Difference between Arctic Shrinkage and Antarctic Shrinkage
Today, we live in a modern industrial world, a world full of factories and power plants that are built to produce millions of products that we consider to be necessities for our everyday existence. We have mobile phones, cars, computers and other man made wonders that have been made life easier to live. Or has it?
Now, all these fancy gadgets and high tech factories do have their advantages and in fact they have helped reshape the way we live into something better, but if abused, they can do that much harm as well.
Modern Living
Technology today has made our lives easier in so many aspects. From horses to cars, ships to airplanes. And from mail to telephones and mobile cellular phones. Our world today has become so easy that you can do almost anything with your hands. But if not used responsibly, these things can also destroy the balance of nature. Take cars for instance. If maintained properly, then great, if not, smoke starts getting produced by your car which has harmful effects on the ozone layer. Good thing we have trees to balance out the oxygen and carbon dioxide in air. Or do we? Truth is thousands of tree's get cut down to produce what might be your dining table or your fancy doors in your house. I'm not saying these are really bad things, but if one cuts too many trees, then the harmony of nature tends to get unbalanced. Not to mention that the factories lay so much chemical waste and produce heavy clouds of smoke. These things if not checked properly can lead to the steady deterioration of our ozone layer, thus contributing to what is known to be global warming.
Global Warming and Climate
If you watch the news every now and then or keep up to date with the environment, you will know that one of the major topics dominating environmentalists is global warming. What is global warming? Let's answer that question as simple as possible. Global warming is defined as a steady increase in the earth's temperature, and yes, that's a bad thing. It is this global warming effect that is responsible for natural disasters like floods, hurricanes and drought. You see, our Earth is protected by an invisible shield called the ozone layer and it is this shield that protects us from the harmful rays of the sun. With all the pollution our technology has produced, the ozone layer is steadily getting damaged which then causes an increase in temperature here on Earth. This now leads us to the Earth’s ice caps. Definitely, if the Earth warms up, ice caps will start to melt. In fact, there is a term called Arctic shrinkage which refers to the decrease in size on the Arctic region. This region is the most sensitive when it comes to global warming, hence this is used as an indicator of how rapid the climate is heating up. The effect of Arctic shrinkage is devastating to nature. It will start a decrease in Arctic sea ice and will also result in the release of methane gas. The Arctic sea ice is important to maintain as it helps regulate global climate due to its albedo.
Now this term is not similar in any way with what people call the Antarctic shrinkage. The Antarctic refers to Antarctica, and this region suffers the least compared to the Arctic region. In fact, studies have shown that there has been an increase in terms of sea ice in this region due to the presence of fresh water sitting on top of the salty water combined with a huge hole in the ozone layer which whips up icy winds. The Antarctic region is complicated in that there appears to be increasing ice levels over the oceans but rapidly decreasing ice over the land mass.
You Can Help
Helping the environment starts with you. If you own a car that smoke belches, have it repaired. Try and raise a plant outside your house to help do your part in cleaning the air. And most importantly, don't litter. These are small things, but if every single one of you reading my article right now does this, you can actually create a certain impact for the good of mankind.
Summary
- Global warming isn't merely a natural cycle on Earth due to the speed at which it is developing, it is caused and driven by ongoing pollution generated by man and perhaps by the heightened internal activity of our sun.
- Global warming is responsible for various natural disasters both present and developing.
- Arctic shrinkage and Antarctic shrinkage are two different things.
