Greenhouse gases have become our common reality nowadays, and it often happens that people hear from the mass media about the sad effects they have on the environment, and how ruining they are for everything living on the Earth. Generally, it appears that the greenhouse gases, though they are not as deadly as phosgene, for example, destroy the ozone layer, and, thus, appear to be the reason for the slow death of all the living creatures on the planet.
Speaking about the greenhouse gases and their poignant effect on the environment, it is important to identify those gases, first. Greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated greenhouse gases (Houghton 1997, Prather 1998). Next, the very important point is that though the greenhouse gases do not affect human health to the extent that some poisonous gases do, still they destroy the ozone layer, ruin the natural balance on the planet, cause global warming and, thus, become the reason for a slow death for all the living beings on it (Jacob 2000).
In conclusion, the sad effect that greenhouse gases have on the environment can be hardly underestimated. Their main fault is in destroying the ozone layer which unavoidably leads to ruining of the environment and to the slow death of all the living creatures on the planet. It is high time for people to think about their future reducing the productions polluting the environment with the greenhouse gases.
References
Houghton, J 1997, Global Warming: the Complete Briefing. Cambridge University Press, the United Kingdom.
Jacob, D 2000, “Heterogeneous chemistry and tropospheric ozone”, Atmos. Env., 34, 2131-2159.
Prather, M 1998, “Time scales in atmospheric chemistry: Coupled perturbations to N2O, NOy, and O3”, Science, 279, 1339-1341.