The Issue of Global Warming
Even though some people believe that there is no such thing as global warming, there has been significant evidence that the Earth is warming. Most scientists believe that the main cause of global warming is human influence. The burning of fossil fuels and the use of fertilizers are the main contributors to the heating of the Earth. Many problems occur as a result of the climate changing. As the climate changes, some animals may become extinct, there is a rise in sea levels, and there are stronger storms. There are many ways to counteract the problems of global warming. Laws have been created to help lessen the impacts of global warming on the environment. There are also many steps that individuals can
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Water vapor and carbon dioxide are the greenhouse gases that cause the quickest warming of the Earth.
In addition to the burning of fossil fuels, the use of fertilizers also contributes to global warming. Farmers try to have more plentiful yields of their crops. To do this, they use more nitrogen-based fertilizers . “Soil microbes have long been known to convert nitrogen-rich crop fertilizers, including manure and synthetic fertilizers, into nitrous oxide” (Mole). With the rapid increase in agricultural techniques, the nitrous oxide release is causing the Earth’s surface to warm faster.
One of the main problems occurring is climate change. Climate change encompasses changes in ocean currents, precipitation patterns, and winds (Selin). When the climate changes, many other problems occur. The whole ecosystem can change with an increase in temperature. The ecosystem changing can cause some animals to no longer be able to live in their natural habitat. This can lead to problems such as extinction and overcrowding in other habitats. Based on the graph above, there is evidence that there has been an increase in global temperatures throughout the past few years.
Animal extinction is another example of a direct result of global warming. An animal’s habitat can become unsuitable for them to live in if the conditions change drastically. With the temperature rising, some species of plants will no longer be able to
Many animals around the world are severely affected by climate change. Climate change is the rise in average temperatures on Earth’s surface. When humans interact with fossil fuels, which are coal, natural gases, and oil, they release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the air. These gases trap heat in the atmosphere and can have a great effect on climate change. These changes include rising sea levels, landscapes being more prone to wildfires, and the pollen season length getting longer. Although these may be important, I think that the most important cause of climate change is how severely animals are affected by this. Animals like polar bears, snow leopards, and the Orang-utan struggle to survive everyday in result of climate
Rising temperature is not the only problem caused by climate change, other problems like displacement of animals and humans, rising water levels, and even the disruption of water currents can be caused because of Climate Change. In the Arctic, icebergs
The burning or combustion of fossil fuels increase the amount of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere(“Global Climate Change: Causes”). Because the impact of one pound of N2O is three hundred times greater than a pound of carbon dioxide, nitrous
Help Save the Climate website declares that there are now strong evidences of a rapidly warming world. The Third Assessment Report (TAR) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) contains most of the following. Firstly, the surface thermometer record presents that historical temperature records increased 0.4-0.8°C in the last 100 years (IPCC, 2001). Figure 1 shows the abnormal temperature from 1856 to 2005 comparing with global average surface (horizontal line). It could be observed that global average surface temperature has slightly increased since 1862. And the increase has been enlarged to 0.6 ± 0.2oC when entered 20th century. Help Save the Climate claims 1990s were the warmest decade since records began. This data set clearly reflects the temperature trend based on directly measured temperature, which might has less room for error and no doubt of methodology comparing with more complex means. Natural Resource Defence Council (NRDC) also indicates average global temperature has increased at the fastest rate over past 50 years. Figure 3 obviously shows that we are experiencing an extremely warm period on earth comparing with past 1000 years.
Presently, while Scientists are warning us about the deleterious effects of Global Warming, “Nonscientists” also have separate views on the same issue. This indicates that Global Warming is a controversial issue that needs to be addressed. First, we need to understand the concept of “Global Warming.” Global Warming is described as the general increase in atmospheric temperatures worldwide, which results to climate changes. According to an article titled “Global Warming,” the earth’s atmosphere contains various gases that act as a blanket to trap heat from the sun and prevent it from escaping back into space. This means that these gases prevent the earth from being cold. This continued process is known as the greenhouse effect, and the gasses that are responsible for maintaining this heat are carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. They continued, “Over time, the amount of greenhouse gases trapped in the earth’s atmosphere has increased significantly, causing worldwide temperatures to rise.” Human activities like industrialization and agriculture also play a significant role in increasing these gases. For example, the use of certain fertilizers, produce nitrous oxide and methane emissions come from the production of fossil fuels from landfills, and from livestock, they emphasized. All these evidence illustrates that we are significantly responsible for recent increases in temperatures. For this reason, it is obvious that it is a pressing human issue. This recent dramatic
Earth's inhabitants will be encountered with threatening obstacles if Earth's climate continues to warm. Earth will experience periodic and intense droughts, storms, heat waves, rising sea levels, melting glaciers, and warming oceans; which could be the demise of flora and fauna, and ultimately disrupt the Earth.
Climate change is already beginning to affect animals and plants that live in freshwater, rivers and lakes. As air temperature increases water temperature also do. Some species are already migrating to waters at higher altitudes and latitudes. However, some of them cannot go any further because they are already at the northern or upper limit of their habitat. Is species cannot adapt to new habitat that will be at risk or even become extinct. When species move it affects the food web. This can result for species to become extinct. Furthermore, other species are migrating too early because of the different seasons temperature change. “Warmer springs have led to earlier nesting for 28 migratory bird species on the East Coast of the United States”. [ Similarly, plant production is also being affected since some plants need a certain temperature to
"We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words” (Anna Sewell). There is undeniable evidence that animals are being affected by climate change. Even though the effects are difficult to measure, there are many different ways animals are being affected. With the loss of predator and prey species it affects the life cycles in the food chain. The earth’s climate change causes habitats such as snow, ice, or forest areas to alter, resulting in loss of habitat and food accessibility as well as causing extinction.
Scientific studies have given evidence for this in the North Sea as fish have old further north into deeper water in order to escape the warmer water. Other species for example penguins Irving on the Antarctic Peninsula region may loose their homes as a result of the sea ice reducing as a result of global warming. Not only the penguins have issues with the reduction of sea ice but walrus too.
Global Warming has a huge affect on our daily lives and on animals. We lose a bunch of natural resources, especially fresh-water, because it melts into the salty oceans; however, attempts have been made including the slowing down of global warming by stopping the usage of fossil fuels; whether the attempts have been successful or not. The earth’s temperature is slowly increasing which is a massive long term factor on inhabitants all over the world. The Amazon Rainforest has also experienced many problems due to deforestation and the water circulation throughout all of the plants and trees. Global Warming is exponentially increasing causing the rapid melting of glaciers, which leads to ocean currents changing and
At this time, emission of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, is warming the earth significantly faster than anticipated. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), greenhouse gas emissions will cause the average world temperature to increase from 1.8°C to 4°C (Merson, Black, & Mills, 2012). While a relatively low increase, the impact on our environment is significant. Rising levels of carbon dioxide and other gases have caused variable weather patterns, heat waves, heavy precipitation, flooding, droughts, more intense storms, rising sea levels, and air pollution, all of which is a cause of climate
Some effects from climate change that affect these animals are temperatures are rising, change in rainfall patterns, droughts and heat waves, sea levels are rising,
Carbon dioxide is the greenhouse gas naturally found in the atmosphere. Since the advent of the Industrial Revolution in the 1700s, humans have devised many inventions that burn fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gases, which, along with other human activities such as clearing land for agriculture or urban settlements, help some of these greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere that in turn trap more heat radiation in the atmosphere causing the Earth’s climate to become warmer than it would naturally (Mastrandrea). This unnatural phenomenon is termed global warming by scientists and they blame it for an increase in the Earth’s surface temperature of about 0.6°C (about 1°F) over the last 100 years (Mastrandrea).
The concept of global warming has become one of the most widely debated and controversial topics of our time. Scientists learned long ago that the earth’s climate has powerfully shaped the history of humanity. However, it is only in the past few decades that research has revealed that humans have a significant influence on the climate as well. A growing body of scientific evidence indicates that since 1950, the world’s climate has been warming, primarily as a result of emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and the destruction of tropical forests. More importantly, an article titled "Global Warming" published in the New York Times shows that methane, a gas that is emitted from landfills, livestock and oil gas facilities,
The issue of global warming should be on the list of our top priorities. Studies show that the average of global temperatures have risen since the Industrial Revolution began. Since the Industrial Revolution, human emissions has quadrupled the frequency of certain heat extremes and many scientists have warned that a failure to bring greenhouse gases under control could eventually lead to a 62-fold increase in extreme heat blasts (Gillis Justin A17). Most of the increase is due to human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. These activities contribute to a build-up in carbon dioxide and other gases in Earth’s atmosphere. The Earth’s atmosphere is made of gases like nitrogen, carbon dioxide and oxygen. These gases act as a blanket that covers and gives us warmth, but once these gases such as carbon dioxide absorbs heat, but does not release it back into space in which causes the increase in global temperature. This is called the greenhouse effect because it only traps heat but does not release it.