...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 Survival And Cubbing of Polar Bears The survival and cubbing of Polar bears is rapidly getting affected due to climate change and Global Warming, as says the Wildlife technical report(Michelle Allsopp, 2012). The healthy breeding of Polar bears relies greatly on the Arctic’s ice covered waters and cultivate Arctic Wildlife, as well. Polar bears are the most precious habitats of Arctic wildlife, Not only because they are limited in numbers but also on the grounds that the specie have now endangered for conservation. According to authentic information(Michelle Allsopp, 2012), a female Polar bears can only give birth to 1 to 3 cubs with in life time. Also, the mortality rate of infant cubs exceed from 70 %. Hence, there are less chances that the individuals of the Polar bears can be replaced by new generations. Furthermore, the other factors of climate change and global warming have intensified the threat to the species conservation due to climate changes in Arctic Wildlife. The projected claim can be justified with supporting observations presented below for reference. * Comprised survival rates of sub adult due to poor nutritions resulted from the sea ice breakup. * Inefficient reproduction cycle due to early spring ice breakup. * Deprived access to prey for sufficient...
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...Greene 1 Cause and Effect September 6th 2015 John Bryson Greene Effects of Global Warming Have you noticed that in the past few years the average temperature has changed? The summers are hotter the usual. The winters aren’t as cold as you remember them. Did you realize when storm season comes; instead of your regular thunderstorm you get super storms? All these effects are caused by global warming. Global warming is defined as “An increase in the earth's atmospheric and oceanic temperatures widely predicted to occur due to an increase in the greenhouse effect resulting especially from pollution” (Global Warming About). To put that in layman’s terms, global warming is an increase in air and water temperature due to pollution. Global warming has many effects on the Earth. Some of the effects are raising temperatures, melting icecaps, changing weather, and the effect it has on animals If you can’t tell by the name, global warming causes a raise in temperature. The decade of 2000-2010 has been the hottest decade since the 1980’s (Climate Hot). According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the average temperature of the earth has risen over 2.1 degrees (Enloe). Over the 50 years, the number of record low temperature around the world has declined (Climate). Since the 1970’s, the average temperatures between November and February in the USA have increased by 1-2 degrees (Global Warming And). As mentioned earlier, global warming is causing the atmosphere...
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...Global warming has been affecting the world since the 1800s. The world in the past century has rising 1.4 degrees in the last 10 years. The greenhouse effect is the main cause of global warming . Co2 is also part of the reason of global warming it is heating the air with its smog in china and japan. People are the cause of Global warming . When the animals are getting endangered that they are listing their habitats polar bears and Ducks and Pikas. People that are exposing the greenhouse gasses like coal and petroleum are burning them for heat then when they burn it the gas goes in the atmosphere and raises the temperature . People can unplug electronics, drive speed limit and recycle to help maintain the global warming level we is at .If...
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...problems that the world is experiencing nowadays, be it the pollution found in the cities, deforestation of natural rainforests, and the melting of the polar ice caps. One of the worst environmental problems, if not the worst, that the Earth is currently facing is global warming. Global warming is the gradual increase of the Earth’s surface temperature, mainly due to the effects of certain greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide emissions from either deforestation or monoxides found in pollution. These gases would trap the heat that would supposedly escape from the surface of the Earth, which would effectively increase the Earth’s surface temperature. From the name itself, we can already know the main effect of global warming to the Earth. There is this gradual change in temperature, more specifically, a rise in temperature of the Earth’s climate system. From this rise in temperature, more side effects would be branching out. Some of these include the depletion of different bodies of water, forest fires, unpredictable weather, and the melting of the polar caps. It would be fair to say that humans must reap what they sow, that because we have been burning fossil fuels and cutting down trees, we deserve to suffer the consequences given by global warming. Although, it is not just humans who are experiencing these side effects, plants and animals alike also pay for the cost of our negligence to our environment. Let us first take into account the depletion of water in different...
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...Hi! My name is (...). Today I will talk about global warming with main focus on the polar ice including the artic animals like the polar bear. So as a start, the global warming is the biggest threat for artic animals like the polar bear. Even though people like those in the Bush administration, refused to accept global warming; many think that the future climate changes can erase all the artic animals, and basically destroy the world as we know it. So, what will happen if we don’t act now? As I said, the world biggest bear is in danger. The polar bear uses the ice to rest and catch seals. Without the ice the polar bear will have no place to hunt or rest. The number of bears has never been so low. Today its just 20.000 to 25.000 left because the ice is melting. Their natural habitat is disappearing. The UN tells us that 50% of the winter polar ice will disappear before year 2100, and all the summer ice. If this happen, it’s hard to imagine that the polar bear and all the other artic animals will survive. And it isn’t just the polar bear that is in danger, but also our future generations. The polar ice cool down air, and stores millions of gallons of water. From now, and up to year 2100, the water level is likely to rise with 40 centimetres. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but even a small increase can have a devastating effect on coastal habitats. And in America parts of Louisiana, Texas, Florida and North Carolina will be flooded. So what causes this development, and the sea...
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...supplies the energy of the future. The primary focus is within the Fish and Wildlife Service of the Federal Government. The existence of wildlife and plants is constantly threatened as a direct result of humanity. Global Warming is finally receiving acknowledgement necessary to make a difference in the wasteful and destructive routines of human expansion. Artic wildlife is experiencing the most difficulties as the surrounding glaciers are all melting. Our primary focus is on polar bears as they rely on masses of ice to rest after hunting for food. With the emergence of warmer climate, the areas of ice are diminishing leaving polar bears swimming for even longer until they drown from exhaustion. A federal regulation was passed in May of 2008 to protect the polar bear species from extinction by adding them to the endangered list. This should be a wake-up call to every individual living on the planet Earth as it is time to take responsibility for our actions and start making serious changes. Continued decrease of sea ice levels is expected in the future which affects the entire span of polar bears which reclassifies their status as threatened and endangered. The initial process began with a 12-Month Petition Finding and Proposed Rule during the year 2007. Polar bears are considered threatened with critical habitat under The Endangered Species Act of 1973. According to the Act: “Through Federal action and by encouraging the establishment of State programs, The Endangered Species...
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...Atmospheric Pollution As I had started my research on atmospheric pollution, I had come to find that it all coincides with global warming. Due to the gases that are being released in the air from vehicles, it starts to destroy the atmosphere. However, it is not just the gases from the vehicles, there are also gases from power plants and aerosol cans, for example, hairspray. Smokers also contribute to the pollution in the atmosphere. All of this will be discussed further into the paper. The one thing that was asked was to give a detailed description of the problem. Coming up with a detailed description was not a problem but difficult and time consuming. I have come up with a number of problems that atmospheric pollution, or global warming, has on people, animals and the world. Map Results I have found a map that shows the locations where there is air pollution. On this map, there are images of blue, purple and red dots. These dots represent the U.S. Industrial facilities that use toxic chemicals. The city and states with a high count of toxic usage had the blue and red dots next to them. These city and states are as follows: Phoenix, Arizona, Salt Lake City, Utah, San Diego, California, Los Angeles, California, Riverside, California, Bakersfield, California, San Francisco, California, Stockton, California, Sacramento, California, Las Vegas, Nevada, Portland, Oregon, and Seattle Washington. There are 34 city and states including Canada that are highlighted...
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...or temperature can have a drastic affect on when animals breed, migrate, and hibernate. It also affects plant life cycles and their ability to grow. The impact that climate change has on nature can be catastrophic. Climate change has already had a noticeable effect across the globe and on the environment. Glaciers are shrinking, ice along rivers and lakes are melting earlier, plants and animals have shifted their ranges, trees are flowering sooner, and sea levels are rising. These effects were predicted in the past by scientists, and they are finally occurring. Most of climate change is caused by global warming and the greenhouse effect. (Gardiner, 2004) Global warming is a rise in the average temperature on the earth’s surface. Scientists who study the climate have evaluated climate patterns since the early 1800’s. From their evaluations, they have noticed a rise in temperature, from about 0.7 to 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit and they estimate temperatures to continue to rise over the next century, an additional 2.5 to 10.4 degrees Fahrenheit. With this change, scientists fear that all living organisms will have a hard time adapting to these rapid climate changes (Mastrandrea & Schneider, 2005) To understand global warming and climate change, it has to be understood what causes it. Human activities play a crucial role in harming the...
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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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...Ryan Bustinza Global Warming Global warming is defined as the rise in average temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans since the late 19th century. The average temperature of the Earth has increased about 1 and a half degrees, with about two-thirds of the increase occurring since 1980. In general, many scientists believe that the primary causes are greenhouse gases. These greenhouse gases are produced by many human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels, and deforestation. The findings of these scientists are recognized by all major industrialized nations. Negative effects of global warming have already been noticed throughout the environment. Sea level rising, changes in climate extremes, and the decline of artic ice which could also lead to a glacier retreat. In addition, ecological systems are also at risk of global warming. Ecosystems could start to be affected, along with the extinction of species, and an increased ocean acidity. The idea of global warming was first proposed by Svante Arrhenius, a Swedish Scientist, who in 1896 stated that combustion of fossil fuel may eventually result in global warming. Along with this theory he also proposed that there was a relation between atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and temperature. Arrhenius, along with Thomas Chamberlin, calculated that human activities could warm the earth by adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. But, the discoveries of Arrhenius and Chamberlin were forgotten for a...
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...and in areas where it’s typically cold it’s now become warmer. For many year now, people have wondered if global warming is a true topic to be worried about. Throughout the years, the world has encountered people who believe that global warming is natural, and that the temperatures change over time regardless of human interference. On the other hand, there are people who believe that global warming is very serious, and will eventually affect future generations. As of now, scientist may only research the reason behind temperature changes. And for us people, we may decide on our own whether global warming is serious, or is only a natural thing. The controversy of global warming and its effect on temperature has been around for many years. Scientifically, global warming is described as the increasing air temperatures near the Earth’s surface. An increase in temperature can affect many things such as: weather patterns (potentially causing natural disasters) as well as animal adaptations. An example of how global warming affects animals and their adaptations to certain environments is shown by the following: Twenty years before...
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...consideration. The actions we take for our environment do not compare to those taken against it. With it being a Christian’s responsibility to preserve and protect this God given Earth, we shall always try our hardest to fulfill his expectations. Sure we can put our recycling bins out on the curb once a week or maybe even pick up trash we see in our parks (which the average person refuses to do), but I feel that we need to take more responsibility and create a more healthy environment. We need to take charge and start promoting a more all-around environment conscious lifestyle to keep this blessing that God gave to us alive. Statistics have shown that the effects humans have on Earth are ever-growing and if we don’t change our ways now, who knows what the future may be like. The toll for not being “green” will definitely have a detrimental effect on us and our next generations. Environmental issues are growing before our eyes. Coral reefs are losing life which causes fish to have to survive without shelter, bees are disappearing leaving a huge dent in our food production, and the list goes on. Most people don't really hear about these issues due to the fact that it's hardly ever broadcasted. How can we learn and find solutions if the people aren't aware? As Christians we should educate others about the problems our Earth is facing. I can admit that sometimes I find myself ignoring issues that don't directly affect me. Though in...
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...what happens to the atmosphere when greenhouse gases are being pumped into it faster than it can be absorbed. Many people believe that global warming is a problem that can only be solved by big companies and the government. What happens when the government is handing out millions of dollars in tax breaks to big oil companies that are polluting our earth and no one is doing anything to stop them? People do not understand the amount of damage just a single person can do to the air around us. Global Warming is a growing problem around the world and it cannot be ignored any longer. The earth is suffering from the abuse of humans and when it is gone it cannot be replaced. The question is not if global warming is going to get worse, it is when and what people are going to do to stop it. Global Warming is by no means a new or recently discovered issue throughout the world. However, it has taken many years for the issue to get the attention it deserves and so desperately needs. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, scientists discovered changes in weather in relation to global warming. However, people denied it saying it is a recurring pattern. “Nobody worried about the change. The meteorologists explained that weather patterns always did vary modestly, in cycles lasting a few decades or centuries. If the mid-twentieth century happened to be a time of warming, so much the better.” (Weart, 2003) The weather was getting warmer and more enjoyable so people reveled in it and did not see it as something...
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...Polar Bears (Ursus maritimus) are marine mammals that spend most of their time foraging for other marine mammals at sea or on ice. It is the behavior of U. maritimus that classifies them as marine mammals, however their DNA classifies them under Ursidae along with the brown bear (Ursus arctos) and black bear (Ursus americanus). Bruce et al. (1989) suggested that these bears share 4 physiological stages including hibernation, walking hibernation, normal activity, and hyperphagia, however the polar bear is the only sister species that only females are known to hibernate. Polar bears are found only in the Arctic and feed mainly on seals and face many problems with global warming. Brown and black bears are known to have a wider habitat range, as they are land dwellers and do not need an open ocean near by as a food source. The presence of hibernation-induction trigger (HIT) found in all three species is another indicator of the sister relationship and possibility of polar bears hibernating. Studies have shown that pregnant polar bears show advanced bone formation during hibernation. Polar bears and their habitat conservation can be important to society by studying this advancement in bone formation for future health...
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