Investigating the Cause of Global Warming

867 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Environmental effects of fossil fuels

Investigating the Cause of Global Warming

Many people disagree on the issue concerning global warming. Some believe that human activities, various forms of polluting, are the main cause of global warming. Others think that not only have humans not affected the planet by any significant amount, but that not much global warming has even occurred.

Many scientists think that pollution is the cause of global warming and the greenhouse effect. There is a lot of evidence to support this theory. In the United States alone, almost 15,000 pounds of greenhouse gases are emitted per person each year. From 1990 to 1997, these emissions have increased by 3.4%. The burning of fossil fuels is responsible for 82% of these emissions. Since the industrial revolution first came about, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by almost 30%. The burning of fossil fuels to power vehicles, heat buildings, and to power factories is the cause of the emission of 80% of the carbon dioxide that is released into the atmosphere. The amount of methane in the atmosphere has increased by more that 100% and the amount of nitrous oxide has risen by 15%. The burning of fossil fuels is also responsible for emitting 25% of the methane and 20% of the global nitrous oxide that is released. Some other emissions are caused by the increase of landfills, agriculture, industry, and mining. There are also other greenhouse gases that do not occur naturally. Some of these gases are chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and perfluorocarbons (PFCs). These are byproducts of refrigeration, air conditioning, and foam production. The increase of greenhouse gases causes the atmosphere to trap more heat than it would naturally. ...

... middle of paper ...

...be able to melt ice caps. I used to believe that action should be taken immediately to stop global warming so that our planet wouldn?t be severely damaged. Now, based on the evidence I have seen, I don?t think that pollution has such a large effect on the environment. Of course I do think that it is important for us to try to cut down on pollution. It will someday affect our descendants. However, I no longer think that a huge amount of money should be spent to solve this problem immediately. I think that each individual should be careful in their everyday lives to try to cut down on pollution. I think this will make our planet a better place for the future.

Bibliography:

http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/index.html

http://www.globalwarming.org/

http://www.heartland.org/studies/ieguide.htm

http://www.ameritech.net/users/storm8/final.htm#discuss

Show More
Related

  • The Outsiders Book Report Essay

    507 Words  | 2 Pages

    The book The Outsiders is the realistic story about this between two very different groups in a town in the United States: the poor Greasers from the east side, and the Socs, whitch is what the greasers call the socials, the richer boys from the other side of the town. Ponyboy Curtis is the narrator of the story, a 14-year-old boy who lives with his two older brothers, Darry and Soda. He is a pretty good athlete and student, but is not treated the same as the richer students at his school. Ponyboy uses to have long hair that he greases back, a symbol of being in the outsider gang. He is unhappy with his situation, because Darry is too protective of him and he always has to be afraid of Socs attacking him.

    Read More

  • The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

    400 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, published by puffin books in 2001. Pony boy is the little brother of Soda and Darry. Pony, Soda and Darry live together in the house, that their parents left them when they died in a car crash. Darry is 19 and a big muscly man who works two jobs to support his two little brothers. Soda is 16 going on 17 and looks a lot like a Greek god; he works at a car yard and dropped out of school because he needed to work to support the family. Pony is 14 and is an A student at school he likes to watch the sunset and is the narrator of this book.

    Read More

  • Importance Of Climate Change Essay

    1379 Words  | 3 Pages

    The emission of carbon dioxide has contributed to 80% to the heating of the earth atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is produced due the burning of fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal and oil. The burning of fossil fuel is very important in our society today, because it is used for cooking, used to produce electricity, for heating, for cooling and also for transportation. The industrialization has led to the use of fossil fuel for running machines and driving cars. The building of fossil fuel contributes towards 80-90% of the carbon dioxide we find in our atmosphere today. When the ecosystems are altered and vegetation is either burned or took out, the carbon stored in them is relinquished to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (What causes global climate change, 2005). Methane is another gas being produced in the process which all have served to increase the greenhouse effect in our atmosphere. Methane is produced from the cultivation of rice, from the burning of coal and from cattle, it has increased by 145% due to human

    Read More

  • The Outsiders In The Outsiders By S. E. Hinton

    1174 Words  | 3 Pages

    The book “the Outsiders” (S.E. Hinton) is based on the story of two gangs the Greasers and the Socs. These two groups of individuals have conflicts. the Greasers are the East side working class people. The Socs are the West side rich kids. they drive around in a blue mustang, they “jump” the greasers and injure them purely because they are lesser than the Socs. The Greasers are a interesting bunch of individuals. the story is based from their perspective. They aren’t rich but they get by, they steal they fight they smoke but they aren’t bad guys.

    Read More

  • Dbq Global Warming

    1227 Words  | 3 Pages

    There is a constant debate pertaining to the idea that global warming is a false claim. Sceptics have long argued that there are other explanations for climate change other than the manmade reasoning that is called CO2. Research shows that 1,000 years ago the earth was hotter. Furthermore if the earth was a higher temperature in the past then its current temperature today, then how climate change be possible.

    Read More

  • Essay On Climate Change

    1442 Words  | 3 Pages

    When people burn fossil fuels to accumulate and produce energy a substance called carbon is produced. Carbon is released into the air in a form known as carbon dioxide. Carbon moves throughout the biosphere on the planet as it is recycled and reused. Carbon exists in the earth’s atmosphere in two common forms which are methane and carbon monoxide. These gases absorb and retain heat in a process known as the greenhouse effect. The Planets natural greenhouse effect makes life possible by regulating our temperature. It turns out that adding too much to the greenhouse effect can have horrible consequences on the environment. Each year, five and a half billion tons of carbon is released by burning fossil fuels and of that three billion tons enters the atmosphere. The remaining carbon usually gets absorbed by the oceans.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Global Warming

    714 Words  | 2 Pages

    Greenhouse gasses have a big impact on our atmosphere. These gasses include water vapor, methane, ozone, nitrous oxide, and carbon dioxide. Each greenhouse gas molecule has three or more atoms that are loosely held together and that eventually release the heat energy and it is absorbed by another greenhouse molecule. Many people talk about greenhouse gasses as if they are a bad idea, but they are not a bad thing. Without these gasses the earth would be zero degrees on the surface. However, too many greenhouse gasses can cause higher temperatures in the atmosphere, cause oceans to warm beyond what they should be normally and weather that is unpredictable. The same with fossil fuels that produce a variety of emissions that pollute our planet 's air and water. These pollutants threaten the environment and its

    Read More

  • Medieval Climate Change

    1006 Words  | 3 Pages

    As the graph in the reference section illustrates, the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas has accelerated since 1850 and shows no sign of slowing down today, at least not at the global level. An inevitable byproduct of burning carbon compounds is the production of far more atmospheric carbon dioxide than green plants and phytoplankton can extract via photosynthesis. Emissions of CO2, methane, and other so called greenhouse gases have skyrocketed, especially after 1900. Annual greenhouse gas emissions are estimated at over 8 billion metric tons

    Read More

  • Population Growth In Canada Essay

    568 Words  | 2 Pages

    2016). Major human activities that contribute to climate change are greenhouse gases, fossil fuel and self-pollution. Greenhouse gases refers to gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and ozone, while fossil fuels are classified as non-renewable resources such as coal, oil, and natural gas. This ongoing issue has been increased due to population growth, more people equals a stranger impact on the environment. Developed countries have been the primary contributors to this process, through the increased consumption of fossil fuels associated with industrialization and rising economic productivity.

    Read More

  • Carbon Dioxide

    647 Words  | 2 Pages

    Humans and animals breathe out Carbon Dioxide, often referred to as the greenhouse gas, as a waste product. Plants take in this CO2 and use it to make food. This is called photosynthesis. During this process oxygen is released which is then breathed in by humans and animals. This procedure is repeated over and over and a natural balance is obtained. However this natural balance is disrupted by human activity. People of the world are putting more than 5.5 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year. 75% of this is caused from the burning of fossil fuels. These fuels are burnt all the time to run factories, power plants and vehicles. The main sources of CO2 emissions are electric utilities, residential buildings, industry and transportation. The other 25% is induced by the destruction of the world's forests. The reason for this is that there are less trees and plants to take in the CO2 but there is just as many, if not more, humans and animals to breathe it out.

    Read More

  • Cause And Effect Essay On Greenhouse Effect

    830 Words  | 2 Pages

    The commonly debated “greenhouse effect” refers to “the global average temperature increase that has been observed over the last one hundred years or more” (Spencer). President Barack Obama addressed the issue in an effort to highlight its severity, "We have to all shoulder the responsibility for keeping the planet habitable, or we’re going to suffer the consequences – together” (Leader). The earth’s increasing atmospheric and oceanic temperatures result in climate changes due to cumulative amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. As an outcome, researchers around the globe have established that the by-product of burning fossil fuels is the main culprit of the increasing temperatures. Global carbon emissions from fossil fuels have significantly increased since 1900, as shown above from a study carried out by the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center.

    Read More

  • Global Warming Informative Speech

    2269 Words  | 5 Pages

    Hello everyone! Today I will be speaking about global warming but before I begin, how many of you believe that global warming exists and that the human population is the primary cause of global warming? I ask this because there are people who believe that global warming does not exist or that it’s “a hoax created by China”. But that’s not true and global warming is in fact one of the biggest problems facing the world today. There is a significant amount of negative effects for the environment and for all living beings due to global warming. And maybe some of you are not be interested in global warming, but the truth is, global warming is a big part of our world and it affects each and every one of us.

    Read More

  • Causes, Effects, and Solutions of Global Warming

    3548 Words  | 8 Pages

    As we approach the future we are faced with many global problems. Most of these problems arise because we have caused them ourselves. We need to face these problems and find a solution. Global warming, although most often overlooked in importance, is a crucial problem of the future directly related to human activities. Global warming is caused by gases humans release into the atmosphere called anthropogenic gases and by deforestation. Anthropogenic gases include carbon dioxide, methane, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrofl...

    Read More

  • Global Warming: A Global Crisis

    1668 Words  | 4 Pages

    In conclusion, many facts point to global warming being detrimental to our world. With scientific predictions, rising temperatures, human causes, drastic climate changes and animal adaptations being some of the more thought about topics it`s hard not to agree that our world can not continue to be used as it is. Even with some scientists arguing against the topic, our Earth`s orbit changing the temperatures before and have been through hotter and cooler time periods the pros still outweigh the cons. This is why we, as a global population, need to take into consideration the outcome of our planet should we continue to abuse it the way we do. Our earth and resources are not a right but a privilege and we should learn to treat them as such before we no longer have either.

    Read More

  • The Impact of Climate Change on Africa

    1473 Words  | 3 Pages

    Scientists, economists, and policy makers all agree the world is facing a threat from climate warming. Climate warming is caused by excess greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, which are heat trapping gases. Human use of fossil fuels is a significant source of these gases. When we drive our cars, heat our homes with oil or natural gas, or use electricity from coal-fired power plants, we contribute to global warming. Including any loss of trees or forests also contributes, considering trees convert carbon dioxide to oxygen.

    Read More

More about Investigating the Cause of Global Warming

Open Document