A major and controversial topic in the world today is global warming and climate change. Carbon which is one of the bigger contributors to the greenhouse effect, can influence climate change. In its abundance, most of it is stored in the ground within the soil. It is known that respiration, which is the breakdown of molecules into carbon, water, and energy, plays a very large part in the cycling of carbon on the Earth. Understanding how different aspects of our environment can affect the cycling of carbon within soil, we can then apply it to potential changes of climate change and predict what could happen and can set up some pre-emptive measures.
Soil organic carbon is converted into its inorganic form due to the metabolism of various decomposers (ie. microbes) in the soil. (Kirschbaum, 1995). We expect the increase of temperature to result in a greater rate of CO2 production. This is because of a positive feedback loop created based on temperature; as temperature increases so does the metabolism of the detritivores which then increases the conversion of organic carbon to inorganic carbon dioxide (Kirschbaum, 1995). This yields more CO2, contributing to the greenhouse effect while also increasing temperature. We expect the treatments at the higher temperature (30°C) to result in a higher rate of CO2 production, because of the increased metabolic activity of decomposers. In addition to testing temperature, we will test the effects of altering litter composition.
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The Carbon Cycle is a process necessary to all life forms as carbon is used for photosynthesis, cellular respiration, and is found in all living organisms. This process occurs naturally from cellular respiration, decomposition, and volcanic eruptions. However from burning fossil fuels and cutting down trees at a rapid pace carbon dioxide is being released into the atmosphere at an artificial rate. The overabundance of atmospheric carbon dioxide is causing for global warming. This global warming is causing extreme havoc to the Earth and all of its life forms. However this damage, although cannot be reversed, can be changed for the better.
It is well known that politics and religion are two topics to never to be discussed with someone one does not know well. In today’s society, it feels as if this list of topics that are socially deemed inappropriate to discuss seems to be growing, with climate change now being a conservation to avoid. This aversion to discussing climate change appears to stem from the fact that the issue tends to polarize opinions, in which people fall into one of two groups: climate change skeptics and climate change believers. This paper seeks to address and analyze the ways in which climate skeptics speak about and understand climate change as well as how climate scientists understand climate change phenomena. More specifically, this paper focuses on how climate skeptics comprehend the relationships between grasslands, livestock, methane and nutrient cycling and how these interconnected concepts do not lead to the type of climate change that “green urbanities /green politicians/green activists/green elite” predict. The paper will conclude with an evaluation of the two differing positions between climate skeptics and climate scientists, in which I will determine which argument I find to be the most accurate.
The rapidly increasing amount of carbon dioxide may be one of the factors that cause climate change. As Hillman states, “Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are increasing, and have done so since the Industrial Revolution.” An atmospheric CO2 concentration, research shows that there is a dramatic increase from 280 parts per million (ppm) in 1750 to 373 ppm in 2002, a rise of the third. Furthermore, the linear chart demonstrated the trend of annual global CO2
The excess of carbon in the atmosphere is the cause of global climate change. To reverse global warming we must balance the carbon cycle by removing carbon from the atmosphere and returning it to the plants and to the soil (4). Though in the end, carbon exists in everything and the carbon cycle is much more complex because it includes every plant, animal, microbe, fallen tree, body of water, bit of soil, breath of air, plume of smoke, combustion of fossil fuel, decaying particle, and bubble popping to the surface of a swamp (5). Industrial farming has disrupted this cycle. If we completely halted the burning of fossil fuels today, which we can not by any means, climate change would still continue through modern agriculture. The key to reversing global warming is not solely through solar panels and ethanol fuel, but in proper symbiotic farming
The release of carbon, however, was released in four phases. First, there was a large release of carbon over the initial 10 years, then it slowed down the next seven years, after the seven years, the emissions resumed, until stopping again recently. The author ends the article hinting that some sort of feedback loop is happening that favors certain organisms that consume carbon in the soil.
NGS integrates greenhouse into other major policy initiatives, such as the Natural Heritage Trust, and launches new measures to increase greenhouse emission reduction activities across the Australian community. It provides the strategic framework for an effective greenhouse response and for meeting current and future international commitments. It will provide a fresh impetus for action by governments, stakeholder groups and the broader community and set directions for that action into the next century.
Climate change is influenced by the greenhouse effect which is the increase of Carbon dioxide, Methane, Ozone and Nitrogen Oxide. On one hand, the presence of these gases in the atmosphere make the earth habitable with respect to regulating the earth’s temperature. However, an increase in the concentration of these gases results in trapping energy in the atmosphere and this in turn increases earth’s temperature. “Global greenhouse gas emissions have grown since pre-industrial times, with an increase of 70% between
1. Soils as a pool of carbon play a critical role in the global carbon cycle, because soils contain approximately 75% of the carbon pool on land; this is three times more than three times the amount of carbon that is stored in living plants and animals.
I would predict the carbon level increase because if the plants decrease then the carbon level increase plants use carbon for photosynthesis.
Researchers are worried climate change and increase average global temperatures will free large quantities of carbon at an unmanageable rate (Peat bogs "amplify" global warming, 2006). Enzyme activity causes increases in the decomposition of sphagnum moss. When such enzymes are warmed and exposed to air they are permitted to act on peat moss and release carbon compounds into external environments (the atmosphere) (Peat bogs "amplify" global warming, 2006). It is projected that by the end of the century temperatures will increase by an alarming 5.8 degrees Celsius (Peat bogs "amplify" global warming, 2006). As the earth becomes warmer, droughts will increase causing the level of water in the wetlands to decrease, allowing the soil to be exposed to air. If the oxygen within the air gets into contact with phenyl oxidase, the enzymes that break down sphagnum spp., a reaction causing carbon release will occur, allowing carbon leakage into rivers and streams. This carbon pollution can enter in the sea and come into contact with marine bacteria, which will attack the carbon and eventually convert carbon to carbon dioxide. Increased carbon dioxide levels will consequently produce more warming leading to more carbon dioxide production through Greenhouse gas, in a rather cyclic series of environmentally detrimental events (Peat bogs "amplify" global warming, 2006). Researchers have predicted that an extra 60 years of industrial emissions can cause doubling in atmospheric carbon, causing acceleration in global climate change (Peat bogs "amplify" global warming,
Climate is inherently variable. Climate changes from place to place and it varies with time. The world now faces one of the complex and important issue it has ever had to deal with: climate change. Climate change today is one of the biggest concerns of human beings on the planet and the effects of climate change are undeniable and it may cause environmental, social, and economic threats to the planet. We already know and easily can highlight several signs of climate change. They are: rising global sea level, widespread melting of snow and ice, rapidly changing ocean and global temperatures, and other signs. So, what are the causes of climate change? Is it natural or do human beings cause it? Well, in both cases we would be right. The climate change can be affected by natural factors, such as solar output, volcanic eruptions, and the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Also, climate change can be affected by human activities such as, deforestation, burning fossil fuels, causing ozone hole, and building mass destructive weapons and using them on earth that causes a huge radioactivity on earth. Currently, the threat of global climate change does not threaten some nations to the extent of others. Compare the United States with the rest of African countries. We live in prosperity and in much easier time than the rest African countries. Most African countries cannot grow anything on their lands because of climate change. At the end, climate change might affect everyone on
In addition, human activities like deforestation may increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This is because forests help in carbon sequestration, which reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. It follows then that clearing such tress will increase the amount of carbon dioxide since carbon sequestration will not occur (3). The man-made theory of climate change also explains that when these harmful gasses reach the atmosphere, they form a blanket, which traps heat in the atmosphere. This trapping of in the atmosphere is the phenomenon that causes the planet to get warmer, hence the term global warming (Sharma, 4).
Our world’s climate depends on a balance between the incoming and outgoing energies. The vast majority of incoming energy is from the Sun, approximately 29% of incoming solar radiation is reflected back into outer space while 23% is absorbed by the atmosphere and 48% by the surface of the earth. Thus, the Earth system absorbs roughly 71% of incoming solar energy. The Earth’s surface and atmosphere also radiate thermal infrared energy in order to balance the absorbed solar radiation. This process of reflection, absorption, and thermal radiation constructs the Earth’s habitable environment. There are factors, man-made and natural, that can change this balance such as variations in the Sun’s energy, changes in the Earth’s reflective surface, and changes in the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect can be described as a blanket that covers the Earth, which consists of various gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), water vapor (H2O), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and F-gases. For hundreds of thousands of years, the climate and greenhouse gas density have had a parallel correlation. During glacial periods, CO2 levels were lower than they were during the warmer interglacial periods. In other words, the Earth was cooler when the greenhouse gases were thinner and it was warmer when they were denser.
U.S. Conditions like Florida and other states with a high range of hot spells are perfect
Climate change could be described as any process that causes adjustment to climate system be it a volcanic eruption to a change in the solar activity. Today, however, the phrase is most often used as climate change caused by humans. Climate change is also used commonly with another phrase – "global warming" – reflecting scientific observations of strong warming trends over the past century or so. Indicators like rising sea levels, retreating snow cover and glaciers, longer growing seasons and shifting wildlife has alarmed scientific community unanimously agreeing that the earth has warmed in the last century. Experts however are of the opinion that climate change is a more accurate phrase than global warming as the latter is just one component affecting the larger climate systems of the earth.