Review of Literature
I. Introduction-Global Warming
While the debate continues about how to protect the Earth for the future of man’s existence, there is no doubt about the profound impact that pollution and the rise of global temperatures have had. There are some natural causes of these changes, and several man-made reasons for the modification in Earth’s environment. These sources of global warming and pollution are adding to an already complicated ecosystem. They affect the Earth’s biomes and interrupt the balance between the organisms that inhabit many climates. Finding the source of the problem can be quite difficult, but scientists and the study of climatology work hard to find patterns in Earth’s temperature changes and atmosphere. When looking at how Earth’s biomes have changed, many think of global warming as a main factor. According to Dictionary.com,”Global warming is an increase in the Earth’s average atmospheric temperature that causes corresponding changes in climate and that may result from the greenhouse effect.” The theory of global warming starts with the assumption that the Earth maintains a constant average temperature. This is believed to be the result of a balance between the amount of sunlight that Earth absorbs, and the amount of IR (infrared radiation) that the Earth constantly emits to outer space. This theory says that the lower atmosphere must react to the energy imbalance of less infrared radiation being lost than solar energy being absorbed by increasing the temperature. This would cause an increase in the IR escaping to space until the infrared radiation equaled the amount of sunlight absorbed. In other words, the Earth must increase its temperature until its energy balance is reest...
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... the ocean life. It would lower the amount of calcium carbonate in the water. Calcium carbonate is used by marine organisms such as coral, shellfish, crustaceans, and mollusks to build their shells. If the pH level drops like it is projected to it would be a 60 percent loss of calcium carbonate. This would make it incredibly difficult for thousands of marine species to survive. Global warming and pollution are changing the Earth’s climate every day. Together, they are increasing, leaving the polar ice caps and the rainforest with a higher risk of survival. The majority of the Earth’s global warming and pollution is due to the mindless waste of humans. By being more careful with Earth’s ecosystems, the path that the Earth is on could be reversed. Earth is a delicate planet and each biome that inhabits it, is essential to human and animal survival.
Global warming is a major ecological concern today. It is being caused by man’s ever
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, p.205). Scientific studies suggest that all these played a role in past global warming and cooling periods. Today, however, there is a lot of conflict on whether humans are causing a global warming that could be disastrous to humans and all species of plants and animals on this earth. This paper will first explain the greenhouse effect, then take a look at both sides argument, and, finally, analyze the effect of global warming on world-wide sustainability
Climate Change is an ongoing problem that continues to intensify as time goes on and not much is happening to change it. Material consumption and increasing populations are increasing the issue of climate change and ruining Earth’s ecosystems. Since the Earth’s population is growing and fast, people are using more energy and materials, which raises great concern. The human ecological footprint has grown so much over the past few years that it is almost irreversible if not changed quickly. Climate change is the most important threat to the Earth and many factors lead are to blame, fossil fuels, greenhouse gases, and carbon dioxide. It would although be ignorant to say that man has nothing to do with it, as the population increases, the need for natural resources, use of more fossil fuels, more waste is produced, the is more pollution which leads to the ozone depletion causing global warming and essentially climate change overall. Since man has the ability to cause such harm to the Earth, man should change their ways to reverse the damage.
Global warming and global climate change is the study of future increases of temperature across the globe. Studying climate change refers to how the over- all climate will change such as the dry places getting dryer and the wet places getting wetter. Global climate is dependent on “the greenhouse effect a natural process that helps regulate temperature” (Easterling and Karl). In the past few centuries humans have had a monumental effect on increasing of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Climate change is result of the increase amount of the greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere such as methane, carbon dioxide, water vapor, nitrous oxide, and ozone. “Global temperature has rose approximately 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit over
To understand the issue, global warming must be defined as well as broken down. Earth has a fairly simple way of regulating global temperature, involving natural gases. After reading the article, “What is the Greenhouse Effect?” the author explains in other words;
Interactions between human and the ecosystem have been operating for millenniums, and are impossible to eliminate, as each depends on the other in order to survive and flourish. However, as modern technology advances, as well as the increase in the world’s population, the need for natural resources begin to rise to an alarming rate which has started to gradually destroy the ecosystem. Recently, there has been an increase of sea levels in region whilst other rain-bounty areas have begun to experience their first droughts. This phenomenon is known as climate change. Climatologists have concluded that human activity has played a major role in contributing to the changes, therefore requiring extreme measures before this phenomenon evolves into a catastrophe. In this essay, we will discuss human activities that contributed to climate change, as well as addressing possible solutions to the phenomenon.
Earth’s climate is determined by the physics and chemistry of its atmosphere. Earth’s atmosphere consists of four layers; troposphere which is closest to earth, stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere. Hardy says, “During the past 100 years we humans, as a result of burning coal, oil, and gas and clearing forests, have greatly changed the chemical composition of the thin atmospheric layer.” There is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere due to burning fossil fuels. The atmosphere is made up of many gases such as nitrogen, oxygen, and argon. It also consists of trace gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, chlorofluorocarbons and, ozone. The trace gases have the greatest effect on our climate (Hardy 5). Up to a certain level, these gases help to keep the planet warm by absorbing certain infrared wavelengths, so that there can be life on the planet. Thus, they trap heat in the troposphere and stop it from escaping to space (Hardy 7). Therefore, the greater amount of greenhouse gases, the more heat trapped in the atmosphere. Earth’s temperature is increasing due to increased levels of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide released into the air from burning fossil fuels. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2001 report projects “global average surface temperature increases ranging from 1.4 to 5.8 degrees
What happens when too much carbon dioxide gets omitted into the Earth’s atmosphere? The condition known as Global Warming occurs. Global Warming is the rising of the Earth’s surface temperature due to chemicals in the atmosphere. Global Warming has many threats on the climate and even the health of the people on this planet. Some of these threats include the altering of crop seasons and even effect the way organisms survive on the planet. The first thing I think I should discuss when talking about global warming is what causes it to occur.
Thousands of species have become extinct over the last four decades as a result of changes in land use and as a result of global warming. Whether or not the millions of species can adapt and evolve to climate changes is debatable. As this brief overview will report, the human species is not adapting well to the changes. It must be remembered that increases in the levels of carbon dioxide are certainly responsible for the risk many species face, but so is the way land is used, e.g., rain forest destruction. There is a feedback loop wherein plant life and the climate are interdependent. Each affects the other. When forests are cut down, temperatures in that area will rise. Rising temperatures cause other plant life requiring cooler temperatures To die off.
Global warming is the rising of average temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere due to greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are gases that trap heat in the atmosphere. The greenhouse effect consists of gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and water vapor insulating the Earth’s surface and helping it maintain warm temperatures. However since there is so much carbon dioxide filling the air the Earth atmosphere absorbs almost all of the suns emission. When the sun heats the earth the atmosphere is supposed to radiate most of the heat but instead it takes all the warmth and uses it to power the Earth causing a buildup of green house gases. This has been taught to everyone, but is it true or a hoax? Some scientists argue that global warming is nothing to worry about and that it is just a myth. Nevertheless there are other scientists who say the world will enter a vast drought because of the rising temperatures. Global warming affects natural and geographical and historical boundaries.
According to World WildLife Fund, many ecosystems around the world are being destroyed, eliminating many plant and animal species that inhabit them (“Pollution”).
Glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising, cloud forests are drying, and wildlife is scrambling to keep pace (Geographic). In other words, Mother Nature is becoming a victim of global warming and it’s clear that humans have caused most of the past century's warming by releasing heat-trapping gases as we power our modern lives. According to research, scientists have high confidence that global temperatures will continue to rise for decades to come, largely due to greenhouse gasses produced by human activities (Jenkins).Greenhouse gases are higher now than in the last 650,000 years and is causing more intense heat waves than usual. As a result from this changes plants and trees are flowering sooner, glaciers are shrinking, and ice on rivers and lakes is breaking up earlier than expected. All this ice melting is rapidly rising the sea levels and eventually all that water is going to take over cities like New York and Florida because they are surrounded by ocean waters. Oceans are not the only thi...
Many climate scientists, researchers, and environmentalists are expressing concerns about shifts in the overall climate of the earth. It is believed that a dramatically dangerous warming is taking place in the overall global climate, a problem that is referred to as "global warming”. Global warming is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of Earth’s climate system. This temperature rise is due to the damaging effects of deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels. It is our responsibility to preserve our planet and our way of living but in order to do that we need to act now. If we continue to destroy the planet with no regard as to how serious this matter is there could be several negative effects to us as human being and other living thing on Earth. This is why global warming is truly a global issue and needs to be tackled collectively. We must to act now in order to reduce the dangerous levels of carbon dioxide emissions and we must to work together.
Global Warming One of the most substantial problems in the world today is global warming. This gradual warming of the earth is in occurrence at an extremely slow rate but it is happening. Many scientists believe that as human’s work and release greenhouse gases into the earth’s atmosphere, it can become dangerous for the long lasting life of humans and our environment. “Unless we take immediate action, the impacts of global warming will continue to intensify, grow ever more costly and damaging, and increasingly affect the entire planet - including you, your community, and your family” (“Global Warming Impacts”).
Global warming is an increase in the earth's temperature due to fossil fuels, industry, and agricultural processes caused by human, natural, and other gas emissions. This results in an increased evacuation of greenhouse gases. “Short-wave solar radiation sinks into the Earth's atmosphere and warms its surface while long-wave infrared radiation emitted by earth's surface is absorbed, and then re-emitted by trace gases.” (2)