Green House effect and Global Warming

The greenhouse effect is the natural process by which certain atmospheric gases — chiefly carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and synthetic chlorofluorocarbons — absorb outgoing infrared heat from the Earth's surface and re-radiate part of it back down, keeping the planet warm enough to support life. Human activity has sharply increased the concentration of these gases since industrialisation: burning fossil fuels for power and transport releases CO2 and CH4, agriculture and livestock rearing add both CH4 and N2O, refrigeration and air-conditioning release CFCs, and nitrogen fertiliser use adds more N2O. This extra loading traps more heat than the natural cycle can offset, raising the planet's mean temperature — global warming — with knock-on effects visible even in India, such as the coral bleaching recorded in the Gulf of Mannar off the Tamil Nadu coast as sea temperatures rise. Clo …