Environment Sustainable Development test - 2

Some of the long term results of global warming are as follows:

1. Melting of polar ice with a resulting rise in sea level and coastal flooding.
2. Extinction of species as ecological niches disappear.
3. More frequent tropical storms and
4. An increased incidence of tropical diseases.

Burning of coal and petroleum products  are source of gases like carbon dioxide, methane , nitrous oxide and ozone.Presence of all these gases in atmosphere causes global warming.

 A UN Conference on Climate Change, held at Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, resulted in an international agreement to fight Global Warming which called for reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases by industrialised nations.

Ozone depletion refers to the phenomenon of reductions in the amount of ozone in the stratosphere.

 The problem of ozone depletion is caused by high levels of chlorine and bromine compounds in the stratosphere.The origins of these compounds are chlorofluorocarbons (CFC), used as cooling substances in airconditioners and refrigerators, or as aerosol propellants, and bromofluorocarbons (halons), used in fire extinguishers.

 CFC stands for chlorofluorocarbons  used as cooling substances in airconditioners and refrigerators, or as aerosol propellants.

UV radiation seems responsible for skin cancer in humans; it also lowers production of phytoplankton and thus affects other aquatic organisms. It can also influence the growth of terrestrial plants.

The ozone layer prevents most harmful wavelengths of ultraviolet light from passing through the Earth’s atmosphere.

 Ozone depleting chemicals such as carbon tetrachloride, trichloroethane (also known as methyl chloroform), and bromine compounds known as halons.

(Central PollutionControl Board) has identified seventeen categories of industries (large and medium scale) as significantly polluting.