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Causes of global warming
Mitigation solutions for global warming
Effects on the Earth from climate change
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Climate Change: We play a role, but Earth does too. For a majority of people, it isn’t new news that the Earth’s climate is changing and increasingly getting warmer. For quite some time now, people have been arguing about what the actual causes are and what role humans have played in the current condition of the earth. A good bit of people seem to be in agreement that due to the actions of humans, the earth’s climate is increasingly getting worse and that if things don’t change, than everyone living on earth will be facing the consequences. However, this is not entirely true. The fault of climate change does not fall solely on the shoulders of mankind, but on the earth as well. According to an essay titled “Why Bother?” by Michael Pollan, he is in agreement with the NASA scientist James Hensen who exclaimed that there is “ten years left for us to act and start cutting the carbon emission or we will be facing a different planet” (767). I, for one, do not agree with this statement. People are not the only …show more content…
Michael Pollan expresses in his essay that he believes that our actions are the leading factor in climate change. While the actions of mankind is a contributing factor to the rate of which it is occurring, I don’t believe that the fault falls totally on us. The earth too is responsible to a degree for climate change due to its natural processes to warm the planet and change its climate along with the ability of adapting to what’s going on around it. With that said, however, I do still believe that we should take some responsibility for our actions and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide that we emit. There are so many ways to do so, but not every option is for every person. Find the solution that works best for you. Pollan’s essay presents a good question in his title of “Why Bother?” Why should we? Because if we don’t, then who will? We should be the change that we want to see in the
Rather than worry too much about emissions, we should accept the world is going to get warmer anyway and adapt to global warming by building better flood defenses and developing drought resistant crops.
Michael Pollan does an excellent job at conveying the seriousness of this issue to his audience. However, it is unclear whether he wants the audience to take action against climate change or if he merely wants to inform them about how no action they could take would yield success. In addition to this, it seems as if Pollan begins to diverge from the greater problem of climate change in order to cover more trivial topics. For example, in the final paragraph of this article, Pollan elects to write about the “sweeter reasons to plant that garden …” (Pollan 6). By doing so, Michael Pollan falls victims to the very criticism he gave about Al Gore earlier in this very same article. Instead of
For a significant number of years it has been evident that global temperatures were rising and that human activity is a major contributing factor to this rise. The rise in temperature is not only heating the planet but having an adverse effect on the global climate.
It is the responsibility of the developed world to change. They have the resources and technology to significantly curb emissions and dampen the effects of climate change. As the world’s second largest emitter of Co2, and as the world’s largest economy, the US must become a leader in the battle against climate change. However, historical incidents of environmental degradation indicate that will power is simply not enough. Unless environmental problems are seen and felt, the US population has been slow and reluctant to act. Unfortunately this lack of will power is still present. As a citizen of the United States, I see no hope for change without the help and intervention of government. Without economic incentive, individuals and firms will not change. I believe that the US government must intervene and implement emission reduction policies, and work toward limiting emissions to the earth’s natural sink function.
As cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead once said “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; Indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.” In an excerpt from an essay published in the New York Times Magazine, American public intellectual Michael Pollan reveals his goal to convince the ordinary of citizens America that they are capable of saving the world from climate change and to answer the unappeasable question of “Why bother?”. This inquiry stems from the belief that one person is not capable of making a difference in relation to the larger spectrum of Americans who continue to emit a large amount of C02, increasing the effects of climate change, and destroying the environment. Through the exploration of behavior change, and other personal alternatives aimed to reduce America 's carbon footprint, Pollan aspires to have
With every passing year, human beings are emitting more and greenhouse gases than the previous year. The world right now is at a stage where there is no time to look back and wait for things to happen on its own. We should try everything possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions so that enough opportunities are made available for future generation and there is scope for sustainable development by proper utilization and not by exploitation. The poorest of all should have hope for a better future.
Climate change is a term used to describe the increase in the average temperature of the earth’s surface and has been a major problem recently. Our world is constantly changing and therefore so is our climate, as our country industrializes we create more greenhouse gases from the immense human activity being produced. “These gases get into the atmosphere when coal, natural gas and oil is burned for energy and over the last century the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil has increased the concentration of carbon dioxide… the clearing of land for agriculture, industry, and other human activities has increased concentrations of greenhouse gases.”(NASA 1). Climate change is causing global warming that causes the earth to heat up rather than
Much of the confusion and disagreement around anthropogenic climate change is due to words and terminology to define it as well as the ability to quantify the data, however, it is clear that humanity has the ability to influence and change the climate and environment of the earth. On the local level we sit it in the quality of our air, water and food and on the global scale with the mass wasting of ice
One of the most compelling and difficult environmental problems society is facing today is climate change. People do not realize how much the environment has changed for the worse in the last ten years, until they are told that the last two decades of the 20th century have been the hottest in the last 400 years, according to climate studies (Conserve Energy Future). Today the carbon dioxide levels have reached 396.81 parts per million (ppm). “Carbon dioxide (CO2) has also increased over the last 100 years-- from about 300 ppm to 370 ppm. Interestingly, the majority of these additions have occurred in the last 50 years, when temperature increases have been slowest” (geocraft). There are no known solutions yet to reverse these effects in the environment, however there are many things people can do to prevent it from increasing. By implementing a carbon tax the government can tax corporations on how much carbon they emit into the atmosphere. With the extra money from the tax, scientist can invest in alternative ways to reduce how much carbon is emitted. Reducing climate change is going to take years and so nothing is going to get fixed anytime soon, but meanwhile we can use that extra money to begin cleaning up the atmosphere. There are many ways to explain climate change, some say its due to the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, others say it is the burning of the fossils fuels, some even say it’s the greenhouse gases. All of these sayings mean the exact same thing, no matter how one says it. I believe there are more convenient ways to solve climate change; and if the government would to implement a carbon tax on companies they will then be forced to re-evaluate all the carbon they emit to the environment and red...
The first part of this essay discusses what the human species has done to deal with the problem of climate change. While some improvements have been made, the problem has not been addressed aggressively enough to stop the damage. What is amazing about this is the denial of so many people that problems exist. If they do realize the risks, they are simply not taking actions to contain the damage.
The earth has experienced climate change for the entirety of its existence. For billions of years, this change has occurred at a relatively slow pace, with exceptions being caused by events such as large scale volcanic eruptions. Now, humans are the cause for high rates of climate change and damage to the environment. This is beginning to have damaging effects on not only us, but the world around us, and we are only just started to take action. Efforts to reduce climate change would be more realized if not for the resistance of many due to misconceptions, money, and a reluctance to change. Short- and long-term solutions are being developed by the brightest minds, but they will not work without
Climate change has become a very sore subject for many scientists all around the world. There are some people that believe climate change and global warming are just a simple myths for gullible people, that humans have no affect at all on how our environment is changing. On the other hand, it is also told that 97% of papers taking a side on global climate change caused by humans agree that it is happening (Wayne). Many people read the evidence and can clearly see that humans are causing climate change not only to speed up but cause so many things to change in our environment as a result of it.
What will happen to planet Earth as years pass by? The world will eventually fall apart as the years go by because of many natural and manmade causes. One of the most impactful causes to the Earth’s eventual downfall is climate change. Climate change is a long term change in the weather that affects many parts of the Earth such as the arctic, extinction of animals and more terrible acts. Climate Change will affect the Earth negatively due to its causes of natural disasters, health effects to humans, and global warming.
It is so compellingly evidential that the concentrations of these gases in the atmosphere have increased and still increasing rapidly, that climate change is occurring, and that most of the recent change is almost certainly due to emissions of greenhouse gases caused by human activities. Further climate is inevitable; if emissions of greenhouse gases continue unabated, future climate changes will substantially exceed those that have occurred so far. There remains a range of estimates of the magnitude and regional expression of future change, but increases in the extremes of climate that can adversely affect natural ecosystems and human activities and infrastructure are expected. However this doesn’t have to be the answer, do your part, make a difference, it’s time we put a stop to this, our world is dying, help prevent climate change. There is a solution. There truly is a way we can get there, it’s possible, even against perhaps, as said ‘the global threat of our time’. We could get all people to choose among several options (or a mixture of those options) in response to this information: they can change their pattern of energy productions and usage in order to limit emissions of greenhouse gases and hence the magnitude of climate changes; they can wait for changes to occur and accept the losses, damage and suffering that arise; they can
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...