Humans Are Causing Global Warming

1654 Words7 Pages
In recent years, the controversial subject of global warming has been more predominantly brought to our attention. Is the threat of global warming real? Is it man-made or is this just a natural cycle of earth? Does it really affect earth’s inhabitants? Should action be taken against it? If so, what kind and to what extent? It cannot be only a coincidence that the alarmingly rapid climate change coincides perfectly with the increased amount of pollutants that humans release into the environment. The once stable climate has in recent years begun to skyrocket, thus altering the delicate structure of earthly life. This proves to be hazardous to the future of the planet; some people worry that many of the resources the environment provides that are taken for granted will not be available for future generations to utilize or protect. Many scientists now agree that humans largely influence the progression of global warming which in turn affects greenhouse gas levels, glaciers, storms, and the sea.
Firstly, the term global warming refers to the event in which the surface temperature of earth increases because of solar radiation trapped in the atmosphere. The sun’s radiation comes in the form of light waves which pass through the atmosphere and absorb into the earth and warm it, with the exception of a few waves bouncing off and reflecting back into space in the form of infrared radiation. Some of those infrared rays do not make it back to outer space because they get blocked by the atmosphere and descend back to earth’s surface. This is not necessarily a bad thing because it provides a comfortably warm and consistent climate; without these rays the planet would be freezing. The issue begins when an excess of greenhouse gasses from pollut...

... middle of paper ...

...arning: The Last Chance for Change. Pleasantville: Lucky Dissanayake, 2007. Print.
"Carbon Dioxide Emissions." United States Environmental Protection Agency. EPA., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
"Greenhouse Gases: Introduction." National Climatic Data Center. National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
Guggenheim, Davis, dir. An Inconvenient Truth. 2006. Film.
Lovett, Richard A. "Poisons, Temperature, and Climate Change: Will Global Warming Make Everything Else Worse?" Analog Science Fiction and Fact, 1 Dec. 2011: n. pag. eLibrary. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
Samenow, Jason. "97 Percent of Scientific Studies Agree on Manmade Global Warming, So What Now?" The Washington Post, 20 May 2013, Online ed.: n. pag. eLibrary. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
Schlesinger, William H. "Climate Change." Interpretation 65.4 (2011): n. pag. eLibrary. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
Get Access
Related

More about Humans Are Causing Global Warming

Get Access