Use Of Nonrenewable Resources On Energy Consumption

The U.S obtains more than 84% of its energy from fossil fuels including oil, coal and natural gas. This is because people rely on it to heat their homes, power industries, run vehicles, manufacturing, and provision of electricity. It is apparent that the country’s transportation industry highly depends on conventional petroleum oil, which is responsible for global warming, thus threatening economic opulence and national security. Apart from that, increasing consumption of fossil fuels have elevated health problems in the state, destroyed wild places, and polluted the environment. After conducting Environmental Impact Assessment, projections showed that the world energy consumption would increase by more than 56% between 2010 and 2040. However, fossil fuels will cater for more than 80% of the total energy used in 2040. Sadly, it will be a trajectory to alter the world’s climate, as well as, weaken the global security environment. Importantly, the rate at which the US relies on fossil fuels needs to reduce since it has adverse effects on the planet’s supplies. The society needs to realize that fossil fuels are nonrenewable, thus taking millions of years to form (Huebner, 2003). Notably, the country can reduce dependency on fossil fuels by practicing energy conservation and efficiency,

“Since the beginning of the industrial era, the ocean has absorbed some 525 billion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere, presently around 22 million tons per day” (Ocean Portal, n.d). This number is expected to increase forevermore as atmospheric carbon dioxide levels increase and the effects of Climate Change worsen. At first, the idea of our oceans absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere may sound great, however, scientists have been quick to learn otherwise. High concentrations of carbon dioxide in oceans can have detrimental effects on the ocean chemistry and marine ecosystems (Hardt; Safina, 2008). Marine ecosystems are greatly complex and depend on every marine organism to function properly, any change can put the whole ecosystem at risk. For example, the increase of carbon dioxide in our oceans is responsible for the dissolving of “brittle star” skeletal parts, which has in effect caused food scarcity for many fish, crabs, shrimp, and other starfish (Leu, 2013). Furthermore, these marine ecosystems are very important to humans- being the primary food source for millions around the world and having an economic market worth trillions of dollars (Hardt; Safina, 2008). Part of keeping these ecosystems safe is to understand how they work and how projected changes can harm marine organisms.

This increase in oceanic inorganic carbon has offset the seawater carbonate chemistry by causing increasing concentrations of CO2 and bicarbonate, while causing decreasing concentrations of carbonate and pH levels (Dedmer 2013). Rost and colleagues (2008) express that emissions of fossil fuel have caused an immense increase in the levels of atmospheric CO2, which are then deposited into the surface water of oceans. This increase in carbonic acid is in turn decreasing the pH balance, which poses a threat to marine organisms.

Reduced air quality: Fine particulate matter, exhausts, burning of fossil fuels, and pesticides are a few things that exert greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere affecting the climate change. Reduced air quality poses a great risk to public health and has been linked to asthma, heart and lung damage, respiratory diseases, and premature deaths.

About half of that man-made CO2 has been absorbed by the oceans, increasing the concentration of carbonic acid, which has caused the oceans to become more acidic. Over the past 300 million years, ocean pH has averaged about 8.2. Today, it is around 8.1, a 25% increase in acidity over the past two centuries. That increase is projected to reach 150% by the end of this century, a rate of change not seen in 65 million years. A more acidic ocean inhibits shell growth in marine animals such as corals, crustaceans and mollusks, and disrupts entire food chains all the

“How acidification threatens ocean from the inside out: Carbon dioxide emissions are making the oceans more acidic, imperiling the growth and reproduction of species from plankton to squid”, by Marah J. Hardt and Carl Safina addresses the dangers of increasing acidity in the ocean caused by carbon dioxide. Hardt, a research scientist and writer, is the founder of Ocean Ink. Safina, an adjunct professor at Stony Brook University, is the founding president of the Blue Ocean Institute.

Over the past couple of years, no other issue has received more attention in the marine community than ocean acidification. Marine biologists have been constantly working towards solving this issue and are hoping to see improvement’s very soon. Ocean acidification refers to the relentless growth in acidity of the Earth’s oceans. This on-going acidity has attributed to an important element; a constant rise of carbon dioxide levels in the Earth. The number one reason this issue is still happening is because of burning fossil fuels. In addition to burning fossil fuels, it has come to a point where it has enlarged a large amount of carbon dioxide by releasing it into the atmosphere. Chemists have taken this issue into attention that carbon enters the ocean and combines with seawater to fallout acid, which boosts the level of acidity. This process is known as ocean acidification.

For the past 200 years, the rapid increase in atmospheric CO2 continues to be produced by, the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, industrialization, cement production, and other land-use changes. The ocean absorbs much of this excess CO2 through air-sea gas exchange, resulting in changes in seawater chemistry. Due to human-made emissions, the CO2 content of the oceans has dramatically increased and is gradually acidifying the surface waters. As a result of human-made emissions, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere and oceans has increased dramatically during recent decades. In the ocean, the accumulating CO2 is gradually acidifying the surface waters, making it difficult for shelled organisms such as corals and certain open sea plankton to build their calcium carbonate skeletons. Since this process affects the functioning of several marine ecosystems, it has been massively studied in recent years. However, getting an accurate measure is complicated because the effect of ocean acidification on the rates of calcium produced by marine organisms is extremely variable and its species specific. Since scientists incline to use local and site-specific field measurements, treating reef environments and open sea environments separately, their measurements reflect the local response of individual organisms to elevated CO2 levels, leaving out the overall picture.

As earth’s carbon dioxide levels are expected to continue to grow in an exponential fashion they will, ultimately, facilitate large shifts in seawater carbonate chemistry (Doney, Fabry, Feely, & Kleypas, 2008). It has been shown that surplus amounts of atmospheric CO2 decreases the pH level in oceans- disrupting the delicate balance of the stable acidity levels that have maintained the rich and varied web of life in today’s seas (Kleypas & Yates, 2009). This phenomenon is referred to as ocean acidification and is predicted to have rapid and devastating consequences to entire marine ecosystems.

Even though ocean acidification doesn’t get quite as much attention as some things like rising sea levels, or global warming, ocean acidification is still 1 of the most serious effects of greenhouse gas emissions. Nearly a third of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, or about 22 million tons of CO2, is absorbed by the ocean every day. Scientists say this pollution has fundamentally changed ocean chemistry. Ocean acidification, a consequence of rising anthropogenic CO2 emissions, is poised to change marine ecosystems profoundly by increasing dissolved CO2 and decreasing ocean pH, carbonate ion concentration, and calcium carbonate mineral saturation state worldwide. These conditions hinder growth of calcium carbonate shells and skeletons by

Atmospheric CO2 levels are projected to reach 730 to 1090 ppm by 2100 due to rising anthropogenic CO2 inputs (IPCC 2007, Joos et al., 2001, Meehl et al., 2005, Wigley 2004, Wigley and Raper 2001). Oceanic uptake of CO2 is raising marine pCO2 and lowering pH as the dominant dissolved carbonate species in sea water shift from CO32- and HCO3- towards HCO3- and H2CO3, a process known as ocean acidification (OA) (Qu?r? et al., 2012). Declines in pH and ?aragonite associated with emerging changes in carbonate chemistry due to OA will impact diverse marine biota (Doney et al., 2009).

The use of conventional fuels (coal and oil) for the production of energy has caused detrimental effects on the planet with the emissions of greenhouse gases. Switching most of, but hopefully entirely, the world’s population to alternative renewable energy is the only way to save Earth from the decline of the ozone layer. The ozone layer blocks UV radiation that causes many health problems for people and animals, but the ozone layer also aids in the regulation of the planets normal homeostasis. Without this perfect balance life could no longer sustain as it is known to be, or even possibly not at all. These renewable sources are far cleaner than conventional sources, which will in turn help everyone in the world. Along with the higher

Carbon dioxide, by far the largest offender coming in at 80% of all greenhouse gases, comes

One type of air pollution is the release of particles into the air from burning fuel for energy. Diesel smoke is a good example of this

Global warming is a serious epidemic that is affecting the earth due to the main recklessness of its people. Even a minor change in temperature due to global warming affects the earth and its people. It the temperature were still to increase, it could cause drastic changes and affect the earth and earth’s population. Tremendous difference in temperature can directly and indirectly cause the loss of human life and harm the animals. The hard face is that despite what many nations, companies, cities and people are starting to do to reduce their global warming emission. The world is putting out more carbon dioxide into the air than ever before. The current amount is 385 parts per million (ppm), higher than ever in the past