What is the effect of excessive carbon dioxide in the Atmosphere?

Mmodern human activities are responsible for release of huge quantities of CO₂ in the atmosphere. The major activities, which contribute towards this, are burning of fossil fuels and cultivation of soil. Although CO₂ is not considered as a pollutant, increase in its proportion in the atmosphere can lead to global warming through increased greenhouse effect,. Over the past hundred years we have released 360000 million tonnes of CO₂ in the atmosphere and are contributing to do so at an increasing rate. Due to this large scale release of CO₂ in the atmosphere, its proportion in the atmosphere has increased by 13 per cent.

This has increased the greenhouse effect, raising the average temperature of the earth by 1`F. If CO<sub>2</sub> is continued to be released into the atmosphere at the current rate then by the end of this century the earth’s average temperature is expected to go up by 3.6` F. this excessive heating of the earth would melt all the snow on poles and different mountains. This would increase the water level of the sea and as a result the cities located on the coastal areas are likely to be flooded.