Global Warming Is The Number One Concern On The Planet Right Now

The rising carbon dioxide (CO2) from the burning of fossil fuels and other human activities continues to affect our atmosphere, resulting in global warming and climate change. This carbon dioxide is also altering the chemistry of the oceans, causing them to become more acidic. From scientists and marine resource managers, to policy and decision-makers, there is growing concern that the process called ocean acidification could have drastic consequences on marine ecosystems. Such as altering species composition, disrupting marine food webs and ecosystems and harming fishing, tourism and other human activities connected to the sea.

It is often said that humans are the largest threat to Earth, but not because of violence between one another. Humans are the largest threat to Earth because we as a species pollute the air, land, and water of the very planet we call home. Without Earth all life as we know it will cease to exist. Global warming is the product of the pollutants created by mankind. If mankind as a whole does not change its ways we will ruin our one and only planet that is suitable to sustain life. In Warm, Warmer, Warmest an article by Nicholas D. Kristof argues that that “stopping global warming should be the paramount struggle of our time”(Warmer). While researching this topic I used multiple resources to better understand what Nicholas Kristof is explaining in his article. I first looked at a government run website that helped explain global warming and how it is affecting us today. Then I looked at news articles from different news organizations. Lastly I watched a video that explained why we can no longer ignore global warming. All of those resources helped me better understand my research topic and I feel that I have gained more knowledge about global warming.

Irrespective of its cause, the impacts of climate change include more frequent and severe weather, higher death rates, dirtier air, higher wildlife extinction rates, and higher sea levels (IPCC, 2014). Although each of these impact areas are significant and worthy of further discussion, it is the ramifications of sea level rise that brought me to discuss climate action today.

Another factor of ascending sea levels is the increase in temperatures (3). Eissa and Zaki implies that “a considerable number of many species will be threatened with a continuous increase in sea levels to a certain point that the animal or species could become extinct” (The impact of global climatic…” 2). Sea levels are rising at very accelerated rates, and until the water keep rising, they will become very harmful to the human population and many marine organisms. However, increasing temperatures is one of the main factors of climate change. Johansen insists that “the warming of the world’s oceans has not only affected the animals who live above the surface, but also the ones who live below” (“Marine Life…” 1). Increasing temperatures are mostly caused by many human activities such as the release of fossil fuels emissions and greenhouse gases. The two main processes that cause increasing temperatures are Climate Change and the Greenhous effect. These can be very harmful to the marine population and permanently extinct them. According to recent studies, NOAA has discovered that seawater temperatures are increasing by about 0.1 Celsius, and many organisms confronted with this change could be in great danger (NOAA 2). In addition to increasing temperatures and sea levels rising, another factor would be ocean acidification. Global Issues portrays that” ocean acidification is caused by substantial amounts of carbon dioxide which is caused by greenhouse emissions” (Climate

The oceans have been recorded to be rising in surface temperature, which in turn is causing fish to migrate to colder oceans near the poles; this disruption fisheries and other animals who prey on fish. The rise in temperature also can control currents, which caused a 40% increase in tropical storms since the 1950’s. The rise in temperature in our atmosphere has also caused for the melting of the ice caps, which has raised the sea levels almost 6.7 inches in the last century, with some locations on the eastern parts of Canada reading increases as high as 8 inches. These readings are more than double what they were in the previous century. The acidity of oceans is also increasing due to the increase of CO2 in the air. This is doing many things to different ecosystems such as coral reefs. The Great Coral Reef in Australia has lost half of its’ coral over the last 27 years alone. The rise in temperature and carbon dioxide causes the coral to bleach, which makes it weak and allows it to be destroyed very easily by any storms, or other predators. The rise in carbon emissions not only affects land life, but is also destroying our oceans as

The authors of the article starts by explaining ocean acidification, the aftermath of excessive carbon dioxide reacting with seawater resulting in carbonic acid, could negatively affect one of the core strategies of survival: sex (p.68). As the ocean decreases in pH level, marine life is impeded and interfered. Shells and skeletons of clams and mussels become harder to develop and the health of countless organisms are threatened. Although the oceans absorb one-third of all CO2 produced by humans thus reducing global warming, it is at the expense of organisms in the sea (p.69).

Coral bleaching is happening because of the high sea temperatures. Coral bleaching leads to coral death and causes habitats to be loss to species in need. There is carbon dioxide is extremely concentrated in the atmosphere which increases the absorption of carbon dioxide in the ocean. Ocean acidity is subject to become a more frequent trend as the carbon dioxide continues to increase. The increase in ocean acidity affects the plankton, shellfish and mollusks. Coral are very sensitive to the acidity which makes it difficult for them to create a maintain its structure for species that need that

This threatens coral ecosystems, mussels, clams, and dozens of other species just on the ocean acidification side by weakening their protective barriers and altering the pH of the water. Polar bears, sea turtles, right whales, African elephants, and frogs are just some of the few animals being driven to extinction right now because of climate change. Obviously, these species are not dying off for no reason: the big bad guy is the results of rising levels of c02 due to human’s mass consumption of it for transportation, electricity, and industry. And scientists agree – “99 percent of currently threatened species are at risk from human activities,” says the Center for Biological Diversity, adding that global warming is one of the three main abusers. Ocean acidification is global warming’s “equally evil twin”, as Elizabeth Kolbert writes in her novel The Sixth Extinction. Clearly, human’s c02 waste is causing environmental issues that threaten and eventually extinguish plant and animal

Climate change and Global Warming are out of control. This means that, no matter what policies, processes or actions are implemented, the Earth as we know it will never be the same again. There is significant evidence to support this hypothesis. The dilemma becomes whether we can limit the damage and adapt to a new status quo or not. Rising sea levels and the damage caused by this phenomenon has irreversible impacts on coastlines worldwide. Damage to sensitive reef systems cannot be fixed. This also has permanent impacts of the ecology not just of those immediate areas but also the ocean as a whole.

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

Marine life is depleting because of things that humans have done, from overfishing and resource decreacion, to coastal development, pollution and greenhouse gas emissions are causing ocean acidification and warming.

The increased levels of acid inhibits the ability of marine animals which disrupts life within the systems food web. One species severely impacted by rising temperatures and excess carbon dioxide (ocean acidification) is reefs, in particular coral reefs. The higher temperatures lead to coral bleaching which is a stress mechanism that expels the colourful algae that inhibit them. Some individuals are able to recover, however many die resulting in an entire ecosystem to virtually disappear. If bleaching persists other damaging diseases will affect corals such as black band disease, white plague, white band disease and white pox which all have the ability to kill the coral which could potentially lead to the death of the extended ecosystems it

The oceans is an essential component to surviving, but it’s also one of the most affected by the climate change. According to the EPA website, the greenhouse gases emitted trap heat and this heat is increasing the temperature of the oceans around the world. Over the past three decades, the surfaces temperature of oceans has been increase higher than any other time period. The oceans are a vital part of surviving; it provides 50 percent of all the oxygen in the world. However, with surface temperature increasing, at a rate of 0.3 Celsius per decade, this will result higher sea levels and higher ocean currents. The ocean is an important part to humanity, it provides millions of people with a source of food, and the change in temperature will cause many ocean species to immigrate to a more suitable habitat.

The main factors in this climate change are observed to be the increase in temperatures and the resulting acidification of the oceans. The previously mentioned changes and others in the report are readily observable, such as the uptake of anthropogenic carbon since 1750 that has led to the ocean becoming more acidic, with an average decrease in pH of 0.1 units and in some instances blatantly obvious, even to the average layperson. It is difficult to conclude what the rate of change in the future will be and the effects of observed ocean acidification on the marine biosphere.

There is a lot of debate going on around climate change and the impact of Man on the planet. Looking at the subject of global change, apart from all the politics involved, it is clear that the planet has been changing before humans and will continue to change long after. But for our survival as a species, we do need to consider how these changes effect our needs and our ability to continue to sustain life as we know it. As our oceans warm, ecosystems within the ocean warm and change, too. And whether the change is a normal one by Earths standards, or man made, these ecosystems affect our species in a major way. Coral reefs, for example, may seem insignificant to the majority of people who don’t live near the coast of any continent, but