The cause of global warming has been a debate between scientists and experts for numerous years. In fact, Svante August Arrhenius, a Swedish chemist, first predicted global warming would occur in 1896 (Harris 16). Researchers who agree it is naturally caused insist the greenhouse effect has many natural causes. Others agree that the cause of the Earth’s increase in temperature is just part of a continuous cycle. These researchers argue that solar activity plays a huge role in the issue of global warming. Therefore, based upon the myth of the greenhouse effect, cyclical patterns, and research on solar activity, global warming is not a man-made dilemma.
When greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere, similar to the way greenhouse panes trap heat, it is called the greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide are three of the main greenhouse gases. People are fearful that an extreme increase in these gases could negatively effect nature and society. These changes can bring drastic floods and droughts, increasing numbers of insects, rising sea levels, and redistributed precipitation rates. Alterations can also lower the health of society and stunt economic growth (Hopwood & Cohen 1).
Carbon dioxide is the leading cause of the greenhouse effect. This is an odorless gas that assimilates heat from the sun. Fermentation, the slow decay of things that contain sugar, is one cause of carbon dioxide emissions in nature. One example of this process includes grapes being fermented into wine (Harris 6). Carbon dioxide is put into the air as humans breathe; this is obviously not something people can stop doing (Hopwood & Cohen 3). Every year more than 130 million tons of carbon dioxide are released into the air by volcanic ...
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Works Cited
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Harris, Jack. The Greenhouse Effect. New York: Crestwood House, 1990. Print.
Milankovitch Cycles and Glaciation. Montana Education. Website. 9 February 2011.
Nick Hopwood and Jordan Cohen. Greenhouse Gases and Society. 8 March 1998. Website. 8 February 2011.
Schewe, Phil, Riordon, James, and Stein, Ben. Physics News Update. American Institute of Physics, 19 June 2003. Website. 9 February 2011.
Sources and Emissions. United States Environmental and Protection Agency, 22 June 2010. Website. 9 February 2011.
Volcanic Gases and Their Effect. USGS, 11 June 2010. Website. 8 February 2011.
Wheldon, Julie. (5 March 2007). Greenhouse effect is a myth, says scientists. prince.org. Retrieved from http://prince.org/msg/105/219920
Our world faces many issues consisting of political issues, economic crisis, poverty, world wars, and environmental issues for example. Global warming is one of the many environment issues that many pay little attention to. Mr. Al Gore in his documentary directed by David Guggenheim brings to light this climate crisis and how affective it can be to the earth and how we must address it as soon as possible as it may lead to the destruction of our world’s environment. Al Gore does a great job in identifying global warming, what are the cause and effects, and how we should address the issue that can potentially save our planet earth. Overall, Al Gore offers a credible argument and one of the many reasons Al Gore’s argument is credible is because
The emission of carbon dioxide has contributed to 80% to the heating of the earth atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is produced due the burning of fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal and oil. The burning of fossil fuel is very important in our society today, because it is used for cooking, used to produce electricity, for heating, for cooling and also for transportation. The industrialization has led to the use of fossil fuel for running machines and driving cars. The building of fossil fuel contributes towards 80-90% of the carbon dioxide we find in our atmosphere today. When the ecosystems are altered and vegetation is either burned or took out, the carbon stored in them is relinquished to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (What causes global climate change, 2005). Methane is another gas being produced in the process which all have served to increase the greenhouse effect in our atmosphere. Methane is produced from the cultivation of rice, from the burning of coal and from cattle, it has increased by 145% due to human
Greenhouse gasses have a big impact on our atmosphere. These gasses include water vapor, methane, ozone, nitrous oxide, and carbon dioxide. Each greenhouse gas molecule has three or more atoms that are loosely held together and that eventually release the heat energy and it is absorbed by another greenhouse molecule. Many people talk about greenhouse gasses as if they are a bad idea, but they are not a bad thing. Without these gasses the earth would be zero degrees on the surface. However, too many greenhouse gasses can cause higher temperatures in the atmosphere, cause oceans to warm beyond what they should be normally and weather that is unpredictable. The same with fossil fuels that produce a variety of emissions that pollute our planet 's air and water. These pollutants threaten the environment and its
Global warming has become on of the most controversial issues in the media today. While most of the Western world countries have generally accepted the premise that man's chemical emissions in the atmosphere can and are affected by the world’s climate patterns, in the United States, the issue has become so politicized with many republicans challenging the science behind the theory. Global warming is a greenhouse effect whereby gases are trapped on the earth’s surface causing it to heat up (Maslin 14). It is based on the worldwide temperature records that have been maintained by human beings through their activities since the 1880,s. In addition, global warming is not only caused by human activities only but also through climate changes in solar radiance. The problem is that, humans continue to contribute to the global warming phenomenon. All citizens should work in reducing human activities that cause global warming and also support the development of nuclear power. Scientists deem that, global warming is mainly caused by human activities which accelerate the natural process by creating greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Human activities have become a great contribution to the greenhouse effect and this means that climate changes are inevitable. They further argue that, if these activities continue and are not reduced, it will lead to more trapping of energy radiated from the earth and this will likely lead to extreme weather and global warming. Global warming should be at reduced levels or else, it will be catastrophic.
“I have had a terrible, horrible day converting oxygen into carbon dioxide, now I need a moment to just breathe” (Pinterest). People have been dealing with the argument on climate change for approximately 200 years. Scientists have studied the facts, recognized the evidence, and determined that global warming is the most important problem the world is facing today. American sociologist Eric Klinenberg wrote, “In recent years the cumulative toll of the greenhouse gasses that they have emitted has profoundly destabilized the climate, and with it, the social environment” (Klinenberg, xx). The idea of climate change hurting the social environment connects James F. Klumpp’s idea of social argument, since both refer to the setting where people live.
Throughout history climates have drastically changed. There have been shifts from warm climates to the Ice Ages (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2009, p.204). Evidence suggests there have been at least a dozen abrupt climate changes throughout the history of the earth. There are a few suspected reasons for these past climate changes. One reason may be that asteroids hitting the earth and volcanic eruptions caused some of them. A further assumption is that 22-year solar magnetic cycles and 11-year sunspot cycles played a part in the changes. A further possibility is that a regular shifting in the angle of the moon orbiting earth causing changing tides and atmospheric circulation affects the global climate (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2009, p.205). Scientific studies suggest that all these played a role in past global warming and cooling periods. Today, however, there is a lot of conflict on whether humans are causing a global warming that could be disastrous to humans and all species of plants and animals on this earth. This paper will first explain the greenhouse effect, then take a look at both sides argument, and, finally, analyze the effect of global warming on world-wide sustainability
Global warming, as many of us are probably aware, is the process of the earth continually heating, and there is great debate about what will result from this process. The concept of global warming was first hypothesized by a Swedish scientist named Svante Arrhenius in the 1890s and has caused great debate in recent years (Weart 42). The major debate regarding the issue of global warming essentially revolves around whether the end results will be “good” or “bad” for the Earth. The media often portrays the effects of global warming as being eventually catastrophic for the future of humanity and the Earth. Even though this belief is correct to a point, it can also be said that there will actually be some good results from global warming. The effects
The climate on the Earth is changing. Ice age is interleaved with the global warming. In the present age, the temperature of the Earth's climate system continue rapidly increase and it leads to global warming. Global warming is the process of gradual growth of average annual temperature of the atmosphere of the Earth and World ocean. The average temperature on the Earth was increased by 0.6C. There are various reasons of global warming, such as human activities, natural events, increasing of gases, such as carbon dioxide in atmosphere and solar activity (Global warming). Nearly 200 countries have signed Kyoto Protocol and they must reduce four greenhouse gases, in order to struggle with global warming. There are several perspectives about effects of global warming on environment. In this essay will be considered the impacts and consequences of global warming . In the process, it will be clarified that there are positive and negative impacts of global warming.
Air pollution and greenhouse gases are the reason for the planet as it is today; the reason why we see campaigns flooding the media informing us to ‘switch off’, ‘save the planet’ and ‘turn down the heat’ and the reason why the government is trying to develop a successful scheme, such as the carbon tax scheme, to reduce air pollution caused by major industries. Air pollution and greenhouse gases are the two immediate causes of global warming and climate change. Air pollution occurs when chemicals or particulate matter enter the atmosphere. They can cause damage to living organisms on the planet, as well as destruction to the natural and synthetic environment (Energy Environment.net 2008). Greenhouse gases are gases in the atmosphere that absorb infrared radiation emitted from the earth. They trap infrared radiation in the form of heat, and hence contribute to global warming. Anthropogenic greenhouse gases are a direct result of air pollution. They are the physical gases emitted that cause air pollution. Naturally occurring greenhouse gases also have an influence on the earth’s atmosphere, though it is not as conspicuous as anthropogenic causes. Together, air pollution and greenhouse gases are intensifying climate change and global warming on a world-wide basis.
Humans and animals breathe out Carbon Dioxide, often referred to as the greenhouse gas, as a waste product. Plants take in this CO2 and use it to make food. This is called photosynthesis. During this process oxygen is released which is then breathed in by humans and animals. This procedure is repeated over and over and a natural balance is obtained. However this natural balance is disrupted by human activity. People of the world are putting more than 5.5 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year. 75% of this is caused from the burning of fossil fuels. These fuels are burnt all the time to run factories, power plants and vehicles. The main sources of CO2 emissions are electric utilities, residential buildings, industry and transportation. The other 25% is induced by the destruction of the world's forests. The reason for this is that there are less trees and plants to take in the CO2 but there is just as many, if not more, humans and animals to breathe it out.
Greenhouse gases cause the radiant heat of the sun to be trapped in the Earth's lower atmosphere, which causes global warming. If there weren’t any greenhouse gases, the earth would be really cold due to very little sun rays being absorbed into the earth. Global warming can and will lead to several problems that affect the environment in which we humans live. These problems can lead to warmer temperatures all around the world, it can endanger animals and the wildlife, and it can lead to widespread flooding from the glaciers melting. Here are a few more future effects that I will discuss in more detail.
Our planet has managed to survive and thrive for about 4.54 billion years. In the last 2 million years we have caused enough damage and destruction to make our world “broken” beyond repair. We will not be able to get back the world we once had. The reason behind this is global warming, specifically, the increase of the global temperature due to the burning of fossil fuels and the release of greenhouse gas emissions into our atmosphere. If we do not make the issue of global warming a priority in today`s society, our entire way of life will be at risk. There are many reasons why so many people believe global warming should be a concern. Thoroughly examined points include: scientific predictions, rising temperatures, human causes, drastic climate changes and animal adaptations. Though there are several points arguing how global warming should not be a concern, the reality of the matter is that it needs to be taken into consideration on a global scale before it is too late, as to do nothing would have devastating implications on humankind.
The earth is a complex system, which continues to evolve and change. Climate change and global warming are currently popular in the political agenda. But what does “climate” really mean? The difference between weather and climate can be conveyed in a single sentence: “Climate is what you expect; weather is what you get.” Based on research of the geologic record, we know that climate change has happened throughout Earth's history and at present, ever-increasing evidence points to the roles that humans play in altering Earth systems. The Earth and its atmosphere receive heat energy from the sun; the atmospheric heat budget of the Earth depends on the balance between incoming solar radiation and outgoing radiation from the planet; which has been constant over the last few thousand years. However present evidence seems to suggest that the recent increase in temperature has been brought about by pollution of the atmosphere, in particular the release of huge amounts of carbon dioxide, mostly through Anthropogenic Forcing (human activity) and other various internal and external factors. I...
Global warming is the gradual rise in temperature and oceans due to recent human activity. This is created by the production of too much carbon dioxide that is released into the earth’s atmosphere. The carbon dioxide, also known as a greenhouse gas, remains in the air trapping heat and gradually warming the planet. Other greenhouse gases such as: methane, nitrous oxide, and water vapor also contribute to this slow warming. According to Live Science, The state of these gases being trapped is called the greenhouse effect, which is one of the leading causes of global warming (Lallanillia). All the gases are created differently and have different effects on the earth. As for some greenhouse gases can be in the atmosphere for a short amount of time, other gases can remain in the atmosphere for thousands of
Climate changes occur in our earth's atmosphere due to a buildup of greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases can occur naturally as well as a result of human activities. The greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. “Carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when solid waste, fossil fuels, and wood are burned.” (2) The gases help to warm the surface of the Earth. Each greenhouse gas absorbs heat differently. If natural gases did not occur, the temperature of the earth would be considerably cooler. “Problems can occur when higher concentrations of greenhouse gases are present in our atmosphere because they have enhanced our earth's heat trapping capability.” (3)