Global Warming Is Wrong

“Sooner or later, we will have to recognise that the Earth has rights, too, to live without pollution. What mankind must know is that human beings cannot live without Mother Earth, but the planet can live without humans”. This quote by Evo Morales exemplifies how earth should be treated and how what we are treating the earth is wrong. For the past century, humans have been abusing the earth. This abuse has lead to many problems on earth, the most prevalent being global warming. Global warming is defined as the gradual heating of the earth’s surface, oceans, and atmosphere. Global warming begins with the greenhouse effect, which is caused by the interaction between earth’s atmosphere and radiation from the sun (Putz). Global warming is a reality

Average U.S. temperature has increased by 1.3 degrees to 1.9 degrees Fahrenheit since record keeping began in 1895; most occurring after the 1970’s. Also, from 2000 to 2009 was the warmest on record throughout the United States, according to the U.S. Global Change research program. Another frightening statistic that further emphasizes the point is the 10 warmest temperatures of the last 140 years have occurred since 2000. This information shows the extent of what the greenhouse effect is doing to our environment. Due to the rise in annual temperatures of the earth, it has caused ripple effects such as: rise in sea levels, decreased snow over, and cases of extreme weather. NASA reports that global sea level has risen 17 centimeters, or 6.7 inches, in just the last century. This may not seem like a lot, but just in the last decade the rate has nearly doubled that of the last century. One cause of this is the due to the warming of the oceans, which causes expansion. Another cause is due to the increase of melting Arctic sea ice and retreating glaciers, which has to do with the rise in temperatures in historically colder regions. Data from NASA's gravity recovery and climate experiment show Greenland lost 150 to 250 cubic kilometers of ice per year between 2002 and 2006, while Antarctica lost about 152 cubic kilometers of ice between 2002 and 2005. This increase in warmer temperatures around the world has caused an increase in extreme weather over the years, examples of this are the many hurricanes and tornados that have come through the United