Effects Of Global Warming On Alaska

Forests control the amounts of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere therefore contributing to global warming. However we as a planet have a problem… deforestation.

With global warming, ecosystems will take a hit, as species will try to adapt to the changes around them. Species that cannot change their old habits will not survive due to survival of the fittest. Changed ecosystems could even lead to extinction of some kinds. This would upset the food chain, as the balance of nature completely flips upside-down. Mosquitoes can be a good example of how global warming effects North Dakota as well. With the perfect living conditions brought by climate change, mosquitoes have a longer lifespan and have more chances to spread diseases. Malaria and West Nile are just two of the many diseases easily spread. The number of people infected or sick with these diseases if multiplied even more since the mosquitoes have the perfect environment to grow in and expand (“Global Warming”). Even something as inconsequential as wildlife can be great affected by global warming in North

“Losing Alaska” narrator in the podcast stated that “The debate about climate change is not about science but about human behavior”. I consider “sacrifice and relationship” the intersection between climate change and human behavior. It was also mentioned in the podcast interview that “Divide’s on climate change is not scientific facts but social interaction”. When people notice that they are personally being affected by climate change in such a negative way whether it be financially or physically I am sure that the effect will cause them to observe their personal relationship and actions with the environment around them.

Global warming disrupting the natural Arctic wildfire patterns. The ice is melting fister because of global warming.7:28 minutes in the video it said “When it start to get warmer the ice melts quickly… I was afraid the ice will crack and i will fall in the water.” This proves that global warming is bad because of where they live the ice can just crack and they will fall in the water.  This proves that global warming is bad because of where they live the ice can just crack and they will fall in the

Imagine going on a nice trip to California but you couldn't anymore because of a wildfire. Wildfires are a huge problem, not just wildfires there is also droughts, hurricanes, and floods. All are caused by Climate change which is a huge problem that needs to be stopped.

Disasters occur naturally, but climate change causes them to be more violent and more unpredictable. Climate change also makes it more likely that a natural disaster will happen. “The kind of surge related flooding that Superstorm Sandy brought to parts of New York City is about 50 percent more likely than it was in 1950” (Borenstein). Flooding on coast lines can be caused by the melting of the polar ice caps. The thing that causes the polar ice caps to melt is the rising temperature of the atmosphere. The melting of the polar ice caps is bad because it raises the level of the ocean. When the level of the ocean is raised it can cause less land to be by the ocean. Another way the rising temperatures of the Earth is catastrophic is the harm it does to some national parks. There are several national parks that are getting hit the hardest. A couple that are affected are Glacier National Park, and Joshua Tree National Park. “Across the West, bark beetles, which thrive on warmer winters, are infesting more and more pine trees, turning once-green hillsides into fire hazards” (Duncan). This is a problem because trees are major producers of oxygen, and they help take the carbon monoxide, that we breath, out of the air. Even though there is a lot of evidence that climate change is man made, there are still people who deny it and say that it occurs

The world warmed by about 0.7°C in the 20th century. Every year in this century has been warmer than all but one in the last century (1998). If carbon-dioxide levels were magically to stabilize where they are now (almost 390 parts per million, 40% more than before the industrial revolution) the world would probably warm by a further half a degree or so as the ocean, which is slow to change its temperature, caught up. But CO2 levels continue to rise. All this affect the ice pack in the Arctic. As temperature rises, ice melts. This causes many problems.

What is Global Warming and how does it affect Alaska? Global Warming is a devastating event that hurts most countries, it’s mainly caused by factories burning fossil fuels and coal, when these materials are burned there gasses enter our atmosphere heating it up. This heat is then trapped inside our atmosphere causing earth’s temperature to rise dangerously fast. Facts show that from 2001-2010 earth’s temperature rose about 14% due to Global Warming. Thanks to modern technology such as scrubbers to clean the pollution factories produce, global warming has gone down but many countries such as Alaska are still heavily affected by it.

“Increasingly, anthropologists are encountering the local effects and broader social, cultural, economic, and political issues of climate change with their field partners” (Crate and Nuttall 2009). Native Alaskans are already experiencing and seeing the effects of climate change. For Native Alaskans, climate change is not something to happen in the near future, but is an immediate, lived reality impacting daily lives and livelihoods. “Climate change is the result of global processes that were neither caused nor can be mitigated by the inhabitants of the majority of climate-sensitive world regions now experiencing the most unprecedented change” (Crate and Nuttall 2009).

The first effect that global warming is having on Alaska regards coasts and oceans. In the northern summer, the sea ice is decreasing faster than previously recorded and it is foreseen to melt before mid-century (Chapin, F.S 2014). Solid ice is disappearing as there are no longer massive icebergs during fall and winter,

The change the Artic will have an impact on the earth. Temperatures in the Arctic are rising at twice the rate of the rest of the world on average, and melting glaciers and land-based ice sheets are contributing to rising sea levels. Rising ocean temperatures are affecting ocean ecosystems. In turn having an affect on the communities and economies that depend on them. The changing Arctic could lead to global changes in ocean-based food security that will place additional burdens on economies, societies, and institutions around the world.

Alaska is one of the coldest most barren places on Earth. Only a select few can survive in this harsh environment.That is why I want to go so I can be apart of that select few that can make it in this harsh environment. It was founded by Vitus Bering. Some of its first settlers were a group of Russian whale hunters and fur traders. When America ratified the the treaty to purchase the soon to be state 30 ships set sail to all of the major settlements in that were already there.

The melting ice caps are having a dramatic affect on the polar regions of the earth. For example, the average temperature in the Arctic is rising twice as fast than the rest of the world (nrdc.org). The once prominent ice is now melting at a dramatic speed, which is affecting native people, wildlife, and plants. When the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf splintered, the freshwater lake that it surrounded drained into the ocean, along with the ecosystem that inhabited it. Polar bears, whales, walrus and seals are changing their feeding and migration patterns, making it harder for native people to hunt them (nrdc.org). Because of the flooding, entire villages will be uprooted order to avoid being swamped. Also, the Arctic coastlines are beginning to move as well. The melting ice caps are threatening the native peoples’ cultural identity and their very survival. Ice-dependant animals, such as walruses and ring seals will be greatly affected by the melting ice caps (treehugger.com). They have fewer places to rest on, as well as fewer places to hunt. If the ice caps keep melting, their lives will become in great danger. The melting ice caps are not only affecting the Polar Regions, but they are also affecting the rest of the world as well in the form of rising ocean levels.

One of the effects of global warming is the polar ice caps’ melting. Scientists have been researching and examining the polar ice caps for a long time and they have come to the conclusion that the thin ice sheets are slowly wasting away. They have also found out that Greenland’s glaciers are getting smaller and smaller. Places around the globe that use to be covered in ice and snow are now showing more green terrain as the years go on and as the winter months grow warmer. The polar ice caps are melting more and more due to higher global temperatures. This is really bad because the ice caps “reflect and help regulate the Earth’s temperatures.”

The effects of global warming touch every human, animal, plant, ocean, landmass, and atmosphere level on this planet. The numerous effects of global warming are mixes of "good" and "bad" results, depending on how your definition of "good" results and "bad" results are. A "good" effect, a person could say, would be for regions with normally cold temperatures to receive warmer temperatures for their normal. Yet, there are more "bad" effects that seem to out weight the "good" effects. Some of the effects would include increases of flooding, severe storm systems, and rising sea-levels. One major consequence would be an increase of temperature globally. This would