The Great Debate on Global Warming

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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

Carlisle, John. Sun to Blame for Global Warming. National Policy Analysis, June 1998. Website. 13 February 2011.

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

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