"If we want to address global warming, along with the other environmental problems associated with our continued rush to burn our precious fossil fuels as quickly as possible, we must learn to use our resources more wisely, kick our addiction, and quickly start turning to sources of energy that have fewer negative impacts." -- David Suzuki Earlier this year one of my friends asked, “So which essay topic did you decide on?” To which I responded, “Global warming.” Then my friend responded, “That is impossible. Global warming was not even an option,” I was worried. I rushed back to my apartment and opened my course binder to find that I was actually writing about climate change and not global warming. Then I wondered, "When did global warming morph into climate change? Am I in school to learn about fashion? Are we all just following the latest trend? What does any of this have to do with science? According to Erik Conway of NASA, “Global warming refers to surface temperature increases, while climate change includes global warming and everything else that increasing greenhouse gas amounts will affect” (Conway). Recently the United States has experienced a drop in temperature. This past weekend I was walking with a friend. With nothing to talk about, the awkward silence was finally filled with a comment on the weather. He said, “It’s so incredibly cold! So much for global warming!!” What my friend, nor I at the beginning of the semester, did not understand was that “temperature change itself isn’t the most severe effect of changing climate. Changes to precipitation patterns and sea level are likely to have much greater human impact than the higher temperatures alone” (Conway). Thankfully the national media has begun to increasingly reference the more scientifically significant term: climate change.
Global warming is a scientific, political, and controversial topic. Some believe it is catastrophic, a slow moving killer hiding in the shadows. Others do not even think twice about it as they race by in a Hummer. Global warming is the gradual increase of temperature throughout different climates. It is caused by the greenhouse gas effect in which greenhouse gases, like methane and carbon dioxide, reflect sunlight back and forth. This reflected ultraviolet light bounces between the earth and the ozone layer and becomes trapped, resulting in a gradual rise of temperature. Over time, the slow rise of temperature causes new climates throughout the globe. The article “What Megablazes Tell Us About the Fiery Future of Climate Change” by Tim Dickinson
Scientist have been studying global warming since the early 1800s, and now sixteen years later think they may have found a missing puzzle piece to the mysterious “global-warming hiatus.” So, what is global warming? According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary global warming is “an increase in the earth 's atmospheric and oceanic temperatures widely predicted to occur due to an increase in the greenhouse effect resulting especially from pollution.” So, what is greenhouse effect? According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary the greenhouse effect is “the warming of the Earth 's atmosphere that is caused by air pollution. The greenhouse effect occurs when warmth from the sun is trapped in
The dictionary defines climate change as a change in global or local climate patterns such as heat and precipitation. The trees that provide oxygen, the water that keeps us hydrated and the animals along with plants that gives us food grant Earth with features that make it adequate to live in. Global warming, as stated in the name, occurs when Earth 's atmosphere starts getting warmer. Global Warming has become a problem throughout the world that will need to be addressed over the coming years because it affects animals, sea level and landscapes around the world.
Many government agencies as well as American Universities offer definitions on Global Warming to define this phenomena. The Environmental Protection Agency (2014) gives a simplistic definition with four main bullets: (1) “Climate change is happening…The Earth’s average temperature has risen” in the last century, (2) “Humans are largely responsible for [the] recent climate chang...
Climate change is a term used to describe the increase in the average temperature of the earth’s surface and has been a major problem recently. Our world is constantly changing and therefore so is our climate, as our country industrializes we create more greenhouse gases from the immense human activity being produced. “These gases get into the atmosphere when coal, natural gas and oil is burned for energy and over the last century the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil has increased the concentration of carbon dioxide… the clearing of land for agriculture, industry, and other human activities has increased concentrations of greenhouse gases.”(NASA 1). Climate change is causing global warming that causes the earth to heat up rather than
Global Warming, much of what does or does not happen forty years from now rests on our actions or inactions taken between now and then. The crucial question is whether we should pour all our resources into mitigation – reducing our carbon emissions. According to scientists who study the climate there are other environmental problems; “we now face a global crises in land use and agriculture that could undermine the health, security, and sustainability of our civilization”.
Climate change is a change in global temperature and regional climate patterns. At the turn of the 20th century, there has been rising issues about climate change, arguing that global warming and climate change is an issue worsened by the human race. Change in climate is a natural process in which changes from season to season and even fluxuates over thousands of years. Over the time frame of the last 650,000 years there has been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat (Global Climate Change). It could be argued that climate change is a natural process and the Earth is suppose to change its temperature from hot to cold. Yes, that is true. However, the rate in which the temperature is changing is something this Earth has never endured. In
“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.”
Global warming and global climate change is the study of future increases of temperature across the globe. Studying climate change refers to how the over- all climate will change such as the dry places getting dryer and the wet places getting wetter. Global climate is dependent on “the greenhouse effect a natural process that helps regulate temperature” (Easterling and Karl). In the past few centuries humans have had a monumental effect on increasing of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Climate change is result of the increase amount of the greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere such as methane, carbon dioxide, water vapor, nitrous oxide, and ozone. “Global temperature has rose approximately 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit over
Our world is always changing, so is our climate. Some changes are apparent, others not so much. Climate change is an important issue of concern in the twenty-first century. Environment, if it changes at all, evolves so slowly that the difference cannot be seen in a human lifetime (Wearth, 2014). Mostly all scientists predicted that it would take thousands of years for the planet to warm up due to emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels called greenhouse gases. But in the past 200 years, things began to change. The rate and the amount of warming that is happening on this planet are unprecedented. Wearth says, “People did not grasp the prodigious fact that both population and industrialization were exploding in a pattern of exponential
Climate change is a subject that can be open for misinterpretations. This means that people are able to think multiple things about on this one subject. A thermometer can say 100 degrees Fahrenheit does not mean that it will be hot to everyone. Temperature is just one aspect of climate. Climates are, "the composite or generally prevailing weather conditions of a region...averaged over the years"(Dictionary.com). Conditions will vary through specific seasons which is why they have to under surveillance for many years then the climate zones are labeled from there. Climates have climate classifications, "the arrangement of climates according to their most important characteristics in order to provide each type with a short, unambiguous name
Climate change is a long-term change in regional or global climate patterns. From the mid twentieth century to now, it has mostly been about a significant increase in average global temperatures. Climate change is a major issue in the world today, and a lot of people feel very differently about the cause of it. The common argument about it is whether climate change is a natural occurrence or if the recent increase in temperatures is because of humans. Climate change is a natural cycle in the Earth’s weather. Before humans started burning fossil fuels, there were still weather cycles on Earth that were as hot or hotter than what it is now. In fact, Earth’s weather now, is on pace with the previous weather patterns in history. Human emitted
Global warming and the greenhouse effect are issues discussed by scientists all the time. A natural process that keeps earths temperature at a livable rate is called the greenhouse effect. The energy from the sun warms up the earth when the rays from the sun are absorbed by greenhouse gasses. The gasses then become trapped in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane and nitrous oxide are the most common greenhouse gasses. Greenhouse gases cause the radiant heat of the sun to be trapped in the Earths lower atmosphere which causes global warming. If there weren’t any greenhouse gasses, the earth would be really cold due to very little sun rays being absorbed on the earth. Global warming can and will lead to several problems that affect the environment in which we humans live in. 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 about. Damage to human health, Severe stress on forests, wetlands, and other natural habitats, how fish will be affected. Global warming is a serious problem that will affect our generation when we are older.
Climate change is one of the most discussed topics of the twenty-first century. Although this subject is very often on the daily basis of lots of people, most of them do not know much about it. So let us define climate change. People think that climate change is the same thing as global warming. However, global warming only represents one aspect of climate that is temperature. Climate change is any significant change in temperature, precipitation, or a wind pattern that occur over several decades or longer.
As Robert Frost once said, “ Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire.” This excerpt can relate to the idea of global warming. Global warming can be defined as an increase in the earth's average atmospheric temperature that causes corresponding changes in climate and that may result from the greenhouse effect. During the past 10,000 years the earth has been in an ever-growing cycle that has significantly changed the climate. These changes are becoming more prevalent in our world today in the past 150 years. Scientists have been analyzing the causes and effects of the greenhouse effect and many other issues that global warming has presented. As John Houghton states in his book, Global Warming the Complete Briefing, on page 2 “ The 1980s and 1990s were unusually warm. Globally speaking, the decades have been the warmest since accurate records began somewhat over a hundred years ago and these unusually warm years are continuing into the twenty-first century.” There are countless records that show that our world as a whole is getting warmer, and the facts cannot be disputed. Everyone in the world today is experiencing the effects of global warming. These effects might be small now, but if we don’t protect our planet now then the consequences will greatly be increased.