Climate Change and Global Warming Essay

CauseClimatologists, who predict short and long-term climate trends, believe vitamin C dioxide and former(a) emissions, mainly from industrial and commercial activity all over the last two centuries, pay altered the Earths atmosphere. This change has caused a glasshouse effect which is rapidly thaw the planet.EffectsThe predicted effects of globose warming include the melting of polar ice caps a significant rise in sea levels more extreme weather events a decrease in agricultural land water shortages food shortages loss of rain forests and more species becoming extinct.SolutionsScientists believe all nations must take immediate and urgent action to dramatically reduce carbon emissions. Technological solutions have been proposed, ranging from carbon scrubbers that remove carbon from the atmosphere and reduce greenhouse gases to placing giant mirrors in billet to confer enough sunlightlight to cool down the planet.ControversyAlthough an overwhelming majority of scientists a ccept the man-made global warming theory, a minority have questioned this consensus. They suggest that mans impact on the climate is negligible and that global warming is wholly the result of subjective cycles.David Kennedy, nd. Basic Causes of Global thaw Retrieved February 27, 2013 from http//www.ehow.com/about_5057613_basic-causes-global-warming.html Basic Causes of Global heatGreenhouse EffectWhen sunlight hits the Earth some is absorbed but most is reflected. The greenhouse effect is when sunlight escaping tush into space is absorbed by gases in the atmosphere and then reflected back onto the Earths surface. Most greenhouse gas is water vapor, but other gases that contribute to it include carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, and other gases that have a less significant impact.Carbon DioxideAccording to the U.S. Emissions Inventory 2004 executive director Summary, in 2002 around 40 percent of carbon dioxide emissions were the result of burning coal for electricity. Around 93 perc ent of the electric utility industry burns coal. Carbon dioxide emissions also have a go at it from cars and other vehicles, airplanes and buildings. New technologies, like the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle and hybrid electric vehicles, are some solutions for minimizing vehicle carbon dioxide emissions.MethaneMethane is the second largest contributor to the greenhouse effect. Methane is a natural byproduct of living organisms and is produced by plants and bovine flatulence. Bacteria decomposing organic material also produce methane. According to the U.S. Emissions Inventory 2004 Executive Summary, methane levels have increased by 145 percent in the last 100 years. In the United States, all rice fields are with child(p) in flooded areas which produce methane gases.DeforestationDeforestation is the process of clearing forests, either rainforest or temperate forests. The burning of forests is responsible for up to 25 percent of carbon dioxide emissions. This is the result of clearing a nd cutting nearly 34 million acres a year. Forests are also important because they convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. So while carbon dioxide emissions increase, the lack of forests is making the number increase faster.PermafrostPermafrost is a layer of land and terra firma that has been frozen and kept at freezing temperatures or below. In m either northern climates like Alaska, Canada and Siberia, the permafrost layer of soil holds vast amounts of carbon. What researchers and scientists fear is that the permafrost go out warm up and microbes will decompose the soil and release carbon dioxide. Permafrost has absorbed carbon dioxide for thousands of years, but may release it back if thawed.Timothy Sexton,.nd. Global Warming Cause & Effects retrieved February 27, 2013 from http//www.ehow.com/about_4744736_global-warming-cause-effects.html Global Warming Cause & EffectsGreenhouse EffectThe overriding cause of global warming is an umbrella term known as the greenhouse effect. As th e rays of the sun reach Earth, some of the heat is absorbed and some is radiated back into the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere act similarly to a gigantic mirror and reflect warmth back to Earth that in the past would have continued being radiated into space. It is this reflection of heat back to Earth that is at the heart of the greenhouse effect.Greenhouse GasesThese greenhouse gases that are responsible for reflecting back heat that would otherwise be lost include simple water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane and the infamous ozone. Unfortunately, at that place is no way to know exactly which greenhouse gas is most responsible for the greenhouse effect.Cause of Increased GasesThe problem of global warming has been caused by the addition of more greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. The gases responsible will rise into the air whether humans are here or not the problem is that overmuch of basic human activity in the 20th and 21st century produced greenhouse gas at a l evel never experienced before. Basically, any activity that produces one of the gases listed above is a cause of global warming everything from driving a car to using electricity. Because trees act as a natural conversion plant to transform carbon dioxide into oxygen, deforestation contributes to global warming because the fewer trees there are, the more carbon dioxide gets into the atmosphere.EffectsThe effects of global warming are potentially far-ranging. Increased temperatures means melting of glaciers, ice and snow around the poles, which means an increase in sea levels. Warming water will also increase the potential for hurricanes and typhoons so devastating that they will make Hurricane Katrina pale in comparison. That rise in sea levels could also mean that beachfront station will soon be found 10 to 50 miles inland from where beaches are now.TemperaturesThe average temperature on Earth has been steadily rising since the mid-1980s, and global warming is expected to continue this trend. In addition to longer and hotter summers, rising temperatures will affect agriculture. Indeed, the effect of a hotter Earth is already increasing the transmission of morbific bacteria that thrive under warm conditions.Hoax?There are still a great many people who believe that global warming is simply some kind of politically-created hoax. Those leading the charge against global warming tend to be industry with a vested interest. On the other hand, the list of scientific entities that have agreed on the reality of global warming include, among many others, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Royal union of the UK.