More handpicked essays just for you.
The role of human activity in climate change
The role of human activity in climate change
The role of human activity in climate change
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Control (IPCC) was established in 1988, reported in 2007 in “very high confidence” that since 1750 human activity has played a major part in overloading the atmosphere with carbon dioxide. Whether it’s through cellular respiration or the burning of fossil fuels is debatable. Cellular respiration is a process of creating energy and it takes place in all living things, even in plants. Carbon dioxide, oxygen, light and water are important factors in this process. Keeping a balance level of carbon dioxide is crucial to the earth’s atmosphere, because if it gets too high, it increases the average temperature on earth, which is unfortunately what we are dealing with and call “global warming”. I believe cellular respiration does not affect global warming as greatly as industrial fossil fuels do.
First of all, I want to talk about photosynthesis, which is the process of plants making their own food in the presence of light. In plants a chemical reaction that involves taking in carbon dioxide from our atmosphere and through the process of cellular respiration it releases oxygen, which all living things need to survive. It’s a circle of life and it very well could produce a natural balance in the atmosphere, which would not in fact
…show more content…
Human activity plays a moderate effect on global warming. Although we are major source of releasing carbon dioxide through cellular respiration, I do not believe it causes an imbalance in our atmosphere. The way humans do affect that imbalance is when deforestation takes place, and start building industrial plants, cars, etc. Think about the amount of industrial building all over the world that needs fuel to run and not to mention all the machinery that is used every day to construct and run
Since measurements began in 1958 -- and it can be assumed to have been the case since the industrial revolution -- emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere has risen steadily as a result of the burning of fossil fuels (Quay, pp 2344). Although there is much argument over the implications of increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, there are several points that almost all scientists would agree on: firstly, carbon dioxide acts to absorb radiated heat; if present in our atmosphere will do just that to some extent. Second, the concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is rising. Third, the temperature of the planet is rising - although the amount of this increase and the causes of this rise are subject to disagreement (Philander, pp 193).
Cellular respiration and photosynthesis are important in the cycle of energy to withstand life as we define it. Cellular respiration and photosynthesis have several stages in where the making of energy occurs, and have diverse relationships with organelles within the eukaryotic cell. These processes are central in how life has evolved.
First, during the last few decades the Earth is experiencing greater rate of rising temperatures due to greenhouse gases that are being produced by human activities rather than because of environmental reasons, such as solar or volcanic activities. In 2006 the President of the National Academy of Sciences stated: “There is no doubt that the Earth is warming,” also he added that people are at least partly responsible for these changes in addition to regular factors (Cicerone, par.4). Natural factors have produced climate fluctuations on Earth for several million years. People have effected an atmosphere of the Earth just for nearly one hundred years, since Industrial Revolution has begun (Revkin 340). Of course, it is unfair to say that global warming is caused entirely by humans. For example, people can not have an impact on the position of Earth in relation to the sun, or on the galactic density, or such nature events as air emissions of volcanic gases. As a result of these environmental factors, Earth usually had higher rates of temperature fluctuations during the previous million years than it has in later centuries. On the other hand, people are responsible for the highest concentration of greenhouse gases during the last 650,000 years in the atmosphere due to industrial manufacturing, driven by the increase in consumer consumption (Lindsey, par.
So, after learning about what photosynthesis is and how it truly works is something that is remarkable and how plants are really the only living thing that uses this process. Such as photosynthesis is the process of taking in carbon dioxide (CO2), which is a gas that is exhaled from animals and goes into the air and is absorbed into a plant, water (H2O) which is absorbed through the roots of a plant or known as capillary action, sun light is absorbed through chloroplasts which contains chlorophyll or better known as the leaves of the plant. Sun light is what helps break down and rearranges the atoms of these two, which produces sugars (glucose, C6H12O6), and this is photosynthesis at its finest. With the photosynthesis process the plant can create a by-product known as oxygen gas which is released through the little pores into the atmosphere (Simon, Dickey, Hogan & Reece, n.d.). Photosynthesis is something that helps the plants to grow but it is also very beneficial to us for the fact that we need to breath oxygen to maintain our functions of life. Plants produce an abundant supply of energy that is stored because they are what I would like to call savers/hoarders. Plants store the extra energy that they produce into different things such as potatoes, carrots, and other different types of food in which we use to
First of all, there are more potent gases being emitted into the atmosphere such as the well known greenhouse gas, methane. Methane is mostly associated with cows. Yes, I said it, cows. When cows fart, they release the greenhouse gas methane. Also, methane heats up the atmosphere more than carbon dioxide. So the point here is that global warming isn't mainly caused by humans.
... We only need a glance outside and consider the beautiful, well-designed. world in which we live. Plants can photosynthesize vital oxygen. we rely on to survive.
Humans have caused global warming by doing many things but the main three are burning of fossil fuels and green house gas emission, deforestation, and excessive use of chemical fertilizers. Global warming is like a bad dream going worse.
The emission of carbon dioxide has contributed to 80% to the heating of the earth atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is produced due the burning of fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal and oil. The burning of fossil fuel is very important in our society today, because it is used for cooking, used to produce electricity, for heating, for cooling and also for transportation. The industrialization has led to the use of fossil fuel for running machines and driving cars. The building of fossil fuel contributes towards 80-90% of the carbon dioxide we find in our atmosphere today. When the ecosystems are altered and vegetation is either burned or took out, the carbon stored in them is relinquished to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (What causes global climate change, 2005). Methane is another gas being produced in the process which all have served to increase the greenhouse effect in our atmosphere. Methane is produced from the cultivation of rice, from the burning of coal and from cattle, it has increased by 145% due to human
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 in 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. As an outcome, researchers around the globe have established that the by-product of burning fossil fuels is the main culprit of the increasing temperatures. Global carbon emissions from fossil fuels have significantly increased since 1900, as shown above from a study carried out by the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center.
The most destructive human contribution to climate change is fossil fuels combustion, which results in the release of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Increased carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and halocarbons levels in the atmosphere cause an imbalance in the earth’s energy. This is because the gases alter solar radiation and thermal radiation which regulate the earth’s energy. Research indicates that anthropogenic climate change is the cause of the increased global warming over the last fifty years. 57 % of the carbon dioxide emitted is absorbed into the atmosphere while the rest is absorbed into the oceans. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the most central greenhouse gas that is associated with global warming (Eby, Zickfield, Montenegro, Archer, Meissner, & Weaver,
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...
Photosynthesis is a key contributor to all living things; photosynthesis provides the oxygen, food, and nutrients that help all living things stay healthy and alive. Photosynthesis converts solar energy into the chemical energy of a carbohydrate. Photosynthetic organisms, including land plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, which are called autotroph...
Not only are human beings affected but also animals and plants. Air pollution might be most noticeable around our congested towns but the thin layer of air that envelops the Earth is polluted at several balances. It is contaminated indoors, locally, regionally, and globally. Smog sagging over cities is the most familiar and obvious form of air pollution. But there are different kinds of pollution some noticeable, some invisible that contribute to global warming. Normally some element that people present into the atmosphere that has harmful effects on humans and animals and the environment is known as air pollution.(Sarah
The burning of fossil fuels has greatly harmed our environment and is a leading cause as to why climate change has become such a threat to our way of living. In May of 2013, the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere reached 400 parts per million, an increase of more than 40 percent since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. This could cause the Arctic Ocean to be nearly ice-free during the summer by 2020(Overland and Wang, 2013).
Photosynthesis is the process in which living cells from plants and other organisms use sunlight to produce nutrients from carbon dioxide and water, the image below “Diagram of photosynthesis 1,” helps show this process. Photosynthesise generally creates oxygen as a by-product through the use of the green pigment, chlorophyll, found in the plant that helps this reaction occur. “Photosynthesis provides us with most of the oxygen we need in order to breathe. We, in turn, exhale the carbon dioxide needed by plants,” (factmonster,2017). This is able to show us why photosynthesis is so greatly needed to occur through plants in order to give one another essentials needed for continuity of life. “Plants perform photosynthesis because it generates the food and energy they need for growth and cellular respiration,” (photosynthesieeducation, 2016).