What are the disadvantages of greenhouse effect?

Answer 1

The greenhouse effect is the cause of global warming which in turn is the major contributory factor to climate change. Some of the disadvantages (and a few advantages) to climate change are given below, summarised from a report I wrote a few months ago...

EFFECTS ON WEATHER
An increase in the amount of precipitation. Although rainfall overall will increase there are some parts of the world that are already receiving less rainfall and this trend is likely to continue.

Hurricanes and storms will become more frequent, widespread and severe, in the last 30 years the proportion of category 4 and 5 hurricanes has almost doubled. Once exclusively confined to the northern hemisphere there have recently been hurricanes in the southern hemisphere, most notably in Brazil.

DESERTIFICATION
Shifting weather patterns mean some areas receive less rainfall; the ground becomes barren and unable to sustain crops. In many parts of the world the layer of topsoil is both very thin and very poor. The dry, dusty soil is readily blown away and the area becomes desert. African and Asian countries are particularly hard hit.

AGRICULTURAL IMPACT
For the reasons mentioned above there will be a major impact on agriculture. Rising sea levels will result in the loss of large areas of agricultural land, the consequences of which will be population migration, famine and / or the need to import food from elsewhere. Again, it will be the African and Asian countries that are hardest hit with crop production falling by up to a third.

RISING SEA LEVELS
Sea levels are rising faster now than at any time since the melting of the glaciers that marked the end of the last ice age. As the glaciers melted sea levels rose by some 120 metres (400 feet) but for the last few thousand years sea levels have been almost constant rising only 10 centimetres (4 inches) per thousand years.

Since the onset of global warming the seas have risen much faster. A hundred years ago they were rising by 1mm a year, today they are rising by 3mm a year and indications are that they will rise much quicker in the future. Sea levels are rising 30 times faster now than they were before industrialisation and the onset of global warming.

The Sundarman Delta has seen levels rising by more than 30mm a year, millions have already been forced to leave their homes and the Carteret Islands in the Pacific Ocean are currently being evacuated.

In years to come rising sea levels could swamp cities including London, New York and Miami. Low lying areas such as Bangladesh, much of the European and American coasts and island groups including the Seychelles and Maldives would be submerged.

MELTING OF ICE CAPS
The Arctic ice cap is floating; if it were to melt entirely there would be no change in sea levels. However, Antarctica is a continent, a land mass, it isn’t floating and any melting here adds to the sea level as does melting of ice sheets and glaciers in places such as Greenland.

The edges of the Antarctic Ice Sheet are breaking off and collapsing into the sea. One of the biggest breaks occurred in 2002 when the Larsen B Ice Shelf broke off. This huge mass of ice covered 3250 square kilometres and weighed half a trillion tons.

POPULATION MIGRATION
For the reasons mentioned above, large numbers of people are going to find it increasingly difficult to remain in their present locations and in many cases it will be impossible. In Bangladesh some 13 million people will be forced to move if the sea level rises by just one metre and in the US tens of millions will be affected particularly along the north east coast, Florida, Louisiana and California. Globally it is expected that hundreds of millions of people will need to relocate or emigrate.

MARINE ENVIRONMENT
The world’s oceans absorb carbon dioxide, some of which dissolves to form carbonic acid and this is affecting the alkalinity of the oceans. Many forms of marine life are highly sensitive to the level of alkalinity. The formation of corals is being affected and plankton, which forms the basis of the marine food chain, is also very sensitive. The increasing levels of carbon dioxide make it harder for many species of fish and shellfish to breathe and reproduce. Changes in the ecology and chemistry of the seas and oceans reduce their ability to absorb CO2, which consequently increases the rate of global warming.

ECOSYSTEMS
Parts of Antarctica are now covered in grass and there is a massive migration of animals towards the polar regions, these migrations extend an average of 6.1km further from the equator each decade. Butterflies have extended their territory by some 200km further north in Europe and North America.

In the Arctic the habitat of polar bears and emperor penguins is being threatened. The waters of the Hudson Bay for example, are now ice free for three weeks more each year than they were 30 years ago. Polar bears are starving because they need to venture onto the frozen ice to hunt food. In another 10 or 20 years there may no longer be polar bears in this region and within a hundred years they could be extinct.

The most extensive report into global warming and climate change predicts that up to 40% of animal species could become extinct due to global warming.

HEALTH AND DISEASE
Global warming will be both beneficial and detrimental to people's health. There will be fewer deaths from cold related conditions but more deaths from heat related conditions. Globally there are more heat related deaths than cold related deaths so the net impact will be a loss of life.

Warmer temperatures lead to an increase in air and water pollution thus increasing the risk to humans from infection and respiratory conditions such as asthma. Warmer temperatures are conducive to the breeding and spread of rats, mice, other rodents, ticks, mosquitoes and other vectors for disease. This will lead to an increase in the number of people affected and an expansion into previously unaffected areas.

WATER SCARCITY
Rising sea levels lead to the contamination of groundwater rendering it undrinkable whilst at the same time higher temperatures lead to greater evaporation of fresh water from reservoirs. This will impact on the human population as well as plants, animals and agriculture.

Higher temperatures and changing climate patterns mean that some areas will receive less rainfall, in other areas when the rain does fall it is likely to do so on hard, sun-baked ground which is unable to absorb it. Instead of replenishing groundwater supplies the water will run off causing flash flooding and a lowering of the water table.

MOUNTAIN ENVIRONMENTS
Glaciers are melting faster than has been known before - up to 40 metres per day in some places. In the last 100 years 50% of the world’s glaciers outside the polar regions have melted. The effects of glacial melt include flooding, landslides, avalanches and loss of habitat. In some mountainous regions melt water provides a year round water supply and without the glaciers there will be near drought conditions.

ECONOMY
Increased adverse weather in itself could cost 1% of the worldwide GDP and a temperature rise of 2 or 3°C would reduce global economic output by 3%. In percentage terms these aren’t very big numbers but in terms of dollars the cost runs into trillions.

Insurance premiums are rising in line with the increased number of claims. The Association of British Insurers notes a 100% rise in weather related claims in recent years and states that climate change is already seriously impacting on the insurance industry.

Answer 2

Disadvantages Of Greenhouse Effect

Answer 3

There are no disadvantages. If it weren't for the greenhouse effect, the worlds average temperature would be 50 degrees Fahrenheit lower and we would all be dead. The greenhouse effect is NOT the earth trapping heat. It is absorbing heat from the earth and then sending it back at a different wavelength. The only potential disadvantage would be if it got to extreme and the earth had some excessive heating. But this couldn't be said as a disadvantage because it is what is keeping you alive. It would be like the saying the disadvantage of winning a one hundred dollar bill is getting a paper cut from it.

Answer 4

Building A Greenhouse Plans Easiest!

Answer 5

Greenhouse effect is where heat can get into the atmosphere, but not out so global warming is the biggest disadvantage. It is caused by polutants like car exhaust, areosol cans, and factories. Eventulay the plant will burn up unless the ice caps melt and throw us into the next ice age instead.

Answer 6

well greenhouse effect is really harmful for the earth. In brief it traps the heat emitted by the sun.
one of the main disadvantages of greenhouse effect is:-
the heat emitted from the sun is trapped by our earth with the help of carbon dioxide and CFC(Chlorofluorocarbon). this may also contribute to the global warming.
some of the early signs of global warming are:-
1) massive melting of ice caps, glaciers etc.
2) climate change
3) rise in sea level

Answer 7

The most obvious disadvantage is global warming. Greenhouse effect(GE) cause the glaciers to melt and our global water level rises. As u can see many countries are now "immerse" in water like china. GE also cause the ultraviolet ray (UV) to enter our atmosphere easily, as a result it cause skin cancer, destroy crop and other wrecks. So, do let GE happens.

Answer 8

Warmer summers/winters but more natural disasters.
Also more coastal areas will be flooded with time.
Summers are extremely hot near the equator and elderly citizens are passing away from heat exhaustion.
Polar ice caps are melting causing polar bears to drown in waters that were once ice covered areas for the bears.
Hotter winters equate to more diseases lasting through a milder winter which effects both humans, animals, and vegetation in a negative manner.

Answer 9

Some plant life dies leaving some animals with nothing to eat, so they die, and that might include us.

The ice caps and glaciers melt leaving San Francisco, New York, New Orleans and the state of Florida underwater theme parks.

Answer 10

Global warming, the ice caps melting, the world being covered in water, total destruction of several ecosystems, you know, the usual.

Answer 11

global warming is causing most of the icebergs and ice pieces at the poles to melt and in the future it will cause over flowing of rivers and seas and there will be more salt water then freshwater