The Natural Causes of Global Warming

765 Words2 Pages

For the past 100 years scientists have been warning people of climate change. The general opinion has flip-flopped about three times, from cooling to warming to cooling, and back to warming again. The fact is that earth's climate is constantly changing. It has periods of cooling and periods of warming. However, studies have shown that short-term temperature change cannot be used as a gauge for future predictions. The fact that the earth has experienced warming throughout the last century is not proof that the industrialization of humans was the cause. If we want to even try to predict what the climate will do in the future, we must look back over a longer time interval. The recent global warming is not a result of human activity, but of natural causes. 97 percent of carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere comes from nature, not from man. Volcanoes, swamps, rice paddies, fallen leaves, and even insects and bacteria produce carbon dioxide, as well as methane. According to the journal Science(Nov. 5, 1982), termites alone emit ten times more carbon dioxide than all the factories and automobiles in the world. Natural wetlands emit more greenhouse gases than all human activities combined. (If greenhouse warming is such a problem, why are we trying to save all the wetlands?) The earth's climate has run on a fairly clear pattern over the last 700,000 years. Throughout this time period, there have been a series of glaciation cycles lasting around 100,000 years each. The cycle begins with 90,000 years of cooling, known as an ice age, followed by 10,000 to 12,000 years of interglacial warming. The average temperature of the last ice age we had reached about 9 to 12.6 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than it is today at its lowest p... ... middle of paper ... ...sion=1.0>. Bob Carter. "Global Warming Is the Result of Natural Forces." Current Controversies: Global Warming. Ed. Debra A. Miller. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Anne Arundel Community College. 19 Apr. 2010 . Dennis T. Avery. "Global Warming Is Caused by a Climate Cycle, Not Greenhouse Gases." At Issue: Greenhouse Gases. Ed. Ronnie D. Lankford. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2009. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Anne Arundel Community College. 19 Apr. 2010 .

More about The Natural Causes of Global Warming

Open Document