As humans celebrate the new year , most are unaware that nearly

300,000 people are dying because of global warming according to a report

by Global Humanitarian Forum, led by Kofi Annan, the former UN Secretary
General. Threatening the very existence of mankind, the world is now facing
one of the most crucial environmental crisis known as global warming. It is
the gradual heating of Earth's surface, oceans, and atmosphere (Lalanilla,
2013).The warmest year recorded in history was 1996(Johansen & Bruce,
2009). As a result, the importance of addressing the causes and effects of
global warming has grown in importance over the past few years. The main
causes of global warming are changes in the greenhouse effect, and
deforestation which affects earth in many different ways such as climate
change, rise in sea level, and serious health problems.
The first cause of global warming is changes in the greenhouse effect.
Greenhouse gases are the atmospheric gases that helps to keep the earth
warm by balancing the energy received from the sun and the loss of the
energy back into space(Maslin, 2004).After the industrial revolution in the
early 1800s, the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,
especially CO2,had greatly increased because of burning of fossil fuel
(Lalanilla, 2013).Due to the large emission of carbon dioxide gases, "The
carbon dioxide drifts up into the atmosphere and makes Earth's greenhouse
gas just a little thicker"(Woodford,2014).By making it thicker, the heat from
the sun gets trapped and fails to go back into the space. Consequently,
heating up the planet.
Along with the changes in the greenhouse effect, another cause of
global warming is deforestation. "Deforestation is a process of cutting trees
to make space for pastures or for industries and households of the everincreasing human population"(Oak, 2008) .High levels of carbon dioxide are
released when forests are burned or when decomposed, and when trees are
cut down(Smith, n.d). The atmospheric heat is trapped when a large amount

of atmospheric gases ,with a high concentration of carbon dioxide is released

into the air. Average temperature, which keeps the earth warm increases.

Climate change, a major effect on earth because of global warming.

Significant changes in wind patterns, annual precipitation and season temperature variations
are the usual indications of climate change (Lalanilla, 2013).According to N.A.S.A,

heat waves, intense rain, drought have increased in frequency during the
last 50 years. Life in arctic, will be severely affected .World Wild Life
Organization(WWFO) predicts that within 2050 polar bear will be an extinct
animal, as the polar bears have a negative impact when the extent of sea ice
are reduced during the summer and suffer from a reduced habitat, primarily
during summer and autumn. Golden Toad, last seen in 1989, became extinct
due to drought and climate change.(Amore, 2014)