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Climatic Change : The Causes And Effects Of Global Warming

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For decades now, global warming has been a recurring issue. The term “global warming” first appeared in geochemist Wallace Broecker’s 1975 Science magazine article, “Climatic Change: Are We on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming?” and since then dozens of more studies have evaluated the effects of the global warming. But what is global warming? Well global warming is the effect of greenhouse gases on the earth’s surface temperature. Greenhouse gases are gases like carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide that become trapped in the earth’s atmosphere. These gases raise the earth’s temperature. Human activity on earth, such as the burning of fossil fuels, add more gas to the atmosphere and excessively warm the planet. The US, being only one country, cannot stop global warming alone, but it can and should do its part to reduce emissions. However, we cannot just immediately stop all emissions. The main obstacle between us and a green energy economy is economics. Most of the energy sources we use either emit a large amount of CO2 and/or Methane or they are not economically feasible to switch to. Solar energy, however, maybe be the one energy source that can both eliminate emissions and provide energy to the country at a cheap price.

Like previously stated, global warming is the increase in temperature due to green houses gases. However, the greenhouse effect isn’t bad in and of itself. Without those gases, the earth wouldn’t be warm enough to support life. These gases,

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