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how does the environment influence health
reasons global warming is happening
reasons global warming is happening
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Over the last two centuries, humanity has become increasingly reliant on fossil fuels. Over that time, the consequences of constantly burning fossil fuels have accumulated into a threat to industrialized cities. The burning of fossil fuels causes acid rain to shower on cities and ecosystems around the world, tormenting their inhabitants. The increasingly deadly pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels has caused the deaths of many people around the world by causing respiratory problems. Not only has the pollution worsened, but the supply of fossil fuels is not limitless – as humanity’s reliance increases the supply decreases, and that is all the more reason to break humanity’s reliance on fossil fuels. Fossil fuels should be replaced with cleaner alternatives because fossil fuels cause environmental hazards, are non-renewable, and are detrimental to human health. Ever since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution at the end of the 18th century, fossil fuels have been used constantly, slowly changing the planet’s atmosphere. According to Mann, “the preindustrial level of CO2 was 280 parts per million (ppm)” (N. pag). He predicts that at current rates, we will reach 560 ppm by the end of the 21st century. To make matters worse, Mann states that 450 ppm is dangerous as it will cause an increase in Earth’s average temperature by 2 Celsius. He recommends taking measures to keep CO2 at less than 405 ppm (N. pag). Mann takes note that in 2013, the value managed to reach 400 ppm (N. pag). It is needless to say that the point of no return is right around the corner. Unfortunately, the affects of pollution are already felt around the world. Pollution can cause many health issues and damage several organs in the body. When people think ... ... middle of paper ... ...i. "Environmental Pathways Of Potential Impacts To Human Health From Oil And Gas Development In Northeast British Columbia, Canada." Environmental Reviews 20.2 (2012): 122-134. Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 Apr. 2014. Liu, Tingwu, et al. "A Combined Proteomic And Transcriptomic Analysis On Sulfur Metabolism Pathways Of Arabidopsis Thaliana Under Simulated Acid Rain." Plos ONE 9.3 (2014): 1-11. Academic Search Complete. Web. 16 May 2014. Mann, Michael E. "False Hope." Scientific American 310.4 (2014): 78-81. Academic Search Complete. Web. 9 May 2014. Smil, Vaclav. "The Long Slow Rise Of Solar And Wind." Scientific American 310.1 (2014): 52-57. Academic Search Complete. Web. 16 May 2014. United States. Energy Information Administration. “Electric Power Monthly with Data for February 2014” eia.gov. US Energy Information Administration, 22 Apr. 2014. Web. 8 May 2014.
Human activities have led to an exponential increase in the use of fossil fuel. The benefits of using fossil fuels are short lived in comparison to its long-term negative effects. In the last couple of decades, the major consumption of fossil fuel played a significant role in the rise of concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. Roughly two trillion metric tons of CO2 have been emitted in the atmosphere and over a quarter of these got mixed with the ocean water resulting in ocean acidification (Buffie and Carr, 2010).
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), carbon dioxide is the primary gas emitted through human activities and is the most important human contributed greenhouse gas (Overview of greenhouse, 2014). Carbon dioxide is naturally occurring in Earth’s atmosphere. The passing of carbon dioxide through the atmosphere, oceans, soil, plants, and animals is what is known as the carbon cycle. This carbon cycle is important to sustaining life here on Earth. Carbon dioxide is important to life on earth because it is the main component of many biological compounds, minerals, and exists in various forms in the atmosphere (Carbon Cycle, 2014). Humans are disrupting this carbon cycle however by adding more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere and by removing natural absorbers of carbon dioxide, like forests to remove the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This is where the greenhouse effect comes into play, since the industrial revolution there has been an increase in the human-related emission of carbon dioxide mainly due to the burning or combustion of fossil fuels for energy. Other contributors include certain industrial processes, the differen...
The Industrial Revolution was not only a turning point in the progress of human history, but the start of a great change in the Earth’s environment. Technological advances in industry and mass migration into urban areas led to a rising demand for energy sources, a demand met by fossil fuels. Casper, J. (2010) describes coal as ‘symbolic of the beginning of the Industrial Revolution’, the increased combustion of these ‘dirty’ fossil fuels further polluted the air and enhanced the volume of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. Changes in land use attributed to population rise, reduced the amount of photosynthesising biomass on Earth, diminished an important ‘carbon sink’ and concluded to enhance the Greenhouse Effect.
...lobal warming and innumerable animal fatalities worldwide. Workers in the fossil fuel industries undergo irrational risks of an inevitable explosion every day. Thousands of human lives have been taken in offshore oil rig explosions, coal mines and natural gas pipelines. In addition, fossil fuels are directly linked to rising global warming temperatures and drast changes in the environment. Likewise millions of avian fatalities were linked to fossil fuels plants, emitting greenhouse gases are responsible for acidic oceans that harm marine species, and thousands of animals are harmed by oil spills in the sea. Based on this research, fossil fuels are harming the Earth excessively. Renewable energy sources offer efficient and cleaner energy that will benefit the globe. Renewable energy is the definite solution to end human’s heavy dependence upon ancient fossil fuels.
From the home to factories, families and industries are reliant on the use of nonrenewable fossil fuels to feed the needs of the everyday human. Fossil fuels are the main source of energy over clean, renewable sources such as the use of wind, solar energy, and water to power our homes, schools, and industries. In fact, about 85% of energy use comes from fossils fuels. The main reason being that using fossil fuels is cheaper than wind and solar energy. “For nearly two centuries, fossil fuels have been the cheapest source of energy” and widely abundant (Marburger, A global framework: international aspects of climate change). However, overtime fossil fuels will disappear due to the lack of time to replenish itself with the human races rapid use of it. Despite its current status of availability, there are many controversial issue in using fossil fuels; the most prominent issue being that it is the cause of rapid climate
The dependency on fossil fuels is a pressing issue for not only America, but the whole world. People everywhere continue to search for solutions to the growing problem by taking steps to create a cleaner environment, reduce the price of fuel consumers pay and most importantly, protect the nation’s security from foreigners. America, being one of the leading consuming nations of fossil fuels, is negatively affecting the environmental, economic and political aspects pertaining to its dependency on non-renewable resources.
Delucchi, Mark A., and Mark Z. Jacobson. "Meeting The World’s Energy Needs Entirely With Wind, Water, And Solar Power." Bulletin Of The Atomic Scientists 69.4 (2013): 30-40. Academic Search Complete. Web. 28 Nov. 2013.
The emission of green house gasses due to human activity contributes the most in increasing global warming. Today, fossil fuels are used as a source of energy for transportation, electricity, industrial process and to increase human comfort in this era. Over the last decade humans have created mass amount of industries. These industries have been burning fossil fuels such as coal, which release carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide; carbon dioxide absorbs heat that raises the temperature of the earth. More than 80% of carbon dioxide comes from tr...
Smil, Vaclav. "The Long Slow Rise of Solar and Wind." Scientific American 310.1 (2014): 52. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
The burning of fossil fuels has greatly harmed our environment and is a leading cause as to why climate change has become such a threat to our way of living. In May of 2013, the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere reached 400 parts per million, an increase of more than 40 percent since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. This could cause the Arctic Ocean to be nearly ice-free during the summer by 2020(Overland and Wang, 2013).
Fossil fuels are an important part of life. When you turn on the lights, watch TV, or take a shower, the electricity that you are using is being generated by fossil fuels. The three types of fossil fuels are coal, crude oil, and natural gas. They all take millions of years to form, so they are considered to be “non-renewable”- eventually, the fossil fuels will all be used up. One dangerous biological effect of using fossil fuels is ocean acidification. Extracting and transporting fossil fuels can also be very dangerous. Environmentally damaging accidents such as groundwater contamination, land subsidence, and oil spills occur frequently. Global warming is another possible environmental effect. Fossil fuels have a crucial role in modern society, but since they are non-renewable and dangerous, we should reduce our dependence on them and explore alternative energy sources. Wind energy, hydroelectricity, and solar energy are some examples of renewable fuel sources. There are also many things that people can do everyday to save energy (and, in turn, conserve fossil fuels).
Meehl, Gerald A. "Solar and Greenhouse Gas Forcing and Climate Response in the TwentiethCentury." 2012. Web 13 May 2015
One of the world’s biggest problems is air pollution even though many people don’t even give the right attention and many people don’t even know that they are polluting air. Scientific search shows that toxic fumes are the primary cause of skin aging in polluted cities. Air pollution is precipitately ageing the faces of citizens opening up wrinkles and age spots. This is nothing compared to effects that air pollution has in our community. Fossil fuels like oil, coal, and natural gas are the remains of living things from millions of years ago. Researches show that “before the world develop to industrialised by burning fossil fuels the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere was about 0.028%. Whereas now the carbon dioxide released by burning of fossil fuels
Fossil fuels are energy that is in the form of coal, oil, or natural gas that comes from organisms from millions of years ago. The cycle to create fossil fuels takes millions of years to form and is therefore considered a nonrenewable resource of energy. Fossil fuels have been the primary source of energy for man ever since the age of machines, but one of “the main problem[s] with fossil fuels is that there is a limited amount of them” (Problem with Fossil Fuel). As countries become more developed, like the United States, they too will become more thirsty and dependent for fossil fuels. “In 2004, America spent approximately $270 billion to fufill its oil need.” and “90% of all transportation is fueled by oil” (Nakaya 10). With the global rate of fossil fuels going up it is inevitable that they are going to run out, forcing countries to choose an alternative energy source. The other huge problem with dependence on fossil fuels is the effect that the emissions have on the climate. Fossil fuels are made of carbon chains and in order for the reaction...
Fuels like coal, and oil that once were a fine innovation in creating energy are now rapidly deleting and one day will be gone forever; energy that won’t last is often referred to as non-renewable energy. Besides being set up to fail and become inefficient in the future, fossil fuel energy is not clean to use and poses several environmental complications. Coal, for instance is “the dirtiest of all fossil fuels. Coal combustion not only produces sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides that contribute to acid rain and snow, it generates millions of tons of particulates that cause asthma and other respiratory diseases.” As with all usage of fossil fuels, it creates enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, which contributes to greenhouse gas. Not only are fossil fuels dirty, they also pose as a security risk and unforgiving on the American wallet. (Saini)