Words: 2072
Mitigation Strategies and Solutions for Global Warming By Julie Purvis June 13, 2010 SCI 275 Mitigation Strategies and Solutions for Global Warming page 2 Take a look at the world around us and think what it may look like in 20 years. Every day this environment is changing and not always for the better. Things we do in everyday life are destroying our environment. For instance, driving cars, using electricity from coal-fired powerplants, or heating our homes with oil or natural gas, all have devastating affects on our environment.
One of those affects is global warming. There are people who dispute the effects of global warming, but scientist have proven that levels of Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have increased by over 10% since 1950, while average temperatures have risen by over 0. 5??C/1??F in the same period (n. d. Global Warming and the Greenhouse Effect). What is global warming? Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of Earth’s surface air and oceans. This is a result of greenhouse gas; such as carbon dioxide, water vapor, nitrous oxide, and methane that traps heat and light from the sun in the Earths atmosphere.
This is known as the greenhouse effect. A good example of the greenhouse effect would be your automobile. When you leave your car parked in the sun on a hot day with all the windows up, the temperature of your car will rise. This happens because the heat and light from the sun can enter into the car through the window, but it cannot exit. This is what the greenhouse effects do to our earth. The heat and light can get through the atmosphere, but it cannot get out. As a result, the temperature of earth’s surface air and oceans rises.
Although the greenhouse effect is what allows us to live on earth, if too many greenhouse gases get trapped in Earths atmosphere, earth can get unusually warm. The unusual rise in temperature would lead to several catastrophe events, such as the deaths of many pant, animals, and humans because they would have no food to eat. Plants like corn, wheat, and other fruits and vet gables could not stand the heat and would die. This would cause us to have less food to eat, but it would also limit food to animals as well. If animals like cows do not have food to eat, they will not survive.
Then we do not have cow for meat. It would be a chain reaction, when one thing happens it leads to another and so on. All people, plants, and animals would gradually die of hunger. Global warming also affects our oceans and forests. The rise in water temperature is killing algae who are vital to the ocean’s life. The algae is a food Mitigation Strategies and Solutions for Global Warming page 3 source for many different animals in the ocean; without it they cannot survive. Acid Rain is another product of the pollutants that cause global warming.
Acid Rain is devastating to everything it touches. Some forest fires can be contributed to global warming; the excessive heat leaves forests extremly dry, which catches on fire. In 1998, 485,000 acres burned in Florida, due to excessive heat from global warming (www. climatehotmap. org). Global warming could completely destroy the environment in which we live; it is up to us to find ways to slow down the effects of global warming. We have discussed what global warming is and the effects it has on our environment, now let’s talk about what causes global warming.
Many different things contribute to the cause of global warming. One of the largest causes is pollutants that are released into our atmosphere. One of the largest producers of these pollutants that cause global warming, is the making of electricity. To make electricity, fossil fuels are burned, such as oil and petroleum. When these fossil fuels are burned, they produce pollutants that are released in to the air. These pollutants are what cause the greenhouse effect. Another cause of global warming it the use of Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC). CFCs are organic compounds composed of carbon, fluorine, chlorine, and hydrogen.
CFCs are used in refrigerators and aerosols (n. d. Global Warming and the Greenhouse Effect). Cutting down our forests is another human activity that contributes to global warming. Trees could take in the carbon dioxide and convert it to oxygen. Carbon dioxide is the air that our body lets out when we breathe. With fewer trees, it is harder for people to breathe because there is more CO2 in the air, and we don’t breathe CO2, we breathe oxygen. Plants collect the CO2 that we breathe out, and they give back oxygen that we breathe in. With fewer trees and other plants, such as algae, there is less air for us, nd more greenhouse gases are sent into the air. This means that it is very important to protect our trees to stop the greenhouse effect, and also so we can breathe and live. We need to find ways to have a positive effect on global warming. The current sustainability strategies and solutions for global warming do not seem to be working. We know what the problems are and what causes global warming, but we have not Mitigation Strategies and Solutions for Global Warming page 4 done very much to protect our environment.
We need to make sure that the policies and procedures that have set forth to prevent global warming are being followed. The people of the world need to take a close look at how they, as an individual, can help. Slowing down the effects of global warming will take effort from each and every one of us. I have created a sustainability plan for our environment and future generations, in relations to global warming. Sustainability is the continual effort to meet the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs by working toward a healthy environment.
My plan is developed with the idea that each and every one of us is responsible for global warming and we all need to do our part to prevent it. Sustainability Plan for Julie Purvis Actions ItemsIn order of | Action Steps| Time Line| Alternative energy sources| I will reduce the amount of pollutants in the air by relying on solar or wind power. | On going| Recycled Material| I will use only recycled materials and paper products, so I will not be reasonable for the cutting sown of trees. | On going| Trees| I will plant trees on my property to help reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. Month 1| CFC’s| I will limit my use of appliances or compounds which produces CFCs. | On going| Reduce greenhouse gases| I will either walk bike, carpool, or ride mass transit to help reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that are in the air. | On going| There are many benefits and challenges with my sustainability plan. The benefits include a healthier me and environment. When I reduce the amount of pollutants that are in my home and environment, I will have less of a problem with my allegories.
I will be able to sleep better, which will leave me with more energy for the day ahead of me. I will also feel better about our environment and what my future generation will have on this earth. A Native American proverb stats, we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. I would like to make sure that my future generations have a resourceful environment to live in. Another benefit of my plan is that I will be saving money on electricity. Using solar or wind power is much less expensive on a month to month base, than using regular electricity.
I could even make money from it, if I produce more electricity than I use, I can sell what I don’t use back to the electoral companies. This will also help reduce pollutants in the air, because the electrical companies do not have to burn as much fossil fuels to produce electricity. The biggest problem of my plan is the money it will take to change to solar or wind power. Even though these alternative energy resources are much cheaper month to month, they are extremly expensive to put in. I will also have to change a lot of my appliances in my home for ones that do not produce CFCs.
Once I am able to accomplish all of these goals, I should not have any other problems that would prevent me from doing my part in protecting the environment from global warming However, I am not the only one who needs to do their part in protect the environment from global warming. The government needs to step up and find alternative energy resources that are not harmful to the environment and are affordable for everyone. The government is doing many things to help stop global warming.
The government made a law called The Clean Air Act so there is less air pollution. Global warming is making people get very bad illnesses that could make them disabled, very sick, and sometimes even die. The Clean Air Act is making many companies change their products to decrease these problems. Part of the law says that you may Mitigation Strategies and Solutions for Global Warming page 6 not put a certain amount of pollutants in the air. Hairspray and some other products, like foam cups, had this problem.
Making and using these products let out too many volatile organic compounds (VOC’s), ozone-destroying chemicals (chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s), and related chemicals (such as CO2) into the air. Now, almost all of these products have a label on them telling people what this product can do to the environment and many people. By 2015 all products listed on the Clean Air Act will have this label on them: WARNING: contains or manufactured with (the chemical would go here. For example chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s), a substance which harms public health and the environment by destroying ozone in the upper atmosphere. Almost all of the other chemicals that could be harmful will have this label on them hopefully by this time 2015, as well (“Clean Air Act. ” n. d. ). The Clean Air Acts is a small battle in a much larger war everyone needs to get involved and do their part in protects our environment. Global warming is a problem that we need to get under control now, before it is too late. We each must do our part in protecting the air that we breathe. Each of us needs to create our own sustainability plan and follow it to ensure that our future generations have an environment that is better than the one that we live in.
We need to remember the causes of global warming and what affects it has on our environment. “We have many advantages in the fight against global warming, but time is not one of them. Instead of idly debating the precise extent of global warming, or the precise timeline of global warming, we need to deal with the central facts of rising temperatures, rising waters, and all the endless troubles that global warming will bring. We stand warned by serious and credible scientists across the world that time is short and the dangers are great. The most relevant question now is whether our own government is equal to the challenge. John McCain May 12, 2008 Mitigation Strategies and Solutions for Global Warming page 7 References (n. d). Clean Air Act. Retrieved from XRefer XML database. Accessed June 13, 2010. Climatemap. com 2010. Accessed June 13, 2010. http://www. climatehotmap. org/namerica. html EPA: The plain English Guide to the Clean Air Act. Accessed June 13, 2010 from http://wwwepa. gov/oar/oaqps/pegcaa/pegcaain. html (n. d). Global Warming and the Greenhouse Effect. Retrieved from XRefer XML database. Accessed June 13, 2010.
Jorgenson, Andrew K. “Global warming and the neglected greenhouse gas: a cross-national study of the social causes of methane emissions intensity, 1995. ” ??Social Forces. 84. 3 (March 2006): 1779(20). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Apollo Library-Univ of Phoenix. Accessed June 13, 2010. <http://find. galegroup. com. ezproxy. apollolibrary. com/ovrc/infomark. do? &contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=OVRC&docId=A145337518&source=gale&srcprod=OVRC&userGroupName=uphoenix&version=1. 0>.