Climate Change
Introduction
What is the oceans role in climate? The oceans play a vital and pivotal role in the distribution of life sustaining water throughout our planet. 86% of the evaporation that occurs on earth is over the oceans. The oceans are the planets largest reservoir of water transferring huge amounts of water around the hydrological cycle. In fact the oceans “dominate the hydrological cycle, for they contain 97% of the global water inventory” . The hydrological cycle can be disrupted by changes in ocean circulation that play such an important role on evaporation and precipitation. When the ocean circulation system changes it can change how much heat and rainfall is distributed around the world. Changes on a global scale can ultimately lead to flooding and long term drought in various regions. The big questions are can we monitor the oceans circulation and watch for climate changes? Can we predict what might happen if the ocean circulation changed dramatically? We have experienced major climate changes in the past; can we look for evidence of ocean change during these periods?
The Conveyor Belt
The global ocean circulation system is called the thermohaline circulation. Often called the ‘conveyor belt’ courtesy of Wallace Broecker who in an article for Natural History in 1987 had an artist draw a simplified version of the thermohaline circulation and called it the conveyor belt. Wallace Broecker is the Newberry Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University. He has taught at Columbia since 1959, and his research interests include paleoclimatology, ocean chemistry, isotope dating and environmental science. He conducts much of his research in Columbia University's Lamont Doherty Earth O...
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...’s for past as well as future. Computer models are limited partly due to the limits of current technology and the fact that there are so many factors to analyse. Some scientists believe we require a more detailed study of the sub-grid-scale processes in the ocean and others say we need to establish the oceanic equivalent of our MET office. It is fair to say that considerably more research and investment is required if we are to learn more about the fine balance of the atmosphere and the oceans. Global climate changes have had a devastating effect on societies in the past. Rapid climate change in Britain could grind the infrastructure to a halt and effect the economy drastically. Ecosystems, economies and societies adapt better to gradual change and our ability to predict what the consequences are of global warming or changes in the oceanic currents is very important.
Global Warming, much of what does or does not happen forty years from now rests on our actions or inactions taken between now and then. The crucial question is whether we should pour all our resources into mitigation – reducing our carbon emissions. According to scientists who study the climate there are other environmental problems; “we now face a global crises in land use and agriculture that could undermine the health, security, and sustainability of our civilization”.
“How nice – to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive” (Vonnegut 50). In Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut introduces the genuine danger war implements on the innocent minds of soldiers by introducing Billy Pilgrim as a prisoner and Dresden bombing survivor. Kurt Vonnegut’s anti-war novel appropriates around a science fiction theme where Billy Pilgrim becomes “unstuck” in time. This allows Billy to experience his life disorderly.
Since the settling of the English colonies in the early 17th century, pioneers have been destined to expand into the North American frontier and to domesticate it with their Christian faith and progressive nature. In their exploration of the frontier, however, the Puritan colonists often encountered Indians whose savagery challenged their discipline and morals. Just as the colonists expanded, Indians also saw their native lands of many years vanish. The situation naturally compelled the Puritans and the Indians to fight each other for their mutual interests. Thus, while most accounts of Western history focus on the heathen threat, both Indians and colonists experienced the harshness of the captivity myth and its evolution into other mythology that defined American history.
...nti-war book. Vonnegut toys with the notion that war is inevitable, but he leaves the possibility that wars can be stopped; he still knows that death is unavoidable.
Global climate change has been the topic of heated debates and scientific studies for over a decade. While many discoveries have been made as a result of scientific research, and while many people are far more environmentally conscious and aware of the crisis that we face with global climate change, there are still many unknowns regarding the overall effects that global climate change will have on the earth. A specific area of study that contains many unknowns is ocean acidification (OA). While OA is largely a result of the factors that contribute to global climate change, it is still a foreign issue to people worldwide, despite being studied by scientists for more than three decades (NOAA 2014). Fortunately, scientific research is beginning to shine a public spotlight on OA.
For a united nation to prosper, its people must overcome obstacles and take on numerous responsibilities. Throughout our lives, there are problems occurring continually in our world related to war and combat. During these times of hardship, we must remind ourselves to persevere and continue to defend the country. In addressing the Sylvanus Thayer Award on May 12, 1962, at the city of West Point, New York, General Douglas MacArthur urged Americans to remember the major responsibilities we have as Americans in his speech Duty, Honor, Country. With a position of authority, MacArthur powerfully stated that America will only survive through winning wars and fulfilling our duties. His main priority was to defend the nation, respect the nation, and prosper in that vast nation, otherwise remarked as three key terms: duty, honor, and country. Through the use of rhetorical devices, MacArthur expresses the theme that Americans should defend the country sturdily and carry on its numerous objectives by means of his moral code: “Duty, Honor, Country”.
War is the epitome of cruelty and violence, an experience that can prove maddening and strip away some of the most intrinsic characteristics of humanity. Kurt Vonnegut’s experiences as a prisoner of war during World War II inspired his critically hailed novel Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), in which characters continually search for meaning in the aftermath of mankind’s irrational cruelty ("Kurt Vonnegut: 1922-2007" 287). Both the main character, Billy Pilgrim, and Vonnegut have been in Dresden for the firebombing, and that is what motivates their narrative (Klinkowitz 335). In his anti-war novel Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut expresses the adverse emotional effects of war through the psyche of Billy Pilgrim.
In Thomas King’s novel, The Inconvenient Indian, the story of North America’s history is discussed from his original viewpoint and perspective. In his first chapter, “Forgetting Columbus,” he voices his opinion about how he feel towards the way white people have told America’s history and portraying it as an adventurous tale of triumph, strength and freedom. King hunts down the evidence needed to reveal more facts on the controversial relationship between the whites and natives and how it has affected the culture of Americans. Mainly untangling the confusion between the idea of Native Americans being savages and whites constantly reigning in glory. He exposes the truth about how Native Americans were treated and how their actual stories were
A typical book about war would focus on the heroes and victories, like Odysseus in the Odyssey, but Vonnegut focused on a Prisoner of War and those with him, who didn’t have
Vitale, Tom. “Kurt Vonnegut: Still Speaking To The War Weary.” www.npr.org. May 31, 2011. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
In this essay, the effects of climate change on agriculture and how to manage it shall be discussed. Climate change has and will greatly affect agriculture. As time progresses, the effects of climate change will worsen and become detrimental. Mendelsohn and Dinar (2009:1) state,” if future climate scenarios lead to a widespread reduction in food supply, there could be massive problems with hunger and starvation”. Climate change is a change in global climate patterns which is mainly caused by the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by fossil fuels. The writer chose this topic because climate change is a global problem that will pose a threat to people’s lives around the world and must be dealt with sooner than later.
Our world is always changing, so is our climate. Some changes are apparent, others not so much. Climate change is an important issue of concern in the twenty-first century. Environment, if it changes at all, evolves so slowly that the difference cannot be seen in a human lifetime (Wearth, 2014). Mostly all scientists predicted that it would take thousands of years for the planet to warm up due to emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels called greenhouse gases. But in the past 200 years, things began to change. The rate and the amount of warming that is happening on this planet are unprecedented. Wearth says, “People did not grasp the prodigious fact that both population and industrialization were exploding in a pattern of exponential
There is no longer any question that our world climate has changed (King, 2004). Over the last 100 years, "temperatures have risen by about 0.6 degrees Celsius and global sea level has risen by about 20cm" (K...
Ellycia R Harrould-Kolieb and Dorothée Herr co-wrote the article Ocean Acidification and Climate Change: Synergies and Challenges of Addressing both under the UNFCCC which was published in the 2012 Journal of Climate Policy. The article describes how the release of climate-change-causing carbon dioxide into our atmosphere is causing ocean acidification but through international policies the effects of ocean acidification can be mitigated.
Haines states that “warming is likely to be greater at the poles than at the equator” (99) so the effects will be seen there first. According to “Global Climate Change”, in the last 134 years of tracking temperature, 9 out of 10 of the hottest years have been in the 2000s with 2015 being the warmest ranked year so far. That’s a fact I’m willing to accept just thinking back to the temperatures last summer. Artic sea ice has been declining at an unbelievable rate in the last few year due to these abnormally high temperatures. September is when the ice is at its lowest point, and being measured from 1981 to 2010, it is declining at a 13.3 percent per decade (“Global Climate Change”). This big quantity of ice is melting into the oceans and displacing water, raising the sea levels and risking flooding. Since a majority of big cities and towns are located near the water, flooding imposes a major threat to many areas and