Global Warming

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“Two thousand scientists, in a hundred countries, engaged in the most elaborate, well organized scientific collaboration in the history of humankind, have produced long-since a consensus that we will face a string of terrible catastrophes unless we act to prepare ourselves and deal with the underlying causes of global warming.” (Al Gore). So, what exactly is global warming? Has it happened before? If so, what were the effects? Specifically, how will it affect the human population? Are humans causing it? These are but a few of the questions we need to answer when we study global warming.

Global warming is the escalation in the average temperature of Earth's near-surface air and oceans that has been occurring since the middle of the twentieth century and its anticipated perpetuation. Global warming is caused when carbon dioxide and other temperature trapping emissions are discharged into atmosphere, and they perform a similar function to a blanket, letting in light but retaining heat in our atmosphere that would otherwise dissipate, resulting in an increase in temperature. This is known to as the greenhouse effect as it is so similar to the function of glass walls in a greenhouse. The first thing that happens is sunlight shines onto the Earth's surface, where it is soaked up and later releases back into the atmosphere as heat. This is hindered by the previously mentioned “greenhouse” gases, some of this heat escapes, and some of it is trapped in the atmosphere; the more greenhouse gas that is in the atmosphere, the more heat that is trapped. The greenhouse effect in its natural form is a good thing, as without it the earth would be sitting at zero degrees Fahrenheit, rather than the current fifty-seven degrees Fahrenheit. The probl...

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...ing." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. .

"Global Warming Frequently Asked Questions." NCDC: * National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) *. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. .

"Global Warming Interactive, Global Warming Simulation, Climate Change Simulation - National Geographic." Environment Facts, Environment Science, Global Warming, Natural Disasters, Ecosystems, Green Living - National Geographic. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. .

"Global Warming." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. .

"MIT Center for Global Change Science." MIT. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. .

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