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
First is a description of the greenhouse effect. The earth’s atmosphere has four layers, or zones, with each having distinct differences in temperature. The troposphere is the first layer surrounding the earth. Within this layer air is continually circulating and moving heat and moisture around the earth. The troposphere is denser than the other layers due to the fact that gravity keeps the majority of air molecules near the earth. This is about 75 percent of all the atmospheric mass. It is also the warmest layer (Cunningham & Cunningham, ...
... middle of paper ...
...11, from http://www.petitionproject.org/
Sheppard, M., (2010). Post climategate: Towards a reassessment of the global warming. Retrieved February 13, 2010, from http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=20017
Shwartz, M. (2003). Effects of global warming already being felt on plants and animals worldwide. Retrieved February 18, 2011, from http://news.stanford.edu/pr/03/root18.html
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2010). Agriculture and Food Supply. Retrieved February 16, 2011, fromhttp://www.epa.gov/climatechange/effects/agriculture.html
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2010). Greenhouse gas emissions. Retrieved February 14, 2011, from http://epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/index.html
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2010). Sea level changes. Retrieved February 18, 2011, from http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/recentslc.html
John Hopkins University, January 16, 1998. http://www.cato.org/speeches/sp-jt011698.html. Boyachek, Karen. A. “Argument Against the Global Warming Theory” U of Saskatchewan. Newsletter 26 Jan. 20 http://www.cs.usak.ca/undergrads/kmbl129/49/assignment.
Portions of the United States experienced an exceptionally cold winter this year. Here in North Carolina we had three months of overnight temperature below freezing with temperatures in the 20s. I have lived in the Raleigh area for 25 years and have never experienced a winter so consistently cold with thick layers of ice on windshields every morning and frost on the roofs of homes that remained frozen until the middle of the morning. The act of cleaning up snow and ice brought back memories of growing up in the 1960s in the far north of New Jersey where temperatures remained below freezing for months and the ice on local lakes was solid enough to support the weight of a tractor to plow away the snow so everyone could ice skate, and we did skate there for at least two months. Recent winters in my hometown have been so mild that the lake did not freeze at all and even the Canada geese did not migrate south, but remained there in NJ. This winter, while we were freezing inside our homes back here in Raleigh, the news media continued to debate the global warming issue. The conflict between the weather outside for me vs. the news reports of global warming made me pause and question where the truth lies. My research uncovered that global warming is very real and, in fact, explains the shift in air currents that caused the extreme weather this winter that is negatively impacting millions of lives. In conclusion, the time is now when politicians must legislate strong actions to minimize man’s contribution to global warming and enact measures to provide emergency assistance wherever these violent weather patterns cause crises.
"The Consequences of Global WarmingOn Wildlife." Consequences of Global Warming. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2014. .
Furthermore, this analysis must take place amidst serious gaps in the existing research and technology concerning the developing climatic conditions. For these reasons, global warming stands as one of the most daunting policy issues facing our world today. This is compounded by the debate over the very existence of climate change. While countless sources of empirical evidence testify to the very real presence of climate change the world over, considerable denial of the phenomenon still exists. The argument has been made that evidence of climate change is a gross overstatement, or in some cases, a complete fabrication.
The process where the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere trap heat to keep the temperature of the Earth warm is called the greenhouse effect. The Earth takes up the energy that is radiated by the sunlight and cools down by releasing a different form of energy called infrared radiation. The warmer the temperature, the more radiation will be emitted from the Earth’s surface. (David)Some of the infrared radiation produced by the Earth will be released to the outer space. Before all of the radiation is reflected to the space, the radiation will pass through the Earth’s atmosphere. Then, greenhouse gases located in the atmosphere will absorb some of the radiation emitted by the Earth, keeping the atmosphere around the Earth warmer. (Basi) This process helps to keep and protect th...
Gerngross, Tillman U. and Steven C. Slater. "How Green are Green Plastics?" Scientific American. August 2000:1-7.
Global warming doesn't just affect plant life- it also effects animals all around the world. Terry L. Root is involved with Stanford's institute for International Studies and says, "Birds are laying eggs earlier than usual, plants are flowering earlier and mammals are bre...
Schulz, Kathryn. ?Global Warming Right Now.? Rolling Stone 20 Feb. 2003: Iss.916 Academic Search Premier. EBSCO
Global climate change has been an important point of discussion for several years. People often associate climate change with global activities such as burning fossil fuels, pollution, glacier melting, and various other greenhouse gasses. According to Discourses of climate security, “global climate change has become a security issue in contemporary global politics (McDonald, 42-51)”. This article explains different discourses of climate security argued by lobbyist, environmental advocates, and academic analyst. The four climate security discourses will answer the following questions: Whose security is at stake? Who is able to respond to the threat? How is the threat defined? What are suggestions to deal with the threat? The article is delineated into four different phases. First, the evolution of engagement with climate change security relationships. Second, the methodologies of discourses analysis are outlined. Third, which is also the most important part of the article; the four climate security discourses with different conceptions are discussed. Finally, climate change and security correlation will be explained and the politics of responses to climate change. Climate change is dubious of being responsible for certain events that put entities at risk. Entities that could be at risk are long-term human security and nation-state’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Climate change can cause humans to be at risk with more “vector- borne diseases, sea level rise on low lying land, changing patterns of rain, and extreme weather phenomena’s (IPCC, 2007)”. Climate change has also been researched to see if it is related to armed conflict and water resource boundary conflicts.
This essay will describe one of the most critical issues in today’s modern human society. In the discussion section of this paper several question will be answered concerning this topic such as; what is climate change? How is it caused? What is causing sea levels to rise? And are natural disasters related to Climate Change? In the analysis part of this essay I will write about the natural climate and temperature changes our earth has faced in the past, and will conclude by summarizing all the above in the conclusion segment of this paper.
Mastrandrea, Michael D. "Global warming." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2013. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.
Our planet has managed to survive and thrive for about 4.54 billion years. In the last 2 million years we have caused enough damage and destruction to make our world “broken” beyond repair. We will not be able to get back the world we once had. The reason behind this is global warming, specifically, the increase of the global temperature due to the burning of fossil fuels and the release of greenhouse gas emissions into our atmosphere. If we do not make the issue of global warming a priority in today`s society, our entire way of life will be at risk. There are many reasons why so many people believe global warming should be a concern. Thoroughly examined points include: scientific predictions, rising temperatures, human causes, drastic climate changes and animal adaptations. Though there are several points arguing how global warming should not be a concern, the reality of the matter is that it needs to be taken into consideration on a global scale before it is too late, as to do nothing would have devastating implications on humankind.
In June of 1988, James Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), informed a Senate committee that, "the greenhouse effect has been detected and is changing our climate now." With this statement, he launched the ongoing international debate on the magnitude of global warming and its "potential to adversely affect the Earth's environment."1 Unfortunately, since this announcement, the world has not yet become fully mobilized to act on this problem. The majority of solutions proposed by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have not been implemented as countries like the US, though symbolically ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, hesitate to actually implement its policies. The slow progress of policy to abate global warming can be attributed to limited scientific backgrounds of politicians, lobbying from polluting industries, international disagreement and confusion over the sheer number of policy options now being considered.
The earth is a complex system, which continues to evolve and change. Climate change and global warming are currently popular in the political agenda. But what does “climate” really mean? The difference between weather and climate can be conveyed in a single sentence: “Climate is what you expect; weather is what you get.” Based on research of the geologic record, we know that climate change has happened throughout Earth's history and at present, ever-increasing evidence points to the roles that humans play in altering Earth systems. The Earth and its atmosphere receive heat energy from the sun; the atmospheric heat budget of the Earth depends on the balance between incoming solar radiation and outgoing radiation from the planet; which has been constant over the last few thousand years. However present evidence seems to suggest that the recent increase in temperature has been brought about by pollution of the atmosphere, in particular the release of huge amounts of carbon dioxide, mostly through Anthropogenic Forcing (human activity) and other various internal and external factors. I...
Global warming has been one of the most challenging problems our society has encountered and people don't acknowledge that our climate change is becoming worse as the time goes by. Climate change which is said to be the regular or ordinary weather in an environment consists of patterns like seasons and temperature. Climate patterns play such an important role in constructing an essential ecosystem, human economies and cultures that rely on them has raised the surface of the world's oceans in recent decades by melting glaciers and causing seawater to expand as it warms. In addition, thermal expansion from current and future greenhouse gas desolation and increasing mass losses from the glaciers and ice sheets due to warming oceans and surface temperatures have affected the rising of sea levels. The deficit of mass from glaciers and also the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica play a role to sea level rises each year passes. Thus, some people believe climate change is a worrisome issue because of the destructive and devastating effects it will have on cities, wildlife, coastal regions, weather, illness and disease, economic loss, and people. The results from global climate change are now occurring is losses of sea ice, accelerated sea level rise and longer, more intense heat waves. On the other hand, some believe it is not a worrisome issue because global warming is just a natural climate shift and that plants and animals can adapt to such a shift. Global warming in fact is a threat because it causes our sea levels to rise, which can lead to the incursion and flood in the northern part of America and consequentially will affect the habitats and environment for animals and humans who will become vulnerable and endangered to this c...