Global warming is a naturally occurring phenomenon which is the warming or cooling of the earth’s climate. Whether the earth is cooling or warming is decided by the amount of greenhouse gases present in the earth’s atmosphere. Greenhouse gases are gases that remain in the earth’s atmosphere, like carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide, methane, and the unnaturally occurring chlorofluorocarbon, otherwise known as CFC’s. The way global warming and climate change works is that earth naturally releases these gases, except for the CFC’s. These gases remain in the earth’s atmosphere and trap heat, slowly warming up the planet. The amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, determines whether the earth is in a state of warming or cooling. Different greenhouse gases have very different heat-trapping abilities. Some of them can even trap more heat than Carbon Dioxide. A molecule of methane produces more than 20 times the warming of a molecule of CO2. Nitrous oxide is 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Other gases, such as chlorofluorocarbons (which have been banned in much of the world because they also degrade the ozone layer), have heat-trapping potential thousands of times greater than Carbon Dioxide. But because their concentrations are much lower than CO2, none of these gases adds as much warmth to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide does. The reason for recent concern is that human interference has sped up global warming, causing drastic changes and other disasters. This is called the anthropogenic greenhouse effect. The clear cutting of forests that trap and store carbon dioxide, the mass emission of fossil fuels, and even the landfills that we create are the factors to blame for this rapid advancement of global warming.
All across the globe, the earth is getting warmer. The effects of the small increase in temperature aren’t going to occur 100 years in the future, they are occurring now. There are signs for these effects happening all over the world, and they are much more than you would expect. The heat isn’t only melting the glaciers and raising the sea levels, they are changing weather patterns, and causing animals to move. Some changes that are occurring right now would be the decline of the population for some species, such as the Adélie penguin, which have lost one third of their population in the last 30 years. Another change would be the increase in precipitation globally, or even the migration of animals and plants north due to them needing cooler environments. The warmer climate also has had an indirect effect on itself. The warmer summers, have allowed insects, such as the Spruce bark beetles to boom in number, which have chewed up 4 million acres of spruce trees. This massive loss of trees contributes to the Carbon Dioxide problems by releasing all the stored CO2 into the atmopshere. Some effects that could occur later this century include the increase of sea levels by 7-23 inches, this would flood low lying cities such as New York. Hurricanes and other storms would also become stronger, floods and droughts would be more common, there would be less fresh drinking water available, species would migrate irregularly, and those who cannot would go extinct. The migration of animals would also allow the spread of diseases, such as malaria, which is carried by mosquitoes. These changes may not be effecting us that much right now, but the future of the human race would drastically change if we don’t do something about this.
The only way we can help stop the anthropogenic greenhouse effect is by working together as one race. Even if we completely stop making greenhouse gases, the earth’s temperate would still warm by a degree Fahrenheit. But everything we can do makes a big difference. If we make a change, the earth would only warm by 2.5 degrees, as opposed to 10. Government’s all across the world are already working hard to cut the production of greenhouse gases, and researchers are working hard to find suitable methods to decrease our greenhouse gas output. One method is called “stabilization wedges”. This method focuses on reducing the greenhouse gas emissions from a lot of sources using technology which would be available in the following century. These wedges, if put into effect, would put us on a path of stabilization, which would allow us to avoid the major consequences of global warming. If we decrease our dependency on fossil fuels and work to embrace alternative, renewable energy sources, we could reduce a large factor of CO2 emissions. The clear cutting of forests is also something that needs to change, trees play a large factor in reducing the CO2 emissions. There is even potential to capture carbon dioxide emitted form fossil fuels and store it underground, a process called “carbon sequestration”. All these possible solutions may seem very complex, but small acts such as carpooling, using public transportation, planting trees, recycling and even taking showers instead of baths, help to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.
Global warming is a very serious and devastating matter that no one seems to care about. If we don’t change how we live, it’s going to change the face of this planet. This is something that we cannot leave behind for our children and grandchildren to deal with. The sooner we realize that this is the time for change, the less we have to do. Small steps in the right direction, will lead to great changes in the future.
"The most important thing about global warming is this. Whether humans are responsible for the bulk of climate change is going to be left to the scientists, but it's all of our responsibility to leave this planet in better shape for the future generations than we found it. " –Mike Huckabee
All across the globe, the earth is getting warmer. The effects of the small increase in temperature aren’t going to occur 100 years in the future, they are occurring now. There are signs for these effects happening all over the world, and they are much more than you would expect. The heat isn’t only melting the glaciers and raising the sea levels, they are changing weather patterns, and causing animals to move. Some changes that are occurring right now would be the decline of the population for some species, such as the Adélie penguin, which have lost one third of their population in the last 30 years. Another change would be the increase in precipitation globally, or even the migration of animals and plants north due to them needing cooler environments. The warmer climate also has had an indirect effect on itself. The warmer summers, have allowed insects, such as the Spruce bark beetles to boom in number, which have chewed up 4 million acres of spruce trees. This massive loss of trees contributes to the Carbon Dioxide problems by releasing all the stored CO2 into the atmopshere. Some effects that could occur later this century include the increase of sea levels by 7-23 inches, this would flood low lying cities such as New York. Hurricanes and other storms would also become stronger, floods and droughts would be more common, there would be less fresh drinking water available, species would migrate irregularly, and those who cannot would go extinct. The migration of animals would also allow the spread of diseases, such as malaria, which is carried by mosquitoes. These changes may not be effecting us that much right now, but the future of the human race would drastically change if we don’t do something about this.
The only way we can help stop the anthropogenic greenhouse effect is by working together as one race. Even if we completely stop making greenhouse gases, the earth’s temperate would still warm by a degree Fahrenheit. But everything we can do makes a big difference. If we make a change, the earth would only warm by 2.5 degrees, as opposed to 10. Government’s all across the world are already working hard to cut the production of greenhouse gases, and researchers are working hard to find suitable methods to decrease our greenhouse gas output. One method is called “stabilization wedges”. This method focuses on reducing the greenhouse gas emissions from a lot of sources using technology which would be available in the following century. These wedges, if put into effect, would put us on a path of stabilization, which would allow us to avoid the major consequences of global warming. If we decrease our dependency on fossil fuels and work to embrace alternative, renewable energy sources, we could reduce a large factor of CO2 emissions. The clear cutting of forests is also something that needs to change, trees play a large factor in reducing the CO2 emissions. There is even potential to capture carbon dioxide emitted form fossil fuels and store it underground, a process called “carbon sequestration”. All these possible solutions may seem very complex, but small acts such as carpooling, using public transportation, planting trees, recycling and even taking showers instead of baths, help to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.
Global warming is a very serious and devastating matter that no one seems to care about. If we don’t change how we live, it’s going to change the face of this planet. This is something that we cannot leave behind for our children and grandchildren to deal with. The sooner we realize that this is the time for change, the less we have to do. Small steps in the right direction, will lead to great changes in the future.
"The most important thing about global warming is this. Whether humans are responsible for the bulk of climate change is going to be left to the scientists, but it's all of our responsibility to leave this planet in better shape for the future generations than we found it. " –Mike Huckabee