The Impact Of Space Travel On Our Earth 's Climate Essay

Just in the last 650,000 years there have been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat, with the abrupt end of the last ice age about 7,000 years ago marking the beginning of the modern climate era — and of human civilization. Earth-orbiting satellites and other technological advances have enabled scientists to see the big picture, collecting many different types of information about our planet and its climate on a global scale. This body of data, collected over many years, reveals the signals of a changing climate.

Climate change is the most significant, most revisited, most controversial, most discussed climate issue in modern history. Global warming serves as a glaring demerit on the lengthy list of accomplishments of mankind: a reminder that progress coupled with reckless abandon never has a good outcome. Though its presence in the national spotlight is a recent phenomenon, the early stages of global warming were detected centuries ago.

The human race all around the world wonders if the climate is changing due to human activity or if it is just a natural occurrence. At certain parts of the Earth's surface, the climate can be observed much differently than other locations. As the years go by the average temperature of the Earth increases by little intervals. There are several different reasons why people believe the climate is changing every year. However, the increase of worldwide population and production of heat to the atmosphere is due to the increase of human activities that take place on a daily basis. Human activity is the main cause of the global climate change. The human impact on climate exceeds any known changes due to natural processes. The impact of this human activity is often misunderstood when looking at climate change.

Coexisting with each of its counterparts, Mother Earth and the system in which we live in effortlessly orchestrates the fundamental basis of not only human existence but nevertheless all of the life in which it contains. The climate of our Earth however, has been continuously changing since the beginning of its formation about 4.5 billion years ago although; it wasn’t until around the early 18th century that a widespread concern occurred in American minds regarding the treatment of our environment. This altered perspective made way for understanding that humans have made the biggest impact to our planet, biosphere, and atmosphere etc. drastically more so than any other organism. It is commonly argued in Jared Diamond’s The Worst Mistake in

Humanity, as a species, has failed to keep our environment safe and sustained. As we advance technologically the earth is getting hotter, potentially so hot that eventually it’ll be uninhabitable(kind of like Mars). Humanity is at fault for this as around the time of the industrial revolution different fuels were being discovered and uses for them created. The use of these fuels (typically burning) cause greenhouse gasses to be trapped in the atmosphere, locking in heat. If humans didn’t have the unquenchable need for advancement, even at the cost of their own planet, we would have never had this issue.

The debate is over. Yes, Earth’s climate has always fluctuated and drastically variable eras of weather is far from an unusual notion, but it is the unprecedented pace at which it is all currently occurring that is of most potent concern. Even the dastardly right-wingers, who’ve tactically denied climate change for so long, have joined an overwhelming scientific consensus about anthropogenic atmospheric deterioration. Data from the past century has revealed blatant indications of natural systems breaking down; i.e.: the oceans, used by Earth as a primary mechanism in cleansing atmosphere of CO2 and seemingly slight temperature shifts are ensuing extreme consequence.

Throughout history climates have drastically changed. There have been shifts from warm climates to the Ice Ages (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2009, p.204). Evidence suggests there have been at least a dozen abrupt climate changes throughout the history of the earth. There are a few suspected reasons for these past climate changes. One reason may be that asteroids hitting the earth and volcanic eruptions caused some of them. A further assumption is that 22-year solar magnetic cycles and 11-year sunspot cycles played a part in the changes. A further possibility is that a regular shifting in the angle of the moon orbiting earth causing changing tides and atmospheric circulation affects the global climate (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2009,

There are a couple viewpoints to consider when it comes to the topic of space exploration. The Earth is constantly changing and is not going to live forever, but does this mean that humans have a moral obligation to find and explore habitable worlds outside of our own for the soul purpose of inhabiting them? According to Colin Barras, fossil records indicate/predict that Earth still has about a whopping 3.5 billion years until it dies (Barras, 2015). That is more than just a spec on even Earth's timeline. However, even though some scientists estimate that Earth has a couple billion years left to live, that doesn't necessarily mean that the living beings that thrive off of Earth's natural resources are going to be able to live on this planet for 3.5 billion more years. Serious negative effects of global climate change can grow to be extremely devastating and could kill off the human race as well as other plant and animal species. So, searching for another planet to live on is not such a terrible, far-fetched idea after all.

Humankind is drastically changing the face of the planet. Even climate change deniers cannot completely refute the basic idea—all one has to do is look out a window. From changing the course of rivers to clearing entire forests, one would be hard pressed to find a single area of the planet that does not bear the marks of our presence. In fact, so strong is our influence on the planet that scientists have for some time now been debating officially declaring a new geologic epoch.

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.

Even if we stopped all of these gasses emitted into the atmosphere tomorrow, we would still see a rise in planetary temperatures of 1.1 degrees Celsius, which is twice the warming experienced over the past century. (Marshall, 2) The IPCC predicts a global temperature rise of between 1.4 degrees and 5.8 degrees by 2100. A global warming episode 250 million years ago wiped out 95 percent of all species on earth. It took a rise in average global temperature of only 6 degrees to trigger this catastrophe. The IPCC?s current worst-case scenario is 5.8 degrees. One can scarcely imagine a more somber warning. (Marshall, 2) If we do not take immediate action to cut down on emissions of greenhouse gasses, we will in effect condemn our children and grandchildren and all other generations to follow to a permanently impoverished and more threatening world dominated by extreme weather and ecological collapse. But who cares about the generations to follow us? One may ask. Well, it has been speculated that low concentrations of toxins into the atmosphere may be the cause for some learning disabilities among children in America. How would you feel if your family was know for being stupid and all generations that follow even dumber, and the reason for such stupidity rested on your shoulders, because you were too lazy and ignorant to realize the

In the last 100 years, Earth’s average temperature has risen by 1.4°F. The rising global temperatures have caused changes in weather and climate. Global warming refers to the ongoing rise in the average temperature near Earth’s surface. This is causing a climate change, which refers to any significant change (major change in temperature, precipitation, or wind patterns) in the measures of climate lasting for an extended period of time (several decades or longer). Due to this, it is projected that the temperature will rise from 2 to 11.5°F in the next hundred years (US EPA, 2014). The “drivers,” which are the principal causes making this occur, are very controversial. It is debated whether a change in temperature is due to the work of

Over the years there has been a lot of controversy on if climate change is an issue that needs to be discussed and solved. There is a constant debate among scientist on if human actions are contributing the changing of earth’s climates. Climate change is defined as the change in average weather patterns for a specific region or Earth as a whole. This could include the change in an average temperature for a city or the amount a rainfall it receives (Dunbar, 2015). The main difference between weather and climate is the period of time specific patterns are recorded. Weather patterns are looked at over a much shorter period of time, meaning that these patterns are going to be more sporadic and change more frequently. Climate on the other had is recorded over a much longer period of time and usually show less drastic changes in patterns when compared to weather. Some people may argue that climate change is not an issue because Earth’s temperature is always changing do to natural effects. What people don’t realize is that human activity has effected the rate that earth’s temperature is changing, and just the smallest changes can lead to drastic consequences (Dunbar, 2015).

The climate changing was first suspected in the 19th century when scientists in britain debated whether Europe was covered by ice in the past. “Guy S Callender suggested that the warming trend revealed in the 19th century had been caused by a 10% increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels.” (Harding) The debate intensified by 2005 when a study was published stating that a large scale disruption could occur by 2050 if we do not slow the process of climate change. The debate has now spiraled back to whether climate change is occurring or not. However the climate warming pattern has been increasing exponentially since the 1950’s.

The Earth is a dynamic, constantly changing environment in which the hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere all interact. When one changes slightly the change is then felt through out the spheres. Humans need to understand that the change they cause can have a potential for a disastrous affect on the environment. From injecting the atmosphere with greenhouse gas, or deforestation, all the unnatural things done to the environment will have an unnatural affect that will have to be dealt with. We as humans have a moral responsibility to reduce global warming gasses by changing our modes of transportation, to stop deforestation, and increase government funding into research to inhibit global warming for