Is global warming in America really a big deal? What can Americans do to reverse the increase in earth’s temperature? In the last 50 years, evidence of global warming in the United States has been on a sharp incline. In data taken from a graph in “Climate Change,” in 1950 the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere was 320 parts per million. The graph shows further that this number had steadily grown to close to 400 parts per million. So what causes global warming? Global warming is caused by gases in the atmosphere, mostly carbon dioxide, trapping heat between the atmosphere and the surface, creating a greenhouse effect. Contrary to popular opinion, global warming is not something that just happens without any consequences. Consequences of …show more content…
global warming include rising temperatures, rising sea levels, and possibly deadly storms. Global warming can even endanger some species of wildlife. Although many Americans have taken steps to combat global warming, they must take more action to solve this dangerous problem. One possible solution to the problem of global warming in America is to buy and use more energy efficient products. For example, something as simple as switching to florescent bulbs instead of incandescent bulbs can help reduce America’s carbon footprint. Lightbulbs are not the only culprit; as “Global Warming Solutions” suggests, “Energy produced by electronic gadgets at home or industry are the largest producer of global warming.” Anything that uses energy is responsible. From the television in the family room to the dishwasher in the kitchen, all these household items use energy that contributes to global warming. The factories that produce the energy for these items also produce, as a byproduct, most of the carbon dioxide that gets into the air. For most Americans, simply spending a few extra dollars on energy efficient products can drastically reduce their carbon footprint. For example, in addition to buying efficient appliances, Americans can buy hybrid cars. Hybrid cars burn less gas to travel, thus emitting less carbon dioxide, which leads to less global warming. As Alan Rider says, Not only do gasoline-electric hybrids get much better mileage than many standard cars, but most also produce about 90 percent fewer smog-forming tailpipe emissions compared with the average new car, according to Dave Hermance, head of Environmental Engineering for Toyota. Buying energy efficient products such as florescent bulbs or hybrid cars can help drastically limit Americas carbon output. Another possible solution to the problem of global warming in America is to find alternative, clean energy sources. Creating energy for the many products we use all require burning fossil fuels, such as coal or oil, which releases smog and carbon dioxide into the air. So what is the solution to this? Alternative energy sources. Some alternative energy sources include wind turbines, solar panels, geothermal energy, and hydroelectric energy. All these sources create energy by using natural forces without creating the deadly smog and carbon dioxide. As states “Global Warming Solutions,” “These technologies can be deployed quickly, are cost-effective and create jobs for millions of people.” If Americans combined using all these sources, America would not even have to use fossil fuels anymore and global warming would be on the downfall. In addition to being clean energy sources, these energy sources are also renewable! They use natural movements such as wind or moving water as sources of power. These natural sources do not run out. Eventually the Earth will run out of fossil fuels for us to burn; America must switch to alternative, clean energy sources to have energy for the future and cut down on global warming. One final possible solution to global warming in America is to “go green.” To “go green” means many different things.
One way to “go green” is to use mass transit or ride a bicycle more often as cars are one of the main culprits in carbon dioxide emissions. By leaving the car in park and taking a bus or riding a bike just once a week can significantly cut down on emissions from American’s cars. Other ways to “go green” include planting trees and stopping deforestation. Trees absorb the carbon dioxide that causes global warming, but thousands of trees are harvested every day all across the country. According to “Solutions,” “Taken together, tropical deforestation and emissions from agriculture represent nearly 30% or the world’s heat-trapping emissions.” In this quote, the writer explains that nearly one-third of the carbon dioxide is from deforestation combined with agricultural emissions. Americans need to reverse this problem; Americans should cut down on deforestation and plant more trees! Another way to “go green” is to spread the word. One single American cannot reverse global warming. All Americans must take up the calling to stop global warming in America. Americans must spread the word to not only their fellow Americans, but also to the rest of the world. To lead in a global effort to stop global warming, Americans must “go green” to prevent the catastrophic consequences of global
warming. Global warming in America is not something to be taken lightly; global warming has serious consequences. Rising seas, rising temperatures, and possibly deadly storms are all major consequences that can come because of global warming. Americans must do whatever they can to limit global warming before the consequences become more dangerous. Not one single person can limit global warming alone, but together with the rest of the nation, united, Americans can do the small things necessary in order to preserve America’s future.
Pollan even agrees that becoming friendlier to the environment may seem like a bit too much. Scientists may even show that it could even be too late to save the planet from the climate change. One NASA climate scientist, James Hansen, began warning about global warming 20 years ago. According to Hansen, the amount of carbon we are emitting is going to change the world as we know it. Scientists have seen the climate change affect the world on a grander scale as of today and we are seeing ice caps melt at both poles. The sunlight that used to reflect off of the ice back into space is now being absorbed into the soil and creating a warmer environment. This is causing global warming to occur faster than most scientists predicted. There are ways to possibly slow down the carbon footprint each person is leaving on the world. By growing a garden and even making some of your own food can lessen the carbon footprint each person
The gradual warming of temperatures doesn’t just effect us though, there are numerous other plants and animals that will be threatened, or even pushed to extinction due to these changes. I believe it is our duty to fix the problem that we created, but it is more easily said than done. Megablazes, droughts, or even species extinction due to human stubbornness is unacceptable. Although climate change is a gradual issue, the factors that contribute to it need to be managed right away. Again, Global warming is caused by UV radiation reflecting between the ozone layer and the earth. The ozone consists of greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide and methane, which humans are the main source of. If we could better manage our carbon dioxide and methane output through less omissions or a carbon tax, I think we could effectively begin to curb the problem of climate
Antarctic’s ice melt and accelerating sea level rise, the growing number of large wildfires, intense heat wave shocks, severe drought and blizzards, disrupted and decreased food supply, and extreme storm events are increasing to happen in many areas world wide and these are just some of the consequences of global warming. The fossil fuel we burn for energy coal, natural gas, and oil plus the loss of forests due to disforestation, in the southern hemisphere are all contributors for climate change. In the past three decades, every single year was warmer then the previous year and the warmest 12 years were recorded since 1998. We are overloading our atmosphere with carbon dioxide and trapping the heat and recently, the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere reached 400 pmm. Not just environmental issues are rising due to carbon dioxide increase but more and miscellaneous issues are appearing as climate change becomes more severe. For example, regional models and local analyses agree that Mongolia has become noticeably warmer and the climate change effect is damaging their millennial of historic nomadic lifestyle and even came to the peek of extinction. The Mongolian nomadic pastoralists became highly vulnerable to many an unusual climate impacts and extreme temperature fluctuation that have led to inadequate pasture land and loss of enormous number of livestock, often faces hostile environmental conditions that led o entrenched pastoral poverty. This essay focuses on how the climate change impacts the qualitative and quantitative value of indigenous culture and nomadic life style, and how the economy struggles in the magnitudes of massive migration of nomads to urban area while it fails to value t...
The media-crazed threat of global warming has made this topic a very popular and, according to the media, a very serious global issue too. I’m not going to deny Global Warming, but I feel that as humans, we have only contributed very little to the emission of greenhouse gases, etc. Global Warming is a natural phenomenon, and should be dealt with accordingly: A coat when it’s cold, a t-shirt when it’s warm.
... and feed grains (Nyong, 2008). Higher temperatures can the physiological development of crops such as causing increased respirations, shorter periods of seed formation and reduced biomass production which all result in hastened maturation and reduced crop yields (Adejuwon, 2004). Global warming and drought have affected the change in the incidence and distribution of pests and pathogens which presents challenges for crop management and animal rearing. Moisture and temperature are important elements of climate which determine the occurrence and localization of pests and diseases (Adejuwon, 2004). This is because pests and diseases vectors thrive well in optimum conditions of high temperature and abundant water supply. In this way climate change and global warming has extended the range of distribution of some pests and diseases worsening the plight of farmers.
Climate change is a long term change in the earth’s climate. Climate change is attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels. There are 328,000,000 cubic miles of seawater on the planet, covering approximately 71 percent of the earth's surface. Ninety-seven percent of all water is in the oceans. The other three percent is divided amongst the two percent ice and one percent fresh water. Making earth’s waters composed mostly of salt water. Salt water covers most of our planet indicating climate change to have a giant impact on our oceans. Taking a closer look at the ocean and our water in general can reveal several clues to the greater effects of climate change and what other ways climate change can affect our planet. (2)
Over the course of recent history, much concern has been raised over the industrial revolution and the potential climate changes that it might be causing. It has been stated by global warming theorist that C02 emissions caused by human technologies are causing the world to warm, which will cause negative climate changes. The Earth may be experiencing a global warming trend and climate change; however, the process of climate change is outside of human control because human activity can barely account for any of the C02 level increases. Attempts to reduce human C02 emissions is needlessly expensive, and will have a negligible role in preventing or slowing any climatic changes such as global warming or an impending ice age. People must be prepared to adapt to the climatic changes that occur, because it is unlikely that human intervention will postpone them or limit the impact of their arrival.
Global warming is, at the soonest, decades away from causing irreversible climate change, and even so, temperatures will only fluctuate by 1° or 2°, so why should we worry about it now? There is plenty of time to resolve the global warming, but the pesky environmentalists won’t stop clamoring for a reform and it’s beginning to hurt businesses. In actuality, economic stagnation is by far the largest threat that faces the globe, any loss in profits would be detrimental to the Chinese or American markets so we should prioritize their needs. We absolutely can’t cave to these environmentalists, how would people drive their hummers to work? , how would China furnish every U.S. need?, how would oil companies sell their petroleum?
Climate Change is any substantial change in climate that lasts for an extended period of time. One contributor to current climate change is global warming, which is an increase in Earth’s average temperature. Plants and animal species throughout the world are being affected by rising temperatures. Many plants are flowering earlier now than they once did; animals, such as the yellowbellied marmot, are emerging from hibernation earlier; and many bird and butterfly species are migrating north and breeding earlier in the spring than they did a few decades ago, all because of slight changes in temperature cues. (Shuster)
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.
According to the Canada’s Action on Climate Change, Climate change is a long-term shift in weather conditions identified by changes in temperature, precipitation, winds, and other indicators. Climate change can involve both changes in average conditions and changes in variability, including, for example, extreme events. Climate change is one of the biggest crisis in the earth. It will cause a huge damage to the eco-system and human. We are the victims of the climate change. However, we are the one who cause the climate change.
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 an increase in the earth's temperature due to fossil fuels, industry, and agricultural processes caused by human, natural, and other gas emissions. This results in an increased evacuation of greenhouse gases. “Short-wave solar radiation sinks into the Earth's atmosphere and warms its surface while long-wave infrared radiation emitted by earth's surface is absorbed, and then re-emitted by trace gases.” (2)
all the time. The greenhouse effect is a natural process that keeps the earth at temperatures that
Global Warming One of the most substantial problems in the world today is global warming. This gradual warming of the earth is in occurrence at an extremely slow rate but it is happening. Many scientists believe that as human’s work and release greenhouse gases into the earth’s atmosphere, it can become dangerous for the long lasting life of humans and our environment. “Unless we take immediate action, the impacts of global warming will continue to intensify, grow ever more costly and damaging, and increasingly affect the entire planet - including you, your community, and your family” (“Global Warming Impacts”).