...Causes of global warming For a long time people on our Earth didn't think a lot about greenhouse gases. The situation changed when people started using more and more energy in the form of fossil fuels, like oil, gas and coal. We burn fossil fuels to power factories, run cars, produce electricity and heat houses. As fossil fuels burn they let carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. During the last few decades people have also cut down many forests. Trees use carbon dioxide when they make their own food. Fewer trees mean that less carbon dioxide is taken out of the atmosphere. Possible effects of global warming Scientists have different opinions on how warm the Earth's surface will really get. The increase may be between 1.5° C and 6° C by the year 2100. Warmer weather will make ice caps and glaciers melt. Sea levels could rise dramatically. Plants, animals and people living in coastal areas all could be in danger. The weather may change in many areas of the world. Floods, droughts and damaging storms could be the result. People in colder regions might welcome warmer weather but those who live in regions that are already hot may suffer from new diseases. At the same time some animals may not survive because they cannot adapt to the new environment. They could move to other places in order to live there. Reducing global warming Finding a solution to solve the world's biggest environmental problem is not an easy task. Although we need energy to make our economy grow there are things that...
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...Causes of Global Warming Introduction Scientists have pieced together a record of Earth’s climate that is dating back hundreds of thousands of years and in some cases millions or thousands of millions of years by analyzing a number of indirect measures of tree rings, pollen remains, ice cores and glacier lengths among other features. Research indicates that natural causes are not responsible for the most observed warming and that since the mid-20th century, human activities have become the dominant causes of that warming (Haldar, 2014). In this context, there is going to be an analysis of the main contributors to global warming in the modern day. Major Pollutants Causing Global Warming Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel The global population has become addicted to the use of electricity both at the domestic and the industrial level. The society has become over-reliant on electricity as a source of energy to a level where the government and private firms have had their commitments when it comes to massive production and consumption of electricity. The society’s increasing addition to electricity from coal-burning power plants has been responsible for the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Increased releases of carbon dioxide via this mechanism is going to help in the depletion of the ozone layer in the atmosphere thus exposing the world to increased global warming that is going to facilitate climatic changes that are fatal for the future generations...
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...Global Warming: Causes and Precautions By Wednesday Nights One of the biggest problems that we, the people of the world, are facing in today’s world is the rise of the Global Warming effect. If we don’t change our ways we could be facing a change in climate that will not be able to support the human life. We need to strength the laws world wide and force everyone from big business to the average person on the street to adhere to them. One of the biggest obstacles in this country is that big businesses are more concerned about the money they make than the world they live in. They do all that they can do to influence the government to keep the laws weak. We need a strong government that is looking out for the welfare of everybody, in the long tern, and not just the top 2% of people that are rich. In this paper I will discuss some of the cause of Global Warming and some of the measures that we can take to reduce it. So what is Global Warming? According to the definition giving by the United States Environment Agency (EPA): “Global warming is an average increase in the temperature of the atmosphere near the Earth's surface and in the troposphere, which can contribute to changes in global climate patterns. Global warming can occur from a variety of causes, both natural and human induced. In common usage, "global warming" often refers to the warming that can ...
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...Climate change is attributable to both natural and anthropogenic factors. Anthropogenic climate change, which are also known as human induced climate change, is a result of increase in greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and chlorofluorocarbons in the atmosphere, increase in atmospheric aerosols, and changes in land use, for instance, through cutting down of forests to create farms. The increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere causes an increase in the amount of heat that is being retained and consequently, increasing the temperatures on the earth’s surface significantly. For example, the amount of carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere has risen by more than 30 percent since the industrial revolution (Mulvaney, 2013). Atmospheric aerosols absorb infrared and solar radiation and also change the chemical composition of the clouds, both physically and chemically. Industrial processes, human activity, biomass burning and exhaust emissions lead to chemical reactions, which consequently, form aerosols in the atmosphere. Changes in land use have also led to a significant increase in the sunlight reflected back into the surface. In North America and Eurasia, during the industrial era, it is estimated that one-fifth of land was attributed to agricultural activities and deforestation. On the other hand, natural climate changes can be a result of changes in suns energy and shifting of the orbit of the earth. Essentially, the earth’s orbital...
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...Global warming: cause and mitigation Name: Institution: Introduction Global warming refers to climate change that causes an increase in the average temperature of the lower atmosphere. Though global warming has many different causes, it is greatly associated with human activities especially those that leads to release of greenhouse gases. This paper aims at evaluating both the scientific basis of global warming and the role of human beings in global warming. The paper achieves this by comparing natural and anthropogenic climate changes, providing evidence that global warming is taking place, and assessing carbon taxing and clean coal technology as current alleviation strategies for global warming. The paper finally proposes policy changes intended to stabilize global climate and points out nations and business sectors that would encounter strict standards on implementation of the proposed policies. Natural versus anthropogenic climate changes The climate change debate seems to be divided into two major sides. One side argues that the current global warming is caused by human factors while the other side credits global warming to natural processes. Although some scientists acknowledge natural processes as a cause of climate change, it has often been noted that there is no enough quantitative evidence to support that natural forces are dominant causes of current climate changes (Giddens, 2009). Many scientists credit the recent trends in climate change to anthropogenic causes...
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...Elizabeth Brabson | Global Warming: Cause and mitigation | Introduction To Physical Science | | Joshua Kyle | 3/3/2016 | The difference between natural climate change and anthropogenic can be summed up in relation with greenhouse gasses and how they are introduced into the Earth’s atmosphere. With the natural greenhouse effect, gasses such as methane and carbon dioxide are introduced naturally through such events as volcanic activity. In the anthropogenic greenhouse effect, those gasses are introduced by burning fossil fuels and from the intestines of livestock animals among other means. Also, due to deforestation and tillage of the ground, the Earth’s natural ability to store carbon is hindered. The Earth naturally maintains a level of homeostasis, when anthropogenic forms of greenhouse gases are introduced, it is too much for the planet to naturally maintain control of. Personally, I believe it as a slap in the face to the scientific community as a whole to deny climate change when there is a large amount of evidence to back up what 97% of scientist have pretty much agreed on. There are mountains of evidence, but I will present three. First and foremost, carbon dioxide levels are increasing substantially. Scientist have tested air bubbles in ancient ice from Antarctica and Greenland, and have determined that CO2 levels for the past 650,000 years or so have stayed between 180 and 300 parts per million. However, since the industrial revolution, that...
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...Assignment 2: Global Warming: Cause and Mitigation Introduction to Physical Science xxxxxxxxxxxx December 6, 2015 Strayer University Professor xxxx xxxx One of the most all time debated and controversial topics to date in science is global warming. Over the last few decades climate change have lead scientist to develop a theories that human beings are the major contributors to the global warming crisis. Many theories suggest that different types of issues contribute to the warming of the planet but the mitigation strategies to slow this process down vary as well. When speaking of this topic there are two basic types of climate change, natural and anthropogenic. Main contributor in the climate change or global warming can be referred to as greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are derived from water vapor, Methane, Chlorofluorocarbons, and Carbon dioxide. Anthropogenic theory state that the development and consumption of fossil fuels for human life has generated and released a large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. According to this theory the excess carbon dioxide is the main cause of climate change around the world. This process prevents heat from earth to escape naturally into space and hence cool the earth. The theory known as the natural theory states that the earth is going through one of the many peaks and valleys of changes. This of course being a peak of...
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...Activities must not be considered as a Substantial Cause of Global Climate Change ‘’Our world is always changing, Constantly re-arranging. From ocean depths to mountain peaks, Mother Nature moves and speaks. While telling stories of our past She tries to teach us how to last.’’ Change- the only thing in the universe that is constant. Starting from the journey of childhood, we are witnessing changes, whether it is about our appearances, lifestyle or about living environment. The words of Phinazee also portray the image of change, specifically in Mother Nature. She conveys her love to the greenery, the beauty of ocean, the openness of mountain peaks and valleys. Sadly, these generosities of nature are some footprints of past times. Today, the world is facing major behavioural change in natural environment. The crisis has started to affect even our future generation. It is undoubtedly a threat to our existence. One of the major issues responsible for the crisis is global warming. Global warming is the gradual yet constant increase in the earth’s overall temperature mainly associated to increased level of greenhouse gasses and other pollutants (Oxford Dictionaries, n.d.). The front scene indicates human activities as the main culprit of global warming but the facts behind the front scene should also be considered to get the whole picture. As these facts identify global warming as partially a natural occurrence, change in global climate pattern must not be considered as a result...
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...The Cause and Effects of Global Warming on the Polar Bear Most experts agree that global warming does exist and it is having a devastating effect on the Earth’s climate. A major concern of global warming is the melting of the polar ice caps. Research suggests that global warming is going to greatly impact the survival of the polar bear. In southern portions of their range, like Hudson Bay, Canada, there is no sea ice during the summer, and the polar bears must live on land until the Bay freezes in the fall, when they can once again hunt on the ice. While they are on land during the summer, the polar bears eat very little or sometimes nothing. In just 20 years the ice-free period in Hudson Bay has increased by an average of 20 days, thus cutting the polar bears' seal hunting season by nearly three weeks. Because the ice is freezing later in the fall, and melting earlier in the spring the bears have a much shorter timeframe in which to hunt during the critical season when seal pups are born. As a result, average bear weight has dropped by 15 percent, causing reproduction rates to decline. The Hudson Bay population is down more than 20 percent. Despite the fact that polar bears are good swimmers there has been an alarming increase of polar bears drowning. Although they are well adapted to water, and can swim hundreds of miles to reach solid land, the distance to reach that land is increasing dramatically as the Arctic ice disappears. It is believed that fewer and smaller ice floes...
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...The Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming: Definition, Causes, and potential effects to humans, Plants, animal communities and natural resources. Discuss with illustrations. INTRODUCTION There's a delicate balancing act occurring every day all across the Earth, involving radiation the planet receives from space and the radiation that's reflected back out to space. Enormous amounts of radiation, primarily from the sun strikes the Earth's atmosphere in the form of visible light, ultraviolet, infrared and other types of radiation that are invisible to the human eye. About 30 percent of the radiation striking Earth's atmosphere is immediately reflected back out to space by clouds, ice, snow, sand and other reflective surfaces, according to NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). The remaining 70 percent of incoming solar radiation is absorbed by the oceans, the land and the atmosphere. As they heat up, the oceans, land and atmosphere release heat in the form of infrared thermal radiation, which passes out of the atmosphere and into space. It is this equilibrium of incoming and outgoing radiation that makes the Earth habitable. Without this balance, the greenhouse effect sets in. Definition Greenhouse Effect: The warming of the atmosphere due to the increased amounts of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides and methane. These gases form a blanket over the Earth, trapping the energy or heat from the sun and preventing it from leaving the atmosphere...
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...Introduction Global warming is a phenomenon that occurs when the earth’s atmosphere traps heat radiating from Earth toward space. Initially the sunlight transmitted was meant to pass through the atmosphere, warm the Earth’s surface, and otherwise pass freely into space. But most of the outgoing heat, however, is absorbed by the accumulated greenhouse molecules in the atmosphere and is re-emitted in all directions, ultimately leading to the warming of the planet. Over the past 50 years, the average global temperature has increased at an unsettling speed. Some human activities like mining and the burning of fossil fuels, emit CO2 and other greenhouse gases into the air. As we burn and mine more fossil fuels, greenhouse gases build up in the atmosphere...
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...How Global Warming May Cause the Next Ice Age... If you look at a globe, you'll see that the latitude of much of Europe and Scandinavia is the same as that of Alaska and permafrost-locked parts of northern Canada and central Siberia. Yet Europe has a climate more similar to that of the United States than northern Canada or Siberia. Why? The warmth in Europe is the result of ocean currents that bring warm surface water up from the equator into northern regions that would otherwise be so cold that even in summer they'd be covered with ice. The current of greatest concern is often referred to as "The Great Conveyor Belt," which includes what we call the Gulf Stream. The Great Conveyor Belt, while shaped by the Coriolis effect of the Earth's rotation, is mostly driven by the greater force created by differences in water temperatures and salinity. The North Atlantic Ocean is saltier and colder than the Pacific, the result of it being so much smaller and locked into place by the Northern and Southern American Hemispheres on the west and Europe and Africa on the east. As a result, the warm water of the Great Conveyor Belt evaporates out of the North Atlantic leaving behind saltier waters, and the cold continental winds off the northern parts of North America cool the waters. Salty, cool waters settle to the bottom of the sea, most at a point a few hundred kilometers south of the southern tip of Greenland, producing a whirlpool of falling water that's 5 to 10 miles across. While...
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...Causes of Global Warming and its present and future impacts on South-West Western Australia Global Warming is an issue at the heart of modern civilisation. The prospect of a rapidly changing global enviroment is enough to cause considerable concern towards life on earth for future generations. Therefore it is important to understand how climate change works, what is causing the climate to change, what effects these changes are having, and how they may continue to affect the global environment. What causes the environments on earth unable to support life? What can be done about these predictions of climates in the future? How will these climate changes affect South-West Western Australia? How does climate change work? Climate change is a natural process that has been functioning on earth for billions of years, it is the regulator of the earth's abililty to support life by the cycles of The Greenhouse Effect. The Greenhouse Effect has made the earth an environment for supporting life through the cycling of energy from the sun via short-wave radiation, which heats the earths surface, then is released into the atmopshere as long-wave radiation. This cycle is made possible by the prescence of Greenhouse gases, which redside in the earths atmopshere, and absorb most of the long-wave radiation given off by the earth, with the remainder being expelled into space. This process cycles the heat from the sun around the earths atmosphere and a climate is the result, without this circulation...
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...Global warming is a phenomenon caused and intensified by humans as we have exploited the earth heavily for its resources and in doing so we have caused a large change in the characteristics of our planet and its climate. Global warming is caused foremost through the release of green house gases (GHGs) mostly through the burning of fossil fuels, the trend can be very clealry seen between CO2 levels and temperature increase over the last 150 years. The last 150 years have bshown such a huge change in CO2 levels because of the expansion and birth of heavy industry across the globe which requires fossil fuels to be burnt, this releases green house gases into the atmosphere, a higher than normal concentration of green house gases in the atmosphere means traps heat in the atmosphere of the earth as they act as an instulator GHG’s Industrial revolution/ industrialisation Increasing population (higher demand for goods) Transport expansion (wide spread use of cars, large amount of air travel) Fossil fuel burning CFC’s Ozone depletion BANGLADESH AS EXAMPLE OF EFFECTS Temps increases Sea level rising Sea surface temps rising (Increasing scale and severity of monsoons and TRS’s) Saltation intrusion (Bangladesh up to 100km in causing issues with the agricultural industry, rice paddies around the coast line as well as fish and plant life which are commonly susceptible to specific salt/fresh water compositions) More intense extremes of temp and weather -zero rain dry...
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...Jayadev Kakumanu 8/10/2013 EN 1420 Global warming is caused by carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel burning power plants, carbon dioxide emissions from burning gasoline for transportation, methane emissions from animals, agriculture such as rice paddies and from arctic sea beds. It is also caused by deforestation of tropical rain forests, and increase in usage of chemical fertilizers on croplands. This paper will examine the advantages and disadvantages of global warming as well as the preventative measures our society can take to stop the progress of global warming. And finally, decide whether global warming is a lie or a hoax. There are many disadvantages to global warming. Global warming spreads diseases, as northern countries warm, disease carrying insects migrate north, bringing plague and disease with them. Global warming also causes warmer waters, which means more hurricanes. Some areas of our planet will suffer serious droughts and heat waves. Africa will be hit the most with more severe droughts expected in Europe. There are also going to be economic consequences, hurricanes can cause billions of dollars in damage and diseases cost money to treat. Polar ice caps will melt. This melting of ice caps will raise sea levels. The melting will also throw the ecosystem out of balance. The ice caps are fresh water so when they melt they will make the ocean less salty. The rising temperatures will endanger the survival of several species. The ice caps are white...
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