In 1879, citizens were in shock in Menlo Park as Thomas Edison publicly demonstrated his new invention, the incandescent light bulb, the first time. This device was incredibly impactful and would eventually lead to electricity being within the houses of millions of people across the globe. Industries began to mass excavate large amounts of coal in order to produce electricity to light the homes of these people. However, big business wasn’t aware or concerned about possible environmental damage that was occurring. Power plants sprung up across America which would produce waste in the forms of different types of pollution that would have quite an impact on the surroundings. As a result, individuals started to become aware of the effects of …show more content…
Consequently, environmental legislation and industrial freedom are both consisted of positive and negative aspects that affect numerous people worldwide. So, is environmental legislation actually more beneficial than industrial freedom? There are many positive effects that can result from environmental legislation, including the overall health of humans. The pollution emitted from numerous different industries and sources not only hurts the environment, but directly affects the people in the area. Several associations have been drawn between pollution and increased risks of heart disease, kidney disease, and lung disease. A newspaper had noted that, “Data indicated that average systolic BP [blood pressure] rose 1.7 mm Hg with an increase of 2.4 mcg/m¬3 in fine particulate matter exposure (95% CI, 0.7 mm Hg to 2.7 mm Hg), and diastolic increased 0.8 mm Hg (95% CI, 0.3 mm Hg to 1.4 mm Hg)” (“City Dwellers” 36). So, this source indicates that in areas where there is exposure to particulate matter (polluted areas, such as cities), there appears to be a correlation with higher overall blood pressure. However, environmental legislation would lead to regulations on mechanisms that are pushing pollution into the nearby areas and therefore reduce the risk of health defects. Additionally, environmental legislation can lead to the reduced risk of global warming, which has been a huge topic in contemporary society. Many studies and research has reached conclusive evidence
During the past several hundred years, civilization has made rapid progress in industries like air travel, automobiles, and energy production. These developments were made without consideration of the long-term effects that their emissions may have on the planet. Changing weather patterns are now wreaking havoc around the world, and scientists attribute this to human-caused climate change. During President Obama’s State of the Union address in 2015, he stated that, “No challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change,” (“Remarks by the President”). Warming temperatures caused by anthropogenic climate change have disastrous consequences that pose a threat to humanity and the environment.
Global warming is defined as the recent increase in the world 's temperature that is believed to be caused by the increase of certain gases (such as carbon dioxide) in the atmosphere. There are many different theories on whether global warming is similar or not to climate change. Simplistically, climate change is different because climate change is defined as a change in global or regional climate patterns or, in particular, a change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels, having been measured over long periods of time, due to the changes in Earth’s orbit and organic carbon which reflect sunlight. Global warming and climate change are not to be confused because global warming is caused mainly by anthropogenic factors like the emission of carbon dioxide gas and use of fossil fuels whereas climate change is completely natural, however, according to Milan Radovanovic, “it is clear that the anthropogenic factors dominate the increasing temperature and the natural ones have the maximum influence…” (Radovanovic). Therefore, “the contribution to global warming from natural forcings and from natural internal variability is in the range between -0.2 to 0.2 [degrees] celsius over the period 1951-2010…” (Radovanovic). Natural factors have had the most effect on global temperature in the past 59 years totaling a 0.4 degrees celsius increase in
Look around. Every day, everyone will witness some sort of carbonic emission in some form dispersing into the atmosphere. You hear enough about it on the news, whether you care or not. However, the question lingers: is it even that big of a deal? Most likely, if you are a Republican, you will say that Democrats are blowing the whole climate change situation out of the water, or that the warming of our earth is completely natural. Notice how they switched it from global warming to climate change; that is because their previous assumptions and models have not been completely accurate, right? On the other hand, if you are a Democrat, you are most likely seething over the statements you just read and want to do anything you can to prevent this possible catastrophic disaster. 97% percent of climate scientists agree that Climate Change is here and now, caused by all of us… right? Democrats are also more likely to target and blame carbon emissions on the rising temperatures. Nevertheless, William McDonough, a famous urban planner, says that targeting carbon is a purely political move. Further, carbon should be a useful resource for humans, and an imbalanced carbon cycle is to blame. In fact, McDonough claims this imbalance is the result of poor and inadequate urban designing. Are any climate change believers right? Or are Donald Trump and friends correct in pointing the finger at the problem and saying, “wrong!” First and foremost, let us explore the partisan views on the issue.
How does the rising use of fossil fuels impact the earth? The simple answer is that the earth’s temperature rises, otherwise known as global warming. Global warming then devolves into climate change. Global warming has been “proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented over decades to millennia” (“Climate Change Evidence: How Do We Know?”) because of the world’s increasing reliance on fossil fuels. World-wide natural disasters, such as Hurricane Harvey, may be correlated to an increased risk in extreme weather events due to climate change. There has been efforts to curb climate change, such as pieces of legislation like the Paris Climate Accord, but beliefs of individual leaders such as Donald Trump, who “claims to think that links between carbon emissions and climate change are ‘a hoax’” (Steadman 19), has halted the fulfillment of such agreements between states. If there is not effective efforts to slow the emission rate, the earth will face devastating consequences. Therefore, the leaders of countries across the world must work together to develop a solution to slow climate change, or else the future will be disastrous.
Climate change and Global Warming are out of control. This means that, no matter what policies, processes or actions are implemented, the Earth as we know it will never be the same again. There is significant evidence to support this hypothesis. The dilemma becomes whether we can limit the damage and adapt to a new status quo or not. Rising sea levels and the damage caused by this phenomenon has irreversible impacts on coastlines worldwide. Damage to sensitive reef systems cannot be fixed. This also has permanent impacts of the ecology not just of those immediate areas but also the ocean as a whole.
Our world is in constant demand for more food production and space because of exponential population growth. Factors like, globalization and urbanization can be contributed to such changes. However, climate change is one of the unpleasant surprise that can be credited to the degraded acts towards the environment due to deforestation, burning of fossils and fuels, industrialization and many more. Vector borne diseases, are one of the most known diseases that can be credited to climate change.
Climate change is caused through the increase of greenhouse gas emissions within Earth’s atmosphere. Through trapping sunlight, temperatures have risen over the past years thus being called climate change. However, through things like being energy efficient or changing aspects within daily life climate change can be lessened. Reducing gas emission both in peoples own life as well as world-wide is also an important response to reducing the effects of climate change and it is also important to be involved in organizations for the environment in order to help promote climate change.
A meeting discussing global warming and the ongoing climate change (and the impact CO2 emissions have on the growing problem) has been in session in Peru for the past few days. Dozens of world leaders are gathering to discuss possible changes that can be implemented to halt the increase in temperature seen around the globe. However, many prominent scientists have stated that it may be too late for these world leaders to make any significant impacts (Associated). These scientists, and many other people around the world, believe that humans have contributed significantly to global warming, and as a result mankind needs to do whatever it can to combat this ongoing crisis. Nearly 3,500 miles away from Peru, United States Senator James Inhofe is in Washington D.C., representing Oklahoma in the United States Senate. Senator Inhofe is one of the loudest preachers of the belief that global warming is not the dire threat that so many scientists make it out to be. Inhofe has claimed that it is “arrogant for people to believe human beings are able to change what He (God) is doing in the climate” (Tashman). The Senator believes that only God controls the climate and the environment, and to even think that humans are impacting the earth’s climate is misguided (Tashman). These two opposing viewpoints bring with them questions of religion, politics, human responsibility, and ultimately the fate of the planet. On one side, there are those who say that the science is so concrete, and the
Climate change; the two words that have sparked controversy across the media in recent decades, has been highlighted as one of the greatest environmental threat to humanity in the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). With the current warming of the climate considered as “unequivocal”, the report has brought back the issue of climate change and global warming to the forefront of public and political debate, asking the question: is climate change real and should we really care?
It is becoming a less and less contested issue that global climate change is a significant issue. When the idea of global warming first burst onto the main stage in the late 20th century, a majority of Americans were skeptical. Many of the predictions that the original scientists made proved to be incorrect, and often the scientific methods the scientists used were faulty. Since the early stages though, the science behind global climate change has gotten better. We now have more data and better models that are more accurate at computing results and predicting outcomes. That and the widespread support of the scientific community has helped shift the paradigm of how Americans view global climate change. A recent 2016 poll showed that 70% of Americans now believe climate change is a real issue. There is no doubt that if the climate change believers are right, the impact climate change can cause will be devastating. NASA predicts that climate change will cause massive draughts, intense hurricanes, and the average sea level to rise by up to 4 feet. There is no question that all of these results would be terrible, the question is what is causing them? The answer may not be as simple as we think. Most Americans would cite burning fossil fuels as the sole contributor to global climate change. While fossil fuels do play an enormous role, they are not the only contributing factor.
world around us.If you can’t do the little things in life, what makes you think you can
Climate change is an urgent problem that requires international cooperation and commitment to solve. Throughout history various treaties have been agreed upon amongst countries, the Paris Agreement being the most recent one. In my essay, I will analyze the actions taken by Canada as one of the major greenhouse gas emissions after the Paris Agreement was adopted. The government of Canada is taking both a domestic and an international approach towards achieving its target of reducing its total greenhouse gas emissions by 17% before 2020, relative to its 2005 emission levels (Climate Change, 2017). The new government, a liberal party led by Justin Trudeau, has agreed and is looking forward to working with international partners towards leading the world in the direction of a low-carbon and climate resilient economy. In addition to that, Canada is willing to provide developing countries with the necessary funds of $2.65 billion to ensure an environmentally safe transition towards sustained emissions reductions, and further projects for the poorest and most vulnerable countries (Climate Leadership Plan, n.d.). Canada’s plan of action consists of making significant investments of $300 million to the Mission Innovation initiative for green infrastructure and clean technologies development (Baird, Pummer and Bodin, 2015: 747 - 758). In addition to that, Canada is determined to put the Paris Agreement into action through collaborative approach, working its way up from provinces to
The terms climate change and global warming have caused much confusion. Climate change is the change in global or regional climate patterns. Global warming is the idea that the world is being heated by a few degrees every year brought on by an increase in carbon dioxide levels from the growing use of fossil fuels. Together these two issues have begun to change the habitats as humanity knows them and could devastate the world if allowed to continue. Many studies support the idea of the changing climate, and people now realize the significance of the issue. The US Government and the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as many governmental agencies around the world, have released many bulletins on changes that are currently taking place. Each has projected that it will only continue to escalate to the point that humankind will have a minuscule chance of survival. Many people resist the idea that people are causing the shut-down of the climates. Climate change is now a much-debated topic in political circuits. Scientific studies have again and again concluded the climate change is a measurable reality. Opponents continue to profess the cold snaps, ironically predicted by the generally accepted models, are proof that climate change does not exist. Many still resist idea that the venting of chemicals common in spray can propellants and refrigeration is breaking down the ozone layer that protects us from radiation in the atmosphere. Some scientists refuse to accept that
Global warming is the term accustomed to describe a gradual increase within the average temperature of the Earth 's atmosphere and its oceans. Outstanding warming sceptics have, within the face of such proof, acknowledged that global climate change is going on, which humans are the cause. however, a number of the most recent analysis says if we would like to keep the Earth’s climate among the vary humans have knowledgeable, we should leave nearly all the remaining fossil fuels within the ground. James Hansen, NASA’s prime climatologist and one of the first to warn greenhouse warming had been detected, taken off to outline dangerous human interference with climate. In 2008, his team came to the surprising conclusion that this level of part greenhouse gas (CO2) is already within the zone. Warming must be stopped before it affects our life and all of humanity (Skepticalscience.com, 2016)
Global warming and climate change have been frequent topics of discussion over the past several years. Although people tend to focus on the politics, it is important to look past the media aspects of it into the cold hard facts of what our Earth is currently experiencing, and what has caused it in the first place. The cause of climate change includes natural causes, but human causes are what is generating such a rapid global temperature change. It’s time that the ways in which humanity affects the Earth’s climate, how scientists record and measure the climate change, and what can be done in everyday life to slow it down and/or stop global warming, are recognized.