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Human activities have altered the chemical composition of the atmosphere through buildup of roundhouse gases. And of course the greenhouse effect is what regulates the temperature of our planet. There are many things affected by global warming such as air pollution, vanishing wildlife, coral bleaching and melting ice caps to just name a few. Global Warming is here and humans are causing it with the pollution caused by their daily lives. Humans pollute the air every day with the cars they drive, where they work, and even what they do inside their own homes.
Human pollution causes greenhouse gases. When the sun is shining the earth heats up but the green houses gases don’t let it cool enough because it locks in the eat. Here is an example: Your car sits all day in the parking lot at work and as the sun and heat rises outside. It also shines and heats the inside of your car and can’t get back out. So when you go out to your car to go home for the day your car is unbearable until you roll down the windows or turn the air conditioning on. This is the same thing that greenhouse gases do; it locks in the heat and never lets the earth cool down enough.
Now the earth does need some greenhouse gas because if it wasn’t there we would freeze at night until the sun came back the next day. So a little greenhouse gas is good UT as humans we have caused way more then we need that now it is bad and getting way bad. As humans we are really not doing anything wrong nor are we? We cause this greenhouse gas just by doing simple things like using electricity. Electricity is made from burned fossil fuel. Fossil fuel is made from oil and petroleum. So the simple things humans do such as use a TV, dry their clothes, microwave their dinner or even play a video game are all causing greenhouse gas.
Even the garbage we throw out causes greenhouse gases because it sits in landfills and is sometimes burned. The other thing as humans we have done is cut down too many trees. Trees and plants cut down the carbon dioxide in the air making it easier to breath. As humans we need to stop causing so much greenhouse gas to save the planet. Simple things that can be done are carpool or ride the bus, turn lights off when not in rooms, cut down on electronic, hang your laundry out on a nice day and recycle everything you can to cut down on your trash. Maybe even plant a tree in your back yard.
This does not sound like a lot but if everyone did their part it would make a huge difference. Scientists are watching the Artic closely as the earth temperature rises from global warming. Average temperatures in the Arctic region are rising twice as fast as they are elsewhere in the world. Arctic ice is getting thinner, melting and rupturing. For example, the largest single block of ice in the Arctic, the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, had been around for 3,000 years before it started cracking in 2000. Within two years it had split all the way through and is now breaking into pieces. (NRC, Novo. 005) Since the ice has started melting it has affected native people, wildlife, plants, polar bears, whales, walruses and seals. It makes it harder for everyone to find food and it changes the migration pattern. Also with the ice melting with also affect the rising sea level and also in Kansas the wheat production. Apparently, Kansas would be 4 degrees warmer in the winter without Arctic ice, which normally creates cold air masses that frequently slide southward into the United States. Warmer winters are bad news for wheat farmers, who need freezing temperatures to grow winter wheat.
And in summer, warmer days would rob Kansas soil of 10 percent of its moisture, drying out valuable cropland. All of these problems just from melting ice. But scientists say it’s not too late and all we have to do as humans is cut down on fossil fuel use. What is happening to the animals, does this have anything to do with global warming? Unfortunately because of the global warming some types of animals are having a hard time surviving. For example the polar bear is actually a marine mammal that spends far more time at sea than it does on land.
It is on the Arctic ice that the polar bear makes its living. As climate change melts sea ice, the U. S. Geological Survey projects that two thirds of polar bears will disappear by 2050. This dramatic decline in the polar bear is occurring in our lifetime, which is but a miniscule fraction of the time polar ears have roamed the vast Arctic seas. (NFW, N/A) Several other types of animals are disappearing as well such as several species of ducks, the Pike, different species of fish and many more animals that enjoy the cold. The problem is its just not that cold any more.
With the water warming not only are the fish having problem but so is the coral reefs. The greatest threat of all to coral reefs is carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels. The world’s leading coral biologist, Charles Vernon, warns us that unless CO concentrations in the atmosphere are reduced to below 350 parts per million soon, coral reefs and reef- pendent marine life will be committed to a terminal and irreversible decline due to global warming and ocean acidification. (Center for Biological Diversity, NINA) In one year 16 percent of the coral reefs were wiped out.
A sea temperature change of a mere one degree Celsius and increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the water cause additional damage to corals, leaving them defenseless against storm damage and erosion. Since 2009, Scientist have put 83 species of coral on the endangered species list to help protect it. But scientists are fighting carbon dioxide in the air and the more there is the less he coral will survive. Since coral is used by other underwater species looking for food or shelter in the coral they might not survive as well.
As the earth gets warmer scientists are seeing effects on the Great Lakes which is the source of nearly a 5th of the world’s surface freshwater. Scientist are noticing water quality worsen as there have been more intense storms that will send polluted urban and agricultural runoff into our waterways, which will effect drinking water, beach closings and higher cost to water supplies. Increased evaporation from warming lakes”particularly in inter”is expected to result in less ice cover, contributing to lower water levels and increases in lake-effect snow.
Lake levels could drop during the next Century by approximately 1 foot On Lake Superior, 3 feet on Lakes Michigan and Huron, 2. 7 feet on Lake Erie, and 1. 7 feet on Lake Ontario. (Dempsey, 2008) Fish and other aquatic life are becoming stressed and jeopardized. Eventually, coastal wetlands will shrink and dry up that filter pollution and provide homes for fish and wildlife. Also eventually sewage will increase and overflow from increasing storms that will affect people and lid??s health. In a warming climate, a warmer upper layer in deep lakes slows down air exchange which is a process that normally adds oxygen to the water.
This, in turn, often creates large “dead zones” which is areas depleted of oxygen and unable to support life. Persistent dead zones can produce toxic algal blooms, foul-smelling drinking water, and massive fish kills. Streams and lakes may become unsuitable for cold-water fish but support species that thrive in warmer waters. Some warm-water species are already moving to waters at higher latitudes and altitudes. Earlier snowbell, rising mounts of precipitation that falls as rain rather than snow, and more severe and frequent flooding all linked to global warming are affect the reproduction of aquatic species.
Some salmon populations have declined, for example, as more intense spring floods have washed away salmon eggs laid in stream beds. On the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest, scientists are seeing changes worsen with the global warming emissions and it will further endanger the already depleting salmon population. The climate change imposes stress on the salmon’s lifestyle and in turns affects their reproduction cycle. If the snow pack in the Pacific Northwest Cascade Mountains continues to decline and spring runoff comes early these salmon will continue to die Off.
But what about weather storms becoming more severe, is this due to global warming? For an example looking at Hurricane Sandy, This was a terrible storm that did so much damage to so many states. The topic remains controversial in the American political landscape, while research shows that climate change does have an effect on the severity and increased frequency in such storms. A recent report from university of Copenhagen Centre for Ice and Climate said hurricanes in the southeast Atlantic have become more frequent over the past 90 years, with more storms in years where water temperature is higher. You can’t say [global warming] caused any single event, but when we start to see a trend like this, I think it shows that there’s a good chance these hurricanes wouldn’t be happening without warming,” said one of the report’s authors, Slack Grinders. “What I show IS only correlation, but it’s purely consistent with the hypothesis that warming goes along with more frequent, large hurricanes. ” (Welsh, 2012) But some skeptics argue that he number of variables that go into the creation of a storm such as Hurricane Sandy makes it impossible to prove global warming was responsible.
Scientists believe there will not only be stronger hurricanes but hot weather which will cause more droughts. More rain which should be snow will cause more flooding. But scientists also believe that global warming is causing more respiratory allergies. Springtime allergies to tree pollens are projected to get worse. In the fall, ragweed is projected to thrive and become more irritating under increased carbon dioxide levels. Looking at all the things that are happening to the planet supposedly from lobar warming, the question arises; Is this really true, are humans causing global warming?
Scientist believes so. Looking at it from a political stand point global warming has become a politically charged issue, due in large part to the massive amounts of power and money tied up in industries that emit CO. On April 4, 2013, the Weather Channel did a poll as to whether American voters believe global warming is a hoax. 3 out of 8 people believe it is. Among respondents who said they had voted for President Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election, 77% said they do not believe global warming is a hoax, compared to 12% who do.
By contrast, 61 % of respondents who voted for former Gob. Mitt Rooney in 2012 said they do believe global warming is a hoax, versus 24% who said they do not. (Walgreen, April 2013) Peter Ferreira from Forbes magazine attended the seventh International Climate Conference sponsored by the Heartland Institute and what he got out of it was this. “Climate change itself is already in the process of definitively rebutting climate alarmists who think human use of fossil fuels is causing ultimately catastrophic global warming.
That is because natural climate cycles have already turned from warming to cooling global temperatures eve already been declining for more than 10 years, and global temperatures will continue to decline for another two decades or more. ” (Ferreira, May, 201 2) If the human population hears both sides of global warming it is no wonder people are not taking it serious because who do they believe. Many climate scientists believe that emissions of greenhouse gases are heating the earth. Of course there are some who don’t.
But when confining the question to scientists and engineers, it turns out that only 36% believe that human activities are causing Earth’s climate to warm. (Investor Business Daily, Feb… 01 3) So is global warming caused by humans and the carbon dioxide they use? Most scientist think so. But there are still a few skeptics out there. Most people today are not doing everything they can to control the fossil fuel they use. But why should they? It’s not demanded of them to use less electricity in their home, it’s not demanded that they recycle; ifs not demanded what type of car they drive or how long they are allowed to drive every day.
Why should they spend the extra time in their busy life do things like separating their garbage? Life today for humans is about convenience. Every day new reduces come out in life to make human life easier in their busy schedule. American’s could never go back to no W, no microwave, or any washer and dryer. Most American families today have both parents working fulfillment and then after work running their children to their activities, how could they have time to wash clothes by hand? Face it Americans today do not want to think about giving up convenient lifestyle unless they were forced to.
Also if allergies are becoming more intense for more Americans, why are their doctors not saying it is a cause to global warming wouldn’t that make people want to help change the uses of fossil fuel. In order to stop global warming, the government needs to step up and get people on board on stopping global warming. Most people today are not going to cut back on their carbon footprint on their own. In fact in the survey by weather channel 3 out 8 people don’t even believe global warming is real.
Either people are going to need to be charge more for garbage pick-up or electricity or there needs to be some kind of incentive program for cutting electricity use and recycling you garbage. People should be told when at the doctor that they have bad allergies due to global warming. But the problem is an they show proof to what humans do effect global warming. How can you prove to someone they have allergies today because they use too much electricity or don’t recycle? Americans like hard facts and their government to push them into doing what needs to be done.
Global Warming is a serious thing that humans need to be aware of because they are a good part of the cause. Everyone has to do their part to stop the greenhouse gases that are making the earth’s temperature to rise. But the government is going to need to step in more to give people a push as to why it is important to recycle, and use less electricity. There are many things affected by global warming such as air pollution, vanishing wildlife, coral bleaching and melting ice caps to just name a few. When these things disappear, what will we do then?