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Human role in perpetuating climate change
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The world's forests provide many important benefits to the world - more than half of all species living on land live in the world’s forests. Global climate changes and the world’s forests are inescapably linked, the negative effect of global climate change on the world’s forest affects the human beings biologically and socio-economically.
Global climate change is any significant change in measurements of climate such as temperature, pre¬cipitation, or wind. Leading indicators of Climate change is greenhouse effect where the atmosphere gases such as carbon dioxide traps solar radiation in the atmosphere. (Climate Change Indicators 1-2) Predicted by EPA as one of the greatest environmental challenges the world faces today. The global climate changing and the greenhouse effect are a result of human activity. If not slow down there will be dire consequences to the world.
The last several decades, evidence of human influences on climate change has become increas¬ingly abundant and clear. There is indisputable evidence that human activities such as the burning of hydrocarbons are adding to the concen¬trations of greenhouse gases and global climate change. 14 percent increase from 1990 to 2008 carbon dioxide accounts for most of the nation’s emissions. carbon dioxide emissions is not the only side effect of global climate change and also affects the temperature and weather of the earth Average temperatures have risen across the lower 48 states since 1901, with an increased rate of warming. Seven of the top 10 warmest years on record for the lower 48, states have occurred since 1990. Contrary to popular belief, global climate change is not the same as global warming because in global climate change there is also an incre...
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... global climate change states, “Our generation has inherited an incredibly beautiful world from our parents and they from their parents. It is in our hands whether our children and their children inherit the same world.” (Branson) The forest provides us with a wide variety of resources. Millions of people enjoy the forest, but the future is bleak for the world if we do not have vibrant forest.
Works Cited
Feeley Kenneth J. “effects of global change on tropical forests.” Science Online. Facts On File, Inc. 3 May 2011.Web.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Global forest resources assessment 2005 : progress towards sustainable forest management. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2006. Web.
State of the world’s forests 2011. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2011. Web.
Forests cover 31% of the land area on our planet. They produce vital oxygen and provide homes for people and wildlife. Many of the world’s most threatened and endangered animals live in forests, and 1.6 billion people rely on benefits forests offer, including food, fresh water, clothing, traditional medicine and shelter (drug war facts, Page 1).
Climate change is on the international policy agenda primarily because of warnings from scientists. Their forecasts of a potentially dangerous increase in the average global temperature, fortuitously assisted by unusual weather events, have prompted governments to enter into perhaps the most complicated and most significant set of negotiations ever attempted. Key questions - the rapidity of global climate change, its effects on the natural systems on which humans depend, and the options available to lessen or adapt to such change - have energized the scientific and related communities in analyses that are deeply dependent on scientific evidence and research.
The clock is ticking! Global Co2 emissions have increased exponentially since the industrialization of today’s developed world. Emissions have now passed the absorptive capacity of the earth and are accumulating in the earth’s atmosphere, warming the surface of the earth and inducing localized climatic changes. Climate change is often a localized issue. Many regions of the world will continue to become hotter, while others may experience highly variable weather patterns. Climate change poses a serious threat to ecosystems, economic sectors, and human welfare. Although almost entirely caused by the developed world, climate change will disproportionally affect the world’s poor.
...to artificial costs of resources, it is humans that cause it to happen. Not only do these destructions cause global warming, they also put the health of many in danger as the climate often reflects the health of individuals. The gas permitted into the air by hydraulic fracturing and the chemicals from burning forests can all be breathed in and affect one’s health. Even the act of human terrorism, like the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York City, can cause green-house gases to escape into the atmosphere along with other air pollutants. Driving a car also contributes to the quantity of carbon dioxide emitted into the ecosystem. Individuals do not bother to use alternatives because they tend to choose the more convenient way of life. Human activities such as hydraulic fracturing, rice cultivation, fossil fuel burning and deforestation all contributes to global warming.
Perry, D. A. (1998). The Scientific Basis of Forestry, Annual Review of Ecology and System Thematic 29:435-466, Retrieved July 9, 2005 from: http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/policy/policy_and_events/index.cfm
One of the most compelling and difficult environmental problems society faces today is climate change. People do not realize how much the environment has changed for the worse in the last ten years, until they are told that the last two decades of the 20th century have been the hottest in the last 400 years, according to climate studies (Conserve Energy Future). Today, the carbon dioxide levels have reached 396.81 parts per million (ppm). “Carbon dioxide (CO2) has also increased over the last 100 years-- from about 300 ppm to 370 ppm. Interestingly, the majority of these additions have occurred in the last 50 years, when temperature increases have been the slowest” (geocraft).
Brown, P. (1998). Issues and Opportunities Emerging from the Kyoto Protocol [Special issue]. Climate, and Forests. Abstract retrieved March 30, 2004, from http://www.wri.org/wri/biodiv
WPF/World Preservation Foundation, 2010, Deforestation statistics, sponsored by WPF, viewed 3rd November 2013, Available at: http://www.worldpreservationfoundation.org/blog/news/deforestation-statistics/#.UoFtypQY3TV
Furthermore, this analysis must take place amidst serious gaps in the existing research and technology concerning the developing climatic conditions. For these reasons, global warming stands as one of the most daunting policy issues facing our world today. This is compounded by the debate over the very existence of climate change. While countless sources of empirical evidence testify to the very real presence of climate change the world over, considerable denial of the phenomenon still exists. The argument has been made that evidence of climate change is a gross overstatement, or in some cases, a complete fabrication.
Rainforests once covered 14% of the worlds land surface, however now it only covers a mere 6%. It is estimated that all rainforests could be consumed in less than 40 years. Trees are becoming more needed and used everyday. We need them cut down for many reasons such as paper and timber, while also needing them ‘untouched’ for other reasons like oxygen, we have to ask ourselves, which is more important? At the current rate, most of the rainforests are being cut down for resources like paper and timber, but less importance is being placed on main resources like oxygen.
Though deforestation has increased at an alarming rate throughout the past fifty years, deforestation has been performed during the course of history. According to the World Resources Institute, a majority of the world’s enduring naturally occurring forests are found in Alaska, Canada, Russia and the Northwestern Amazon. Research has demonstrated forests are more likely to be destroyed and repurposed where economic revenues tied to agriculture and pasture are prominent, typically attributed to advantageous weather conditions, or lower expenses of demolishing the forest and delivering merchandises to the global
Forests are vital for life and have many important functions. They are home to millions of species and protect soil from erosion. Along with this they produce oxygen which is vital for human life, store carbon dioxide and help control climate. They also provide humans with shelter, food and medicines vital for life.
In order to stop climate change in the world we all must protect the boreal forests. This forest contains a lot of carbon on the planet which also contains a lot of greenhouse gases. If this carbon is released then our planet will be endangered.
Global heating and cooling has occurred on a cycle for millennia, however in the past thirty years the increased use of energy and fuels by humans has drastically changed this natural occurrence (Juerg, 2007). The largest cause of this warming is the release of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide levels are twenty-five percent higher than they were in 1957 (UCS, 2013). This seemingly insignificant change has caused a myriad of negative effects. The endangerment of species, rising sea levels, and increased natural disasters are just a few examples of change brought about by global warming (Juerg, 2007).
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...