The impact humans are having on mother Earth is increasing its effects with the rising of sea levels. Global warming is causing polar ice sheets to melt, which is a major cause of adding volume to our oceans. Furthermore, the troposphere thickens, due to greenhouse gases, increasing the amount of radioactive waves that causes the seawater to warm up, resulting in ocean expansion. Most climatologists are expecting a rise in oceans around the world to be between 1.5 and 5 ft by the end of this century.(Harkinson) Some members of our society feel that because climate change is not certain, they are not willing to make a difference to help. Many people are unaware of how rapidly we have impacted mother Earth. The melting of the polar ice …show more content…
(Gardiner) The melting of the polar ice caps affects the whole world.
Coastal lands, agriculture, weak permafrost, increase in disease, weather patterns, ocean circulation, and biodiversity are few elements affected by this emergency. There is major concern for coastal flooding. IPCC estimates that 43% of coastal wetlands will be asphyxiated, beaches will wear down 100 to 200 ft., and 5,000 square miles will be overwhelmed with sea water. (Greenpeace) In Chesapeake Bay, beaches have already been lost, resulting from more than an inch increase in sea level. Many islands and low surface level countries will be inundated . Millions of people could be affect in Bangladesh, China, and New York due to flooding. Any country with a small economy can suffer greatly being unable to adapt and replenish resources. Pests that use warm weather will have more time to reproduce and feed on infected species, usually passing on infections. Allergens and viruses will be more persistent. Forest fires will increase. An example for agriculture damage is Kansas’ ability to be 4 degrees warmer during winter which is bad news for the winter wheat grown with cold air usually sent southward from the Artic ice. Also, during summer Kansas can lose valuable cropland from soil losing 10 percent of its moisture. (NRDC) Shrinkage in fresh water supply will result in water stress for people that rely on spring water, such as the Himalayans
Do you want your child to have a higher risk of skin cancer or other terrible diseases? Do you want your child to never be able to play outside with all their friends? Nobody wants their child to have an unhealthy life or be sad because they have no friends to play with. Everyone wants to hope for their child to have a happy and healthy life. Humans not thinking about how the world’s climate change is dramatically changing does not make the climate not change. There are many scientist that have proven that climate change is happening and it has been happening for many, many years. Understanding what is happening
We might disagree on the causes of global warming; however, we cannot ignore that it is happening. Although we still experience cold winters, average global temperatures has risen drastically for the past three decades. Polar ice caps are melting; as a result, sea levels are rising. Scientist predict more extreme weather in the coming decades, in fact, droughts will probably be more common. Also, flooding and tropical temperatures might cause large amounts of methane gases to be released, which could be disastrous for our atmosphere. Climate change may have human causes and also it might be a natural occurrence. Nevertheless, we must find ways to save our planet.
In all, Earth’s oceans are diverse systems that all of life depends on for survival. The oceans act as a large conveyor belt; transporting varying volumes of water do different parts of the world. Any kind of alterations or disruptions to this conveyor belt causes regional sea levels to rise. These alterations are greatly impacted by anthropogenic climate change, the long-term alteration of earth’s climate as a result of human activities. The main ingredient behind climate change is the constant changing of global temperatures due to increasing levels of greenhouse gas emissions produced by humans. Mankind became intertwined with climate change during the industrial
The storm surge and precipitation happen in the coastal regions due to the vulnerability the region has toward storms. Storm surges impact low altitude areas and destroy property, transportation systems, habitats human health. Superstorm Sandy flooded parts of New York, and New Jersey be a few feet due to the storm surge. With the sea level rising the negative impact are subject to worsen in the future. The rise in temperatures in the mountain regions are predicted to increase spring runoff and affect the health and quality of the coastal waters. Dead zones occur in the Gulf of Mexico and the Chesapeake Bay since the land pollution cause algal blooms. The decrease in could cause the salinity levels to rise in the waters of the coastal regions.
The sun power and warm’s are earth, as two thirds of solar-energy enter our atmosphere as visible-light, the greenhouse effect absorbs the solar-energy to keeping the earth warm and later releases one third back into outer space. Without the “natural greenhouse effect” the earth's temperature would be below 32 degrees fahrenheit (The freezing point of water). The burning of fossil fuels as an energy source releases a variety of gasses such as Methane, nitrous oxide, and CO2 adding to the greenhouse effect. Because of this heat is kept longer, warming our atmosphere and causing what we know as global warming. One of the issues with global warming, is the destruction of ice polar caps that contributes to the rise of the ocean level, and causes
As our planet heats up due to global climate change, many effects are surfacing. One of the most concerning is the melting of the polar ice caps. (Environmental Protection Agency) So far most humans are not affected by this, but the polar bears are experiencing a drastic change. Some of the effects include reduced access to food, a drop in body condition, lower cub survival rates, an increase in drowning and cannibalism, all resulting in a decline in their population. But what’s causing this? Greenhouse gas (GHG’S) emissions caused by an overpopulated planet. The most direct solution is the immediate reduction in production of these emissions by humans. But, another solution is just letting the polar bears adapt. If humans have caused this problem, we can fix it. But, will we because greenhouse gasses need to be reduced by a large amount?
As Earths average temperature increases every year, the discussion of climate change has become a significant topic in the scientific community. Human activities such as powering factories, running automobiles or something as simple as burning wood for heat, emit dangerous greenhouse gases. What makes these greenhouse gases so detrimental is that they absorb the heat radiating off of Earth and keep it in the lower atmosphere creating a “blanket” of warmth around the Earth’s surface. This causes a drastic increase in the Earths average temperature. Due to the rise in temperature, the polar caps have been melting faster than ever, this is dangerous not only because of the risk of floods and sea level increase but ocean water will become less saline and ecosystems will be destroyed, impacting humans just as much as marine life. In the article, Understand faulty thinking to tackle climate change by George Marshall, Marshall states that most people in our world today do not care about climate change because it will not affect them, “Which points to the real problem: climate change is exceptionally amorphous, … no deadlines, no geographic location, no single cause or solution.” (Marshall 2014). Because the author makes it clear that climate change is indeed a great plight, and fails to be acknowledged by people, it is a significant matter that should be discussed
2) Glaciers, sea ice and tundra will melt, contributing to global sea level rise . This will make 13 out of 15 of the world’s largest cities lying in coastal plains particularly vulnerable to rises in sea level and this can cause floods , tsunamis and many horrible disasters.
It’s the 21st century and global warming is making the headlines in newspapers, radio talk shows, new outlets and even popular TV shows. The prospects of melting arctic ice caps and the consequences of climate change are primary dangers that are capturing worldwide attention however, could this just be the tip of the iceberg for something far greater? Globalization, defined as the process of integration through interaction between individuals, corporations and governments. It is essentially impossible for a community to live and sustain itself within a vacuum; interactions through trade and foreign relations allow for discourse amongst nations causing mutual influences in politics, economics and culture. Although this undertaking has exponentially increased with the increase in information technology, it has been prevalent throughout history. Amongst the world’s regions, East Asia has been exposed to this process the longest as Europe has looked to the East for external resources when early civilizations expanded their geographic and political boundaries. With the effect of globalization on the region, East Asia opened up its borders to the migration of goods, services, information and people. In the 19th century, countries such as China, Japan, and Korea that were attributed to being the “Far East” not only because they were geographic distant from Europe but also culturally exotic. However, present day they are dominant world leaders because they gained economic stability
Climate change otherwise known as global warming has been an ongoing issue for decades. Beginning in the 19th century, climate change has increasingly affected Earth and its atmosphere. Rising levels of carbon dioxide are warming the Earth’s atmosphere, causing rising sea-levels, melting snow and ice, extreme fires and droughts, and intense rainfall and floods. Climate change has and will continue to affect food production, availability of water, and can add to many health risks in humans and animals. In fact, in an article by Justin Gillis titled, “Scientists Warn of Perilous Climate Shift Within Decades, Not Centuries” he focuses on a paper written by a former NASA climate scientist, James E. Hansen, explaining the effects of climate change on Earth today. Although many believe Hansen’s theories in the paper are quite far-fetched, the author mentions, “Despite any reservations they might have about the new paper, virtually all climate scientists agree with Dr. Hansen’s group that society is not moving fast enough to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, posing grave risks” (Gillis). Gillis validates the fact that climate change has been rapidly expanding throughout Earth and society has not been able to reduce it fast enough. Many negative risks are being posed and will continue to mount if the issue of climate change is not taken seriously. Although climate change negatively affects nearly all aspects of Earth, it poses a big
Climate change, also know as global warming, is a huge, global issue in our world today. Eventually, our lives “may be threatened by rising sea levels, disrupted food production, extreme weather, and emergent diseases” (TGES). Since 1750 and the early 19th century, “the planet's average surface temperature has risen about 2.0 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 degrees Celsius) since the late 19th century” (NASA GCC). But why are people worried about the future of climate change? Well, global warming is dangerous to us humans. If the temperature continued to increase at the rate it is increasing now every year, the world would not be how it is today. Warmer air increases pollution in the ozone layer; this triggers symptoms of asthma and many other breathing problems. Humans won’t be the only thing that climate change will affect. Climate change will eventually cause most forests in the southeast of the U.S. to turn to grasslands; deserts might spread around the globe, and places like the tropics and polar regions will be unfit to live in (UXL Encyclopedia of Weather and Natural Disasters). In summary, the world will be uninhabitable.
The Earth is a dynamic, constantly changing environment in which the hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere all interact. When one changes slightly the change is then felt through out the spheres. Humans need to understand that the change they cause can have a potential for a disastrous affect on the environment. From injecting the atmosphere with greenhouse gas, or deforestation, all the unnatural things done to the environment will have an unnatural affect that will have to be dealt with. We as humans have a moral responsibility to reduce global warming gasses by changing our modes of transportation, to stop deforestation, and increase government funding into research to inhibit global warming for
Climate change is an issue that affects all, and yet some do not even accept that it exists. Climate change is causing glaciers to melt, sea levels to rise, more droughts and heat waves to occur, and even more intense tropical storms. These are just a few examples of the effects of climate change, but there are even more devastating effects such as polar bears having to search for new food sources, on land, because of the sea ice they rely on for hunting melting at a more rapid pace. Climate change enthusiasts have even said, “The struggle to save the global environment is in one way much more difficult than the struggle to vanquish Hitler, for this time the war is with ourselves. We are the enemy, just as we have only ourselves as allies”(“Al”). The effects of climate change are indeed devastating, but the question I want to find an answer to is how do we lessen the effects of these effects that climate change causes? The reason I want to find a solution to my question is that I believe that the Earth is counting down towards catastrophe, and a solution must be found to save it. To find an answer to this question I explored five sources, all of which are articles.
Humans have had a huge impact on climate change and are mainly the reason that change is even happening, as over the past hundred years they have been releasing large amounts of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases are mostly the result of the burning of fossil fuels, but they are also the result of activities such as deforestation, some agricultural practices and industrial processes. The effect that these greenhouse gases created have on the climate is that these gases create like a ‘blanket’ around the earth, trapping any energy in the earth’s atmosphere and therefore causing the climate to warm. This is what is known as the greenhouse effect. Although this is natural and it
Climate change is the change in the average weather for an area or state over many years. Earth’s climate has been changing from warmer periods to cooler periods and vice versa. Events that support this change is when the “volcanic eruption and outgassing increased the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide and brought the Earth out of its ‘snowball’ stage several million years ago.” (Hetherington, R., & Reid, R. G., 2010) As well as when the “continental drift broke up the largest land masses, slowly affecting climate, because the sea acted as a heat buffer and because of the redistribution of ocean currents.” (Hetherington, R., & Reid, R. G., 2010) Recently, Earth’s climate has been in a warming stage where “its average temperature has risen a little more than one degree Fahrenheit during the past 100 years.” (May, S.) Human activities have created an increasingly negative effect on the environment and are now causing the earth to go through a period of global warming. While climate change is a pressing issue, it is also a very politically-charged and controversial one. As Berkeley Professor Andrew T. Guzman wrote, “To believe that human behavior is causing warming is to betray one side of the political divide, and to reject that notion is to betray the other” (Guzman, A. T., 2013). However, if we can’t admit that human activity is responsible for the recent climate changes, then the Earth will be negatively impacted. Although natural causes have been responsible for