Currently, fossil fuels are the source of over 80% of the world’s energy consumption (“The Energy”). The possibility of an energy crisis is quickly approaching due to the fact that nations are neglecting to take advantage of renewable energy sources. Carbon dioxide is being released from the burning of fossil fuels, polluting the air, and is a speculated contribution to the current state of global warming the Earth is enduring. With the population increasing by the minute, that means that there is an increase in energy demand. This causes there to be a surge in the usage of fossil fuels which means a hike in the release of carbon dioxide, harming the planet. There has also been a recent decrease in water supply, which will have a massive impact on the entire planet considering over 90% of the world’s electricity relies on water (O’Hare). With climate change remaining one of the biggest economic problems of 2016, it is everyone’s job as a human being to help make the Earth a better planet to live on again. Unfortunately, unlike in the movie Avatar, our galaxy does not have a habitable moon containing the cure-all mineral unobtanium to solve all our energy problems. The film takes place in 2154 and humans have depleted the Earth’s natural resources. They have entered an energy crisis, which could be our future if humans do not take action now to reverse the damage that has already been done. There is a moon named Pandora that is the home of not only unobtanium, but also a
The world depends heavily on fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas for energy, and while the world's population and energy consumption continue to increase, the non-renewable resources we need to produce energy will eventually be depleted. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the supply of oil left in the world will last us twenty five more years. One may say that twenty five years is a long time, and by then new sources of fuel will surely have replaced the nonrenewable sources we currently use to meet our energy demands. This, however, should not be the approach the world takes to solve this issue. Instead of hoping that the problem will solve itself in the years to come, it is our duty as a planet to
We hear about it on the news, we read about it in our textbooks, and it’s happening now. This “it” is global warming that is slowly tearing our earth apart. Mankind itself has been causing the earth’s temperatures to rise approximately 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit since 1880 due to constant emission of carbon dioxide from carbon based fuels. This includes industrialization, deforestation, and pollution which has greatly increased atmospheric concentrations of water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide which result in trapping heat near Earth’s surface. Humas are putting themselves at risk as the world’s temperatures rise every year and is expected to raise 5 to 10 degrees higher by the end of the century, which is faster than it has ever been according to the National Resource Defense Council’s website. Global warming has been affecting the world at an alarming rate in various ways, one major impact is the melting of permafrost.
“Global warming is the term used to describe a gradual increase in the average temperature of the Earth 's atmosphere and its oceans, a change that is believed to be permanently changing the Earth’s climate” (Goguen). Day-to-day, fossil-fuels are being burned; humans are deforesting land, driving cars, creating and demolishing buildings, and much more; these activities result in the release of greenhouse gases (Goguen). Architects are now being awakened by global warming issues and are planning ideas to alter their designs to reduce carbon emissions for future buildings. Correspondingly, colleges are beginning to prepare architecture students on how to design buildings that are carbon-neutral, and educating them on the
Global warming was once speculative but, after much research, it has since been scientifically proven by a number of methods. One such method is that used by paleoclimatologist Lonnie Thomas who collects the cores from ice masses all around the globe for his analysis of stable isotopes found in oxygen as discussed on page 452 of the text. Essentially, Thompson and his team concluded from their findings that “…most ice cores indicate that the last 50 years were the warmest 50-year period in the last 2000 years and, in some places, for the entire Holocene! Our climate is clearly going to grow even warmer and less hospitable” (Larsen 452). What, exactly, is global warming? “The increase in the average temperature of the earth’s atmosphere
Throughout time, Earth has had the tendency of evolving, changing its ecosystem in response to its environment. The organisms on Earth however, always seemed to show an uncanny resiliency in most environmentally changing circumstances and have learned to adapt to the ever changing environments the ecosystem thrusts upon them. Although living things on Earth have always found a way to persevere through natural catastrophes, there is a man-made global change in the works that this time, may not be able to overcome so easily and may even threaten the well-being of all living things. This drastic change that is upon us is global warming. Global warming also referred to as the greenhouse effect has been a topic of discussion for the past two decades; yet climate change isn’t something out of the ordinary but an external factor is. Year after year tons of carbon monoxide caused by human activity invades the Earth’s atmosphere. Global warming directly affects the Earth’s upper atmosphere and it is the human industrial farming, pollution, deforestation, and burning of fossil fuels. Powerful natural disasters are something that we are no strangers to. For example, in January of 2010, Haiti was devastated by an earthquake that took the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Global warming will certainly cause natural disasters to be more frequent and harsher than they have ever been. Hurricanes could become sixty percent larger with tornadoes also increasing in frequency and power
The purpose of this essay is to report on global warming, the evidence available, impact and actions to mitigate the phenomenon. Global warming is the single most significant occurrence in modern history as it is bound to change many aspects of life as we know it today. The essay begins by defining global warming and providing evidence that global warming exists. Reports of increasing carbon dioxide gas levels, increasing temperatures, melting ice caps and mountain glaciers and rising sea levels are examined. The report also looks into some of the arguments against global warming and disproves them. Lastly, the impact of global warming on cities, islands, food security and biodiversity is examined and actions that can be taken to reduce the progression of the phenomenon discussed.
In modern society, we are surrounded by a plethora of advertisements, and the problem with the ad overhaul is that most of them do not serve a purpose other than to sell merchandise to the consumer. But what if more advertisements focused on real-world issues? Issues such as global warming and the impact humans have on the environment. An advertisement by Legambiente does not try to sell you anything. Instead, they target the world to disclose the truth behind global warming. Alongside Legambiente resides Greenpeace, trying to get the world to realize the damage we cause to the oceans. These advertisements are trying to help change society 's attitude and understand that humans have a horrendous impact on the environment. Society needs to make a change in its daily habits if we want to have a planet to live on.
Global warming is the term used to describe the rise in the Earth’s temperature observed over the last century. It has had significant effects on the polar ice caps, as the rising temperature is causing them to melt. It has also been linked to rising sea levels as the rise has been quicker than ever recorded in the last century. It is believed to be caused by increasing amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, due to burning fossil fuels, other human activities and volcanic activity. It also doesn’t help that most of the world’s forests are being cut down to be used for wood and other materials, this means those plants can no longer photosynthesise and get rid of some of the CO2 (which is a greenhouse gas) from the atmosphere.
The definition of Global warming is; "a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth 's atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and other pollutants." Global warming is a very big issue that is slowly affecting the whole world. Climate change has been studied since the early 1970’s, and scientist of many different fields are agreeing that global warming’s effects are increasing at a rapid pace. Global Warming was not yet taken serious until the 1960 's when the scientist found out that Global Warming would effect the food supply, and the ocean 's would increase, which is a threat to the human society. The temperature which has fluctuated over
On April 11, 2014, Cyclone Ita roared through Queensland, Australia leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. One of the strongest Category 5 storms ever recorded, winds were recorded at over 110 miles per hour before landfall. While destruction in Queensland and the surrounding areas was immense, the offshore damage to the Great Barrier Reef was catastrophic. Many places of the reef were left with no living coral structures and entire portions of the ecosystem were erased from the seabed (Zolfagharifard). Scientists explain that we can expect more intense storms such as Ita in the future, explaining that “warming is expected to make tropical cyclones (hurricanes) more intense” (Weeks). Global communities cannot ignore the warning any longer and must take action to reduce further climate change.
For over a hundred years, humans have understood the possibility of atmospheric warming due to anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. As early as 1896, Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius predicted that a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide would raise average global temperatures by 4.95 degrees C (9.0 degrees Fahrenheit) (Valente, 1995). The greenhouse effect, a natural phenomenon that has allowed the development of life on earth, is thought by many scientists to have been radically altered by humankind’s impact on the composition of the atmosphere. The problem lies in humans’ effects on the dynamic nature of the heat exchange process of the sun, earth, and black space. These alterations threaten to transform the global environment. As one author imagined it, “The year is 2035. In New York, palm trees line the Hudson River … Phoenix is in its third week of temperatures over 130 degrees … Holland is under water. Bangladesh has ceased to exist … in central Europe and in the American Midwest, decades of drought have turned once fertile agricultural lands into parched deserts (Rifkin, 1988).”
As global issues today become increasingly controversial, many people are inclined to believe that Global Warming is an issue that can take a backseat to more significant issues that plague today’s society. The information presented throughout my research in regards to the rising sea levels and the melting of glaciers and ice shelves, highly indicates that it cannot. What many Americans fail to realize is that if sea levels continue to rise due to Global Warming, then more than half of Louisiana, Florida, parts of southern California, and the entire eastern coastline would cease to exist. Global Warming, by definition, is the “gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth 's atmosphere, generally attributed to the greenhouse
Intro- Imagine a life where polar bears in the Artic are extinct. Cities along the coast no longer exist from the ocean rising and covering it. Heat waves and floods are much more common. All of these things are predicted to happen in the future due to global warming. Whether humans cause global warming or if it is natural has been at debate for a long time.
Global warming is one of the most alarming and pressing issues that the world faces today. Global warming is the rise of the earth’s temperature over time. The damaging effects of global warming have become more and more apparent, with more tropical storms and hurricanes causing massive destruction, more animal species losing their habitats and coming under threat, rising sea levels, etc.
Generally, our common understandings about Global Warming would be that the weather or the temperature’s changing; for example, we physically feel the winter is getting warmer or the spring seems comes earlier this year. However, the effect of the Global Warming is way greater than our physical feelings. As the dictionary’s definition, “An increase in the average temperature of the Earth 's atmosphere, especially a sustained increase great enough to cause changes in the global climate”, for the macro aspects, global warming is gradually affecting the sea-level, animals and plants, agriculture and human-being’s heath. Lately, I’ve been really interesting in the global warming’s affects, because the city where I live back in China is suffering a really bad pollution, people call it as Toxic Haze, not only in my hometown, but all the China’s eastern coast were blanketed by this toxic haze, a famous geographer in China bring forward a perspective that this terrible pollution is related with the effect of the Global Warming. Thus, I think the Global Warming have already involved or threaten our living quality and health. Global Warming’s situation is getting worse and more serious.