How Will Global Warming Change Earth?

For "Field Notes From a Catastrophe," Elizabeth Kolbert journeys to Alaska, Greenland, Iceland, Yorkshire, Oregon—amongst other places—introducing her readers to a slew of individuals either studying or simply experiencing, aspects of global warming.

As world temperatures and sea levels rise, the effects of global warming will be felt most acutely in Canada and other countries far from the equator, a challenge, issued by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, for the world to “seize the opportunities of a low-carbon future.” But the report drew little fanfare in Ottawa, global warming is occurring – and that humans are the main cause. “As this report shows and previous reports have shown, climate change and warming in particular is amplified – that is, it’s larger – at high latitudes. So warming over Canada is larger than the warming that has been experienced [worldwide] and it is projected to continue that way. That warming over Canada will continue to be more rapid than the global [average]

Global warming is a topic which has been on the minds of many over the past decade. There have been political debates, scientific experiments, and scientific studies conducted that solely addressed global warming. Some say that global warming is not a major problem in the world and should not be a primary concern of today’s governments. Some even go so far as to say that global warming, which is also known as climate change, is a hoax. However, the documentary “Before the Flood” attempts to persuade its audience that the Earth is deteriorating due to the effects of global warming.

Fumento, Michael. “The Cooling Off on Global Warming.” The Washington Times 8 July 1999: 15. LexisNexis Academic . Academic Universe. W. I. Dykes Lib., University of Houston-Downtown. 20 Feb. 2010 http://www.lexisnexis.com.ezproxy.uhd.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/

The first argument examined on the man-made global warning side is that increasing greenhouse gases caused by human activities is causing directly observed climate changes. The first resulting climate change discussed is warming global surface temperature. There has been an increase in global surface temperature of 0.74 degrees C since the late 19th century. In the last 50 years alone the temperature has increased by 0.13 degrees C per decade. North America and Eurasia have seen the largest increase in warmth. However, some areas of the earth have actually cooled some this past century (Easterling & Karl, 2011, para6). After the mid 20th century 70% of the global land mass saw reduced diurnal temperatures. From 1979 to 2005 the maximum and minimum temperatures have shown no change; both indicate warming (Easterling & Karl, 2011, para10). Furthermore, borehole temperatures, snow cover, and glacier recession data all seem to agree with recent warming (Easterling & Karl, 2011, para11).

Earth is an immeasurably complex planet, and the processes that make it so are equally as intricate. It is this same intricacy, however, that makes the Earth so vulnerable to even the slightest variation in overall temperature or change within the gases that which compose the atmosphere. What We Know About Climate Change by Kerry Emanuel aims to address this issue of Earth’s vulnerability head-on as it suggests the plausible causes for the undeniable planetary warming observed in the last century all the while proposing pragmatic solutions to discontinue the unnatural processes credited with the abnormal warming.

Elizabeth Kolbert’s Field Notes from a Catastrophe was my first in-depth look into climate change, global warming, and the contribution of humans to these things. Global warming was something I vaguely knew about before reading this book, but it never really caught my attention or seemed like a major issue in the world. After reading Field Notes from a Catastrophe, I realized that it is in fact a major issue that must be addressed by every community. In this essay I will argue that it is our job as the human race to do all that we can to take care of our planet and reduce the amount of global warming that humans are responsible for. This essay is significant because this is our world.

Thesis Statement: Global warming is a growing concern of scientists and researchers who believe that it is a serious problem for our planet. The concerns and research have also been questioned and have even been called myths. Millions of people find themselves affected by these weather pattern changes and are concerned for their futures. Activists on both sides of the argument are very passionate and not afraid to attack each other in every way they can. There are many questions that are still not answered, however, we continue to see drastic weather changes to Earth. We must go beyond the arguments and learn as much as we can to stop what could possibly lead to the destruction of our planet, our way of life and our future.

The earth is a beautiful and extraordinary planet, but are we treating it right? For the past 20 decades, temperatures have been rising along with hundreds of factors contributing to it. Climate change concerns the public as they wonder if its occurring, how much has occurred in the modern era, what has caused it, what the effects will be if we don’t do anything about it and much more. Many people and scientist agree that mankind is the number one cause of climate change. Humans have influenced this by greenhouse gases, methane nitrous oxide.

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

This paper is intended as a starting point for creating a framework within which to discuss and analyze what appears to be a substantial change in worldwide climate. It is essentially a synthesis of three books: (1.) an inconvenient truth, the crisis of global warming, written by Al Gore (2007), (2.) At Home

Global warming could be considered a contested topic, although I strongly agree with the facts presented by the scientific community about the ways in which humans affect the environment. Global warming will result in large scale melting of glaciers, extinction of plants and animals, and a rise in sea levels resulting in the loss of densely populated, low lying coastal areas. Additionally, tropical diseases and the frequency of severe weather will increase. The brunt of these disasters will fall disproportionately on the world’s poor, many of whom live in the tropics, where the effects of climate change are expected to be particularly severe (Nanda 320). The United States can take measures to

The third day of summer of 1988 in Washington D.C, temperatures touched 101° F. The very same day, it was for the first time in the history that NASA scientist James Hansen gave a memorable yet startling testimony before U.S Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (Hansen 2000: 9876). The two key pieces of information presented were that the earth is getting warmer at a relatively faster rate and analysis of data and records reflected that the global warming is linked to greenhouse gas emission (Hansen 2000: 9876). James Hansen ended his testimony by stating that if temperatures continue to rise, the planet would face disastrous global climate changes that could cause tremendous amount of harm to our planet (Hansen 2000: 9876).

Earth is home to an abundance of complex and astonishing forms of life. It has played humanity’s mysterious home ever since the origin of our species. We are constantly learning more about our planet. However, in the last century, there has been a different trend taking place. We have experienced a rise in the Earth’s temperature. Global warming is the phenomenon that has taken place over the past one hundred and thirty-three years. Global warming has been described as the greenhouse effect of dangerous gases released to the atmosphere. The gas eventually creates an invisible cloud over our planet which makes it more difficult for heat to heat to escape into outer space. Consequently, the earth warms up. According to NASA, the Earth temperature has increased one and a half degrees over the time period (NASA). However, various people have regarded this as a “false alert.” This paper presents an argument to raise awareness through statistical and scientific studies that indeed global warming is a real phenomenon and there could be significant costs to not taking preventative measures, in the long run. There is a wide range of opinions on the relatively recent issue of global warming. By relying on data to make inferences based on whether or not our planet is in danger, we can be able to spread beneficial knowledge and to jumpstart the prevention of potentially significant consequences.

Environmentalists started to warn the world about the potential threats of global warming in the late 20th century. Mckibben states that some of the changes predicted by weather experts fifteen years ago have already started to happen (667). Unfortunately, few people are keen to take heed of the grave implication of an adversely changing climate. The developed world is comfortably engaging in its innovative journey, while the third