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Effects of global warming on plants and animals
Effects of global warming on plants and animals
Human activities impact global warming
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Climate change is a hot topic with many people saying that the humans are making the world's temperature increase and other saying it’s a natural cycle. Climate change can be very dangerous because it can make environments to hostile to certain plants or animals and it also can make the sea level increase witch would put many cities in danger.. The people that believe that the humans are to blame state that the amount of CO₂ that humans emit into the atmosphere and deforestation are the main problems that we are currently doing. Whilst the people that say its a natural process say that is a natural cycle and we are just unfortunate to experience this in our lifetime. In this debate the evidence seems to side with the people saying that the humans are the cause. Ever since the industrial revolution, the world has been pumping a lot of CO₂ and at the same time the average temperature is increasing. Some of the thing that make up the most CO₂ emissions are cars, coal burning factories, burning fossil fuels, and cows farts. CO₂ is a greenhouse gas and that means that it traps heat, this gives it a direct correlation to the increasing temperatures. The more gas that is released into the atmosphere the more heat is trapped from the sun’s energy. …show more content…
Plans can also store CO₂ but when they are cut down or burned they release all the CO₂ that they stored back into the atmosphere. With a world with such a big population, the demand for wood is increasing and there is a large amount of trees being cut down for numerous purposes. When trees are cut down two major problems occur, the first is that they release all the CO₂ they stored and second, they can no longer continue to store more CO₂ in the future. So with the major loses in the number of trees the earth has, oxygen production goes down, and more CO₂ is released into the
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).
The Earth’s current CO2 level is at 393.84ppm (CO2now, 2013). This is the highest of the high levels in the past 450,000 years. Extra carbon dioxide in the air is believed to keep temperatures steady and contributing to the greenhouse effect which causes the planet to warm. Scientists believe that humans add CO2 through the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and livestock farming to name a few. Natural processes also contribute to the CO2 emitted into the atmosphere including forest fires. Two sources on Earth remove CO2 from the atmosphere: Trees and the ocean. Deforestation can contribute to global warming because trees absorb carbon dioxide and when trees are removed the Earth loses its natural carbon storehouses. Phytoplankton consume CO2 through the photosynthesis process and transport it from the ocean’ surface to the deep. These sources eliminate 30-50% of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
The cause of global warming has been a debate between scientists and experts for numerous years. In fact, Svante August Arrhenius, a Swedish chemist, first predicted global warming would occur in 1896 (Harris 16). Researchers who agree it is naturally caused insist the greenhouse effect has many natural causes. Others agree that the cause of the Earth’s increase in temperature is just part of a continuous cycle. These researchers argue that solar activity plays a huge role in the issue of global warming. Therefore, based upon the myth of the greenhouse effect, cyclical patterns, and research on solar activity, global warming is not a man-made dilemma.
Duncan Clark in his article “ Why can't we quit fossil fuel “ try to explain what caused global warming to occur in the first place and how, according to him, to prevent it. Do you feel that today the weather is hotter? Or the sun is scorching?. Well, CO2 has something to do with it. The intensity of CO2 in the atmosphere gives greenhouse effect that caused a rise in temperature, and this leads to many disastrous events.
The world is warming up. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has declared that the cause of the warming is human emission of certain gases into the atmosphere. The verdict of the IPCC is widely, but not universally, accepted. A small minority of scientists reject the finding of IPCC and propose that global warming is driven by the sun. Some also charge that IPCC is driven by a political agenda. These dissidents are beginning to get a public hearing. It is important that this matter be debated openly.
Although, natural changes alone don’t explain the increase in the global climate. As David K.C. Jones would say, “…human influences are, for the most part, merely modifying the rates of change” (Jones 127). Some of the activities people do on a daily basis are creating a huge impact on the main causes of global warming. As the world is evolving, the possibilities of humans causing global warming are increasing. According to Dale Jamieson, “There is no way to assess accurately all the possible impacts [of global warming]” (Jamieson 144). Most likely there is always going to be something that causes global warming. With new data showing how different things humans do affect the global temperature, it is not just natural occurrences that cause global warming
Gerngross, Tillman U. and Steven C. Slater. "How Green are Green Plastics?" Scientific American. August 2000:1-7.
In the past the temperature highs and lows have been in tandem with carbon dioxide level highs and lows, this does çijopnot seem to be a mere coincidence. Carbon dioxide currently accounts for 0.03% of the gas content within the atmosphere. However, it has a disproportionate impact on the earth's temperature. Thus, minor fluctuations in the percentage of atmospheric carbon dioxide will likely have a significant effect on the global temperature. The percentage of atmospheric carbon dioxide has risen over the past century at an alarming rate. Industrial civilization is essentially driven by fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gasoline all major contributors to the raise in carbon dioxide emissions. Deforestation also releases carbon dioxide via burning and exposing the soil to sunlight. Also, since trees are a major factor in the natural processing of carbon dioxide, needing it to make up their mass, when they are cut down they can no longer serve to absorb carbon dioxide.
Climate change has been the driver of many discussions taking place throughout the world in all different forms. The majority of scientists believe that climate change is actually happening and is being caused by humans, but there are people who disagree with them and are attributing the fluctuating in temperature to other things. NASA has been a huge advocate in the belief that humans are causing the current change in climate. In fact, “most of
Climate change is a long-term change in regional or global climate patterns. From the mid twentieth century to now, it has mostly been about a significant increase in average global temperatures. Climate change is a major issue in the world today, and a lot of people feel very differently about the cause of it. The common argument about it is whether climate change is a natural occurrence or if the recent increase in temperatures is because of humans. Climate change is a natural cycle in the Earth’s weather. Before humans started burning fossil fuels, there were still weather cycles on Earth that were as hot or hotter than what it is now. In fact, Earth’s weather now, is on pace with the previous weather patterns in history. Human emitted
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, 2009).
The amount of CO2 in a planet's atmosphere affects the temperature of the planet. As more and more CO2 builds up in the atmosphere, less heat can escape and the planet gets hotter. The CO2 traps radiation from the sun like a greenhouse. This is called global warming or the greenhouse effect. Global warming is becoming a serious problem and CO2 is the major cause. The earth is now warmer than it has been in 1000's of years. The amount of CO2 deposited in the earth's atmosphere from human activities is expected to double by the year 2050. It could possible increase by four in the future with developing countries, such as China, anxious to improve their standard of living.
One of the hottest controversial topics right now is global warming, and it is only getting “hotter”. Everything about this topic is debated; how should we deal with it, what causes, and does it even exist?! First of all, global warming is the overall rise in the Earth’s temperature over time. These changes in temperature are happening more and more rapidly, and there is a clear reason why. That reason is us. Every second we emit about 2.4 million pounds of a harmful gas into the atmosphere. This dangerous gas is carbon dioxide (CO2), which is a gas we are casting out into the air through many of our daily activities and it is causing dangerous effects. While this effects are daunting, we are able to fix them. If we are willing to change. I
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)
In the beginning of the twentieth century scientist had started talk that the globe is warming and man is the cause. Then news stations of course took the idea and made it sound like the worst thing since World War II. The thought of the globe warming is frightening the American people and people all over the world because the scientists and the news blew it out of proportion. Although it is believed that man’s carbon emissions are the cause of global waring, in reality the global cycle of nature causes the climate to change and also provides benefits to life on Earth.