Words: 1570
A common misconception Of global warming is that it is mans fault. Strictly speaking this is not entirely true. The effects of Global Warming are completely natural yet there is no denying that we are contributing to these effects and making them stronger and more rapid. For several years believers and skeptics have argued about the causes of Global Warming. Reduction of the rainforest’s, continued growth in hydrocarbon industries, increases in livestock, and depletion of the ozone are all considered factors in the debate.
Skeptics maintain that the climate change is a natural phenomenon, that Nan’s effect on nature is largely overrated. Over the past Century the earth’s temperature has been rising. It has not been a noticeable increase to us but for example, it can easily be seen in the Antarctic where bigger and bigger pieces Of ice are breaking away and melting. Evidence of Climate change of the most important sources of evidence for climatic change can be found in the Antarctic where ice has preserved a 400,000-year record of levels of CO, CHI and temperature levels in the atmosphere.
Scientists study the gas bubbles in the ice using ice cores extracted from the ice and then transported to a laboratory. Here these are evaluated and compared with more recent ice cores. From these, scientists can tell how the climate has changed in these 400,000 years. Over the past century global (land and sea) temperature have increased by roughly 0. 2 co. A more recent study using state of the art satellites indicate a slight warming over the past 18 years. Other scientists are saying that the main evidence of Global Warming are the erratic weather patterns we have been having over the past S years.
For instance the amount of severe Hurricanes this year were in excess of the amount ever before recorded, with he highest number of category 5 hurricanes recorded. Global warming may have a disastrous effect on birds that migrate large distances to and from Europe. If Birds who fly across the Sahara dessert leave at the same time they do nowadays there is the possibility, that in 12 years they will be leaving too late and the drought will kick in before they cross the dessert. This could lead to many birds either changing their nesting grounds or becoming extinct altogether.
Researchers warn that more than 25% of the world’s coral reefs have been destroyed by pollution and global warming. Scientists said that most of the image to coral is inflicted by global warming through coral bleaching, the result of higher water temperatures heating the coral. As mentioned above a good piece of evidence is the ice which is melting in the Antarctic, Arctic, North Pole and South Pole. This is not just a problem as far as rising sea levels goes but this will influence the climate hugely. The ice and snow reflect sunlight – in other words when sun light hits ice, 99% of the light is reflected back.
Now, imagine that thousands of square meters of ice and snow are missing. This would mean that the earth absorbs more sunlight, ND consequently warming the earth up even more. Which then melts more ice which heats the earth leaving us in a vicious circle of global warming? Are we influencing the climate – If so how? Lunches on the climate vary both through natural, “internal” processes as well as in response to differences in external “forcing” from both non-human and human causes, including changes in the Earth’s orbit around the Sun, and volcanic emissions as well as greenhouse gases like Methane(Chi) and Carbon Dioxide(CO).
Climatologists accept that the earth has warmed recently, but the attribution of recent limited change cause or causes of this change is somewhat more controversial, especially outside the scientific community. Some Scientists are saying that co and Chi increases are not as bad as the media is foreseeing. Of course it is well know that co and Chi make a planets surface warmer, but without co and Chi on this planet temperatures would be on average ICC colder, making the planet almost uninhabitable!
Not only this, but one has to take in to account that 98% of total global greenhouse gas emissions are natural (mostly water vapor) only 2% are from man-made sources. The main places which create co are big factories and Power plants which burn coal. Cars and Airplanes also contribute largely to the amounts of a co in our atmosphere. One car does not emit much co but if you think that there are about 650 Million cars on the road the amount of co produced on a daily basis becomes astronomical! Judging by the growth of past years, analysts predict up to One Billion cars on the road in 25 years.
It seems most likely that cars will be the main cause to global warming in the 21st century. Possible outstretches are many possible outcomes! Far too many to list ere, yet I have listed some of the more probable and talked about ones. It has been claimed that global warming will probably extend the favorable zones for infectious diseases such as malaria. This means that infectious will be able to thrive in a larger areas enabled by the warmer climate sea level rises above 4 meters, almost every city along the coast would be flooded, with the potential for major impacts on world-wide trade and economy.
Presently, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (EPIC) predicts sea level rise of less than 1 meter by 2100, but they also warn that Global Warming during hat time may lead to irreversible changes in the Earth’s glacial system and ultimately melt enough ice to raise sea level many meters over the next millennia. Melting glaciers, early snowbell and severe droughts will cause more dramatic water shortages in the whole world, with the potential of causing food shortages even in Western cities. Droughts could affect the whole world with there being no possibility to grow crops in some areas.
Warmer sea surface temperatures will fuel more intense hurricanes in the southeast Atlantic and Gulf coasts. We would be seeing even more Hurricanes Han we did in 2005 and potentially all at IF or IF category; currently the most powerful hurricanes are IF category. Disruption of habitats such as coral reefs and alpine meadows could drive many plant and animal species to extinction. We are already seeing the extinction of many animal species at the moment including the Lion, Polar Bears and a few Bird species. This though is only the beginning Of possibly thousands of extinct species. What can we do about it – but do we want to?
Stop co emissions on cars and airplanes this can be achieved by either using high grade filters which purify he air on the way out of the exhaust or by using alternative energy sources. This would be advisable anyway as the Worlds Oil reserves will probably only last for a further 25 – 35 wearisome things like reducing the amount of electricity being used. One way to reduce the effects of global warming would be to do simple things like turning electrical items off completely instead of leaving them on standby or by not charging something overnight if you know you will not need it the next day.
Public transport should be made cheaper so people may make more use of it. If prices were lower more people would use it and by doing that they will not use their cars. In turn this would help the environment enormously. More research into renewable and alternative energy Solar, Wind and Hydro energy. Hydro Energy is one thing this planet should really do some research in! Just think about the sea and the amount of waves hitting our coastline alone. That’s more power than anyone can comprehend. Solar panels are also a viable alternative. A lot of research is being put into solar energy, but sadly, it is still not quite economical enough.
At the moment the maximum effectiveness of solar panels is about 18% efficiency and it would be desirable if more than 50% could be achieved. This would mean that we could power entire homes in the daytime without the need for any other energy source. This all though is being hampered by politics! The most talked about subject being the Kyoto protocol. Created in the sass’s, it set out to reduce greenhouse gas emissions yet it had one flaw and that was that joining this protocol was voluntary and had no consequences if broken. Canada was one of the first to sign up.
They set out to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 million tones by 2012. In 2004 156 countries signed up that’s all countries except for Australia and The United Stated of America. On the 16th of February 2005 the Kyoto protocol took full affect for the first time. The global aim is to reduce global greenhouse emissions by 5% in 2012. Politics though plays a great role and no more so than in the LISA. The LISA is not accepting the protocol even so they are one of the main aggressors in this issue. There are though 9 US States that have decided to adopt a Kyoto style infringement which is a great achievement.