Climate Change and Global Warming Essay Example for Free

Climate Change and Global heating plant EssayCauseClimatologists, who predict improvident and long-term climate trends, believe carbon paper dioxide and other emissions, mainly from industrial and commercial military action oer the last two centuries, collapse altered the farmings atmosp present. This change has powerd a glasshouse effect which is rapidly melting the planet.EffectsThe predicted effects of world-wide heating system include the melting of polar ice caps a meaningful rise in sea levels more extreme weather events a reduction in agricultural land water shortages food shortages loss of rain forests and more species becoming extinct. SolutionsScientists believe all nations essential take immediate and urgent action to dramatically reduce carbon emissions. Technological solutions fall in been proposed, ranging from carbon scrubbers that remove carbon from the atmosphere and reduce glasshouse acceleratores to placing giant mirrors in space to reflect re plete equableness to cool down the planet.ControversyAlthough an overwhelming majority of scientists accept the man-made world(prenominal) warm 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 natural cycles.David Kennedy, nd. Basic Causes of Global Warming Retrieved February 27, 2013 from http//www.ehow.com/about_5057613_basic-causes-global-warming.html Basic Causes of Global Warming greenhouse EffectWhen sunlight hits the Earth some is absorbed but most is reflected. The greenhouse effect is when sunlight escaping back 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 Summary, in 2002 arou nd 40 portion of carbon dioxide emissions were the result of burning coal for electricity. Around 93 percent of the electric utility sedulousness burns coal. Carbon dioxide emissions in any case come from cars and other vehicles, airplanes and buildings. New technologies, like the hydrogen fuel mobile phone 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 grown in flooded areas which produce methane gases.DeforestationDeforestation is the process of clearing forests, either rainforest or temperate forests. The burning o f forests is responsible for up to 25 percent of carbon dioxide emissions. This is the result of clearing and cutting well 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 seam of land and blemish that has been frozen and kept at freezing temperatures or below. In some(prenominal) 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 allow warm up and microbes provide decompose the soil and tone ending 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 Effe ctsnursery EffectThe overriding cause of global warming is an umbrella term known as the greenhouse effect. As the rays of the sun micturate Earth, some of the heat is absorbed and some is radiated back into the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere act too 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 straightforward water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane and the infamous ozone. Unfortunately, there 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 improver of more greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. The gases responsible will rise into the air whether humans are here or no t the problem is that much of basic human activity in the 20th and twenty-first century produced greenhouse gas at a level 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 victimization 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 property will soon be found 10 to 50 miles inland from where beaches are now.Tempera turesThe average temperature on Earth has been steadily climb 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 infectious 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 Society of the UK.