to share your thoughts on global warming.

References

[1] Global Warming vs. Climate Change, NASA

[2] Global Warming 101, NRDC

[3] Causes of Global Warming, WWF

[4] Global Warming Cause Felt by Satellites and Space Junk, space.com

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