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The Cause And Effects Of Global Warming

Decent Essays

“It’s getting hot in here”
While the media discusses global warming often, some are still oblivious to what it is. A general definition of global warming is “(an) Increase in the average surface and ocean temperature of the earth since 1850 and the projected persistence of the trend (Lane).” Basically, it means the Earth’s temperature is rising each year. The belief is that the greenhouse effect causes the rise in global warming. The greenhouse effect is “Natural process of atmospheric warming in which solar energy absorbed by the earth’s surface is reradiated and absorbed by certain atmospheric gases, primarily carbon dioxide and water vapor,” (Boorstein). This simply means the Earth’s gases trap the sun’s radiation on Earth, which would cause a rise in the temperature. The contributing factors that raise these gases are many. The biggest contributing factor to increasing these gases come from the world’s biggest source of energy. It is the burning of fossil fuels such as coal oil and natural (Webb). Humans have used fossil fuels for hundreds of years. Coal is the dirties and most primarily used in the world today among power plants. This is mainly since coal is also the most plentiful source of natural burning energy. As of 2009, the burning of coal produces around 44% of electrical energy in the United States. Scientist estimate that 90% of fossil fuels remaining in the world is coal. Most scientists agree that coal is the deadliest of all the fossil fuels due to the

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