It's Time to Stop Global Warming

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It's Time to Stop Global Warming

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Global warming is cused by the "greenhouse effect". The importance of the greenhouse effect was just conceived in the mid-twentieth century. 'For billions of years, cosmic forces shaped Earth, and land and air coevolved at an almost inconceivably slow pace to create a climate in which human beings and other creatures could flourish.' (Franscesca Lyman). Now, for the first time, humanity has the power to change the global climate.

By releasing the huge amounts of carbon stored in fossil fuels over millions of years, we are distorting the natural carbon cycle. We are intensifying the natural greenhouse effect and turning it into a 'planetary menace' when it actually makes human life possible. Thus, the German climatologist Wilfred Bach writes, 'The carbon-dioxide problem becomes a central question for the co-existence of humans and the survival of mankind.' If we do not deal with our problems now, such as global warming, the consequences will amplify and the consequences could mean our health, our life, our future.

Could we, as humans, mend what we have destroyed? From the words of J.Stephen Bottum, ?Constructive action begins with an understanding of what?s causing the problem and what each of us can do about it.? The greenhouse effect has been described by Vice President Al Gore as the potentially most dangerous environmental problem facing mankind, with consequences second only to nuclear war (The Greenhouse Trap). The greenhouse effect can be visualized as follows: Imagine the Earth has been encircled by a giant glass sphere. The heat penetrates through the glass. Some of the heat is absorbed by the Earth and some is radiated back towards space. The radiated heat reaches the glass sphere and is prevented from dispersing any further. Similarly, the Earth is surrounded by a blanket of gas which traps energy in the atmosphere. This results in the overall warming of the atmosphere. ?For two hundred years we?ve been conquering nature. Now we?re beating it up,? says Tom McMillan. The greenhouse occurs naturally, but when humans put more greenhouse gases (carbon, methane, water vapor, and, nitrous oxide) and pollutants in the air the natural balance is off set. Since the beginning of industrialization, two hundred years ago, the gases have risen substantially, mainly from fossil fuels. This h...

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...ironmental problem for which tardy response is absolutely unacceptable, it is the possible threat to the ozone layer. It is hard enough to cope with the permanent disappearance of a species, or the death of a lake, or the turning of fertile lands into desert. But in the case of global warming, who could forgive us if we reacted too late?? What we have put into the air since the beginning of the human race can not be taken back, but what we put into the air in the future can be reduced and until this happens, ?Nature bats last.? (bumper sticker, 1989).

Sources Cited

?The Effects of Global Warming? What can we do? Roan, Sharon L. Ozone Crisis. New york: Wiley Science Edition, 1989

Lyman, Francesca. The Greenhouse Trap. Boston:Beacon Press, 1990

McCuen, Gary E. Our Endangered Atmosphere. Wisconsin: Gary McCuen Publications, 1987

Ponting, Clive. ?Historical Perspective on Sustainable Development? Environment November 1990: 4-5 Dunlap, Riley E. ?Of Global Concern? Environment November 1993: 7-15

Halper, Louise, A. ?Overview? Environment January/February 1994: 2-5 Illinois University. ?Greenhouse Effects?, (America Online) Excite. ?Global Warming?, (America Online)

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