MIAMI BEACH, Fla. " On a recent afternoon, Scott McKenzie watched torrential rains and a murky tide swallow the street outside his dog-grooming salon. Within minutes, much of this stretch of chic South Beach was flooded ankle-deep in a fetid mix of rain and sea."
"Welcome to the new Venice," McKenzie joked as salt water surged from the sewers. ---- Michael J. Mishak, Associated Press June 7, 2014 Over the years, Earth has been through numerous catastrophic events; such as, the KT dinosaur extinction, but none of these events are comparable to the +7.1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions that are being produced in the United States of America yearly.(Tonto.eia.doe) As Al Gore once stated in his book, Earth in the Balance, “the process filling the atmosphere with carbon dioxide and other pollutants – is a willful expansion of our dysfunctional civilization into vulnerable parts of the natural world” (234). These greenhouse gas emissions will pollute our atmosphere causing catastrophic events, therefore we our obligated to help reduce and maintain greenhouse gas emissions before they cause these destructive effects on Earth. In order to discuss theses catastrophic events, it would be more efficient to discuss the greenhouse gas emissions and greenhouse effect individually.
The Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Previous years, I thought Greenhouse gases were positive gases due to the name Green; which can symbolize as hope, balance and well-being (http://www.crystal-cure.com/green.html), and House; which can symbolize as shelter and protection (http://ardictionary.com/House/4768); but, it...
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...re absorbed by atmosphere. The remaining 40 % passes through the layers of the atmosphere and reaches the Earth’s surface. Fifteen percent of the rays are reflected by the Earth’s surface and the rest heat up the land and oceans. The Earth’s surface gives off heat radiation, where it is picked up and held by the greenhouse gases; such as, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases (Andrian09’s Blog). These “greenhouse gases make up only about 1 % of the Earth’s atmosphere; they regulate our climate by trapping heat and holding it in a kind of warm-air blanket that surrounds the planet” (West). Without an atmosphere, the Earth’s surface would be colder at night and become hotter during the day. The atmosphere’s main job is to regulate the temperature and secure the heat in Earth; so that the heat does not escape leaving the planet cold (King, 2008).
One of the main causes of the increase in Earth’s temperature is greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are gases that are trapped in the atmosphere. The gases consist of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane. They trapped heat from the sun from returning back into the atmosphere. Over the last 100 hundred years we have increased the earth’s average temperature by 1.4 degree fahrenheit (Carey). This is mainly due to the fact we are producing ten times more greenhouse gas than before. It is exp...
The greenhouse effect is known as the rising in earth's temperature above from its normal temperature. In the atmosphere, there are certain gases, such as methane, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides, water vapor, and ozone, which aid in this activity by reflecting the heat back to earth. Because of this process earth can maintain a suitable temperature. Around 57 degrees Fahrenheit, which are considered to be a normal temperature. The average temperature on earth would be zero degrees Fahrenheit, 18 degrees Celsius), if this radiation is not trapped, and as a result of life would not be as we are seeing now. In this way, these greenhouse gases are primary and very important for the survival of the living organisms on earth. What makes the earth,
The use of fossil fuels has greatly increased the amount of atmospheric and oceanic CO2 to a point where it’s ruining the natural flow of the world; the earth’s temperature is rising. As a result, the polar ice caps are melting causing the seas to rise. With only a 1 meter increase in sea level the United States alone could lose over 10,000 square miles of land, and thousands of houses will be destroyed. The effects will be just as prominent around the world: many islands will become submerged, 17% of Bangladesh will be underwater, and tens of thousands of people will be displaced (“Global Warming” 3).
Currently, pollutants are destroying the environment and harming the health of U.S. citizens. Global warming threatens to change the lifestyle of many people around the world. Industries across the globe and goods that use or contain harmful contaminants have been the largest contributors to climate change. In recent years, there has been “artificially heightened levels of greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere” and a dramatic increase in other pollutants, “resulting in an unnatural upward trend in global warming” (Global). The level of pollutants currently in the air is not considered to be linked to the earth’s natural cycle. In fact, for the past century, “human activities…have increased the atmospheric concentration of CO2 to levels far higher than any measured for at least 800,000 years” and the concentration of CO2 is becoming a devastating and possibly irreversible problem with each day (Global). Although some...
First is a description of the greenhouse effect. The earth’s atmosphere has four layers, or zones, with each having distinct differences in temperature. The troposphere is the first layer surrounding the earth. Within this layer air is continually circulating and moving heat and moisture around the earth. The troposphere is denser than the other layers due to the fact that gravity keeps the majority of air molecules near the earth. This is about 75 percent of all the atmospheric mass. It is also the warmest layer (Cunningham & Cunningham, ...
Because the Sun has a surface temperature of about 5,800 Kelvin, it emits most of its energy as visible light. Because the Earth has a much lower average surface temperature of about 288 Kelvin, it emits most of its energy as infrared light. Greenhouse gasses are transparent to visible light, but partially block infrared light. Greenhouse gasses act like one-way valves, because they allow energy from the Sun to reach the surface as visible light, but they prevent energy from the planet from leaving as infrared radiation.
"On a recent afternoon, Scott McKenzie watched torrential rains and a murky tide swallow the street outside his dog-grooming salon. Within minutes, much of this stretch of chic South Beach was flooded ankle-deep in a fetid mix of rain and sea.
The earth?s atmosphere is made up of gases, carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor and nitrogen, these gases are known as the greenhouse gases, they trap heat from the sun to warm the earth. Without them the earth would be so cold. Most scientists believe that the sharp increase of greenhouse gases released into ...
The process where the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere trap heat to keep the temperature of the Earth warm is called the greenhouse effect. The Earth takes up the energy that is radiated by the sunlight and cools down by releasing a different form of energy called infrared radiation. The warmer the temperature, the more radiation will be emitted from the Earth’s surface. (David)Some of the infrared radiation produced by the Earth will be released to the outer space. Before all of the radiation is reflected to the space, the radiation will pass through the Earth’s atmosphere. Then, greenhouse gases located in the atmosphere will absorb some of the radiation emitted by the Earth, keeping the atmosphere around the Earth warmer. (Basi) This process helps to keep and protect th...
Atmospheric scientists first used the term “Greenhouse-Effect” in the early 1800’s. It was used to describe the naturally occurring functions of trace gases in the atmosphere and did not have any negative connotations. In the recent decades, we often hear about the term greenhouse effect in somewhat negative terms. It is important to know that without the greenhouse effect life on earth as we know it would be impossible. In the atmospheric greenhouse effect, the type of surface that sunlight first encounters is the most important factor. Forests, grasslands, oceans’ surface, ice caps, deserts, and cities all absorb, reflect, and radiate radiation differently. Sunlight falling on a white glacier surface strongly reflects back into space, resulting in minimal heating of the surface. Sunlight falling on a dark desert soil is strongly absorbed and contributes to significant heating of the surface and lower atmosphere. Cloud covers also affect greenhouse warming by both reducing the amount of solar radiation reaching the earth’s surface and reducing the amount of radiation energy emitted into space. Although the greenhouse effect is a naturally- occurring process, humans have recently ampl...
"On a recent afternoon, Scott McKenzie watched torrential rains and a murky tide swallow the street outside his dog-grooming salon. Within minutes, much of this stretch of chic South Beach was flooded ankle-deep in a fetid mix of rain and sea.
Energy from the sun drives the earth’’s weather and climate, and heats the earth’’s surface; in turn, the earth radiates energy back into space. Atmospheric greenhouse gases (water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other gases) trap some of the outgoing energy, retaining heat somewhat like the glass panels of a greenhouse.
In talking about global warming, we need to learn what causes the greenhouse effect. Rays from the sun are taken up and absorbed by water vapor that is natural in the atmosphere. The United States emits the largest man made greenhouse gases in the world. As Americans we must realize the responsibility to reduce the emissions. (Gore, Albert) Water Vapor is eighty percent of greenhouse warming. The last twenty percent results from other gases that are in very little amounts. A huge absorber of the sun’s heat rays is carbon dioxide. Us as humans release a lot of carbon dioxide. When fossil fuels are burned, they release big amounts of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is on the increase in our atmosphere due to car emissions. Approximately eighty percent of CO2 increases because of man’s use of fossil fuels. When there is more carbon dioxide in our atmosphere the more sun rays are absorbed. In result to this happening this will cause the earth and the earths atmosphere to warm. When the earth is warming, water temperatures will start to get warmer. Oceans and lakes will get warmer in result f...
Glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising, cloud forests are drying, and wildlife is scrambling to keep pace (Geographic). In other words, Mother Nature is becoming a victim of global warming and it’s clear that humans have caused most of the past century's warming by releasing heat-trapping gases as we power our modern lives. According to research, scientists have high confidence that global temperatures will continue to rise for decades to come, largely due to greenhouse gasses produced by human activities (Jenkins).Greenhouse gases are higher now than in the last 650,000 years and is causing more intense heat waves than usual. As a result from this changes plants and trees are flowering sooner, glaciers are shrinking, and ice on rivers and lakes is breaking up earlier than expected. All this ice melting is rapidly rising the sea levels and eventually all that water is going to take over cities like New York and Florida because they are surrounded by ocean waters. Oceans are not the only thi...
The commonly debated “greenhouse effect” refers to “the global-average temperature increase that has been observed over the last one hundred years or more” (Spencer). President Barack Obama addressed the issue as an effort to highlight its severity, "We have to all shoulder the responsibility for keeping the planet habitable, or we’re going to suffer the consequences – together” (Leader). The earth’s increasing atmospheric and oceanic temperatures result in climate changes due to cumulative amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere.