The Catastrophe of Greenhouse Gas Emission in the United States

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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).

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