Human Activities: The Main Cause for Global Warming

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Recommended: human activity is primarily responsible for global climate change

‘Global warming’, also referred to as ‘climate change’ or the ‘anthropogenic greenhouse effect’, is defined as ‘the discernible increase in mean global temperature resulting from the release of greenhouse gases produced by human activities’ (McCright & Dunlap, 2000, p. 499). The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) defines global warming as ‘any change in climate over time, whether due to natural variability or as a result of human activity’ (IPCC, 2007, p. 30). The mainstream climate scientists around the world have come to a consensus conclusion that the global warming is happening, posing a severe threat to the world, and is largely caused by human activities releasing greenhouse gases (GHGs) through burning of fossil fuels and deforesting the land (Wang & Oppenheimer, 2005). However, unfortunately, much of the world’s population is unconscious regarding this scientific agreement due to the coordinated efforts produced by certain industries that spread propaganda regarding global warming. This essay tries to offer a comprehensive discussion regarding the general myths and misunderstandings about the global warming and takes a stance for global warming as a reality.

Discussion

According to Wang & Oppenheimer (2005) there are various myths about global warming. For example, there is a general misunderstanding that global warming can not happen as winters are getting colder. However, in reality, winters are getting warmer. For example, according to the National Climatic Data Centre (NCDC, 2014), the winter in 2013 ties with 2003 as the world’s 4th warmest year since NCDC started to keep records from 1880.

There is another myth regarding the global warming is that global warming predictions are contradictory with...

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...2080s and many species would come to extinction due to climate change very soon.

Conclusion

From the above discussion it appears that the myths regarding global warming are not substantiated and they are based on misconceptions. Moreover, it is clearly understood from the above discussion that global warming is largely attributable to human activities, particularly emissions of heat trapping gases or GHGs. Glaciers in the Antarctica and Greenland are rapidly losing ice masses causing a quick rise of sea level. Therefore, global warming is not a myth, rather it is a reality. And as scientific evidences have clearly substantiated that global warming is caused by human activities which has clearly emerged as threat to human civilisation, in conclusion, we can say that it is the right time to control the emissions of GHGs as quickly as possible to save our planet.

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