Humans Effect on Global Warming

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Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s surface (Mastrandrea n. pag.). According to scientists, humans are the main cause of global warming. Scientists say global carbon dioxide emissions should be cut in half over the next fifty years or the effects may be irreversible (Eilperin n. pag.). The two main activities that humans do to contribute to global warming are burning fossil fuels and clearing land. Most of the fossil fuels come from burning in automobiles, factories and electric power plants which provide energy for houses and office buildings (McClure n. pag.). Continued global warming can cause harm to plants and animals that live in the sea and force plants and animals on land to move to new habitats. It could also change weather patterns that cause flooding, drought and an increase in damaging storms. Global warming could melt the polar ice caps enough to raise the sea level, and in certain parts of the world human disease could spread and crops being harvested could decline (Mastrandea n. pag.). Also, during photosynthesis, the process trees and other plants use to make food; they remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Clearing the land contributes to an increase in carbon dioxide by decreasing the rate at which it is removed from the atmosphere during photosynthesis. Some scientists say that the increase in greenhouse gases does not make much of a difference in the temperature. They instead think that natural processes could have caused global warming. Those processes include the increase in the energy the sun emits. But most of climatologists believe that increase in the sun’s energy has only slightly contributed to global warming. (Mastrandea n. pag.). However, global war... ... middle of paper ... ...ld Book, Inc. McClure, Robert and Lisa Stiffler. "Scientists Agree: Humans Causing Global Warming." Seattle News, Sports, Events, Entertainment | Seattlepi.com - Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 02 Feb. 2007. Web. 21 Nov. 2010. . Shah, Anup. "Climate Change and Global Warming — Global Issues." Global Issues : Social, Political, Economic and Environmental Issues That Affect Us All — Global Issues. 27 Sept. 2010. Web. 27 Nov. 2010. . The United Nations Environment Program - World Meteorological Organization. "What Human Activities Contribute to Climate Change? From Common Questions about Climate Change." What's New? 1997. Web. 21 Nov. 2010. .

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