...Implications for the environment a) Implications in determining the consequences and development within the technological society and the effects a technology has on an organisms, its habitat, what capacity the natural ecosystems have to support life, and biodiversity The development of technology within society has many benefits; however it has shown adverse effects on our natural environment. The need to reach for new advances if we are not managed appropriately can collapse natural ecosystems. Regretfully our ideologies have caused the vast social problems that we are forced to deal with today. Technology advancements have positive implications, but it has also had devastating effects on the environment. We have been practicing a growth at any and all cost ideology in regards to technology and the damage it is causing to the environment. This has created an every growing social issue. This attitude has led to the loss of biodiversity that will inevitably bring the collapse of ecosystems. We take more resources from the earth and space as our population increases.As a result we are disrupting the habitats of animal species that live in undeveloped areas. As we expand our range to make room for new communities we inadvertently displace the natural order of insects, animals and plants that occupy the land. Our attitude towards growth and technology serves human needs and comfort at the expense of animals, organism and the ecosystems that sustain them. Our reliance...
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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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...year 2014, it seems that there should be no doubt that global warming is among us and climate change is affecting the earth in a negative pattern. What many people are unsure about in regards to climate change include where it comes from, what the major implications could be if global warming is not addressed, as well as what we as humans living on planet earth can do to aide in creating a sustainable future. Through this article, with the help of experts, we will address all of these areas involved with today’s climate change. It is hard to pin point one exact cause for climate change because in reality there are many things that contribute to it. Al Gore points out in his speech that the burning of fossil fuels, namely coal, is the main reason that we are observing global warming. (Gore, 2009) According to the EPA, the electricity we create today by burning these fossil fuels accounted for thirty-two percent of greenhouse gas emissions in 2012. Although burning coal and fossil fuels is the number one source of greenhouse gas emissions, a surprising factor to climate change is the fact that agriculture makes up for nearly ten percent of greenhouse gas emissions. Agricultural emissions come from sources such as agricultural soils, rice production, as well as livestock, such as cows. (Environmental Protection Agency, 2012) Environmental author Anna Lappé also notes agriculture as being a large source of the greenhouse gas emissions weakening our planets health. Lappé explains...
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...Helpful Tips to Decrease Global Warming Global warming is impacting the world by increasing the average global temperature and causing many changes that are not visibly noticeable. These changes are costing us our healthy planet and safer world because of the serious effects it has on the climate and our lives. The causes of global warming can be reduced by taking action and altering our life styles in several ways. Taking action to help minimize global warming will have a huge impact on the amount of man-made air pollution that is produced. Global warming is the reason for the warmer climate on Earth. “There are more and more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, more heat is trapped which makes the Earth warmer… known as Global warming” (Greenhouse Effect). Our actions on Earth are one of the variables that contribute to global warming and will affect the Earth if continued at the current rate. It has already shown noticeable consequences to our climate, surroundings and weather. “There has been three periods of global warming since 1850; the most recent warming was originally thought to have been caused by emissions by man of carbon dioxide” (Global Warming Science). Between these three periods the Earth cooled leading to the changes in climate “for the past 11,000 years” according to Global Science. Global warming is caused by the greenhouse effect which is the cycle of light, heat of the Earth’s surface and Earth’s atmosphere. “The greenhouse gases reach the Earth’s...
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...Global Warming Global warming, an increase in the earth's temperature due to the use of fossil fuels and certain industrial and agricultural processes leading to a buildup of “greenhouse gases” (principally carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and water vapor) in the atmosphere. Since 1896 it has been known that these gases reduce the escape of the earth's infrared radiation into space and this function to maintain the earth's relatively warm temperature. This is called the greenhouse effect. Although there is broad agreement that human activity, such as burning fossil fuels has reached a scale that is beginning to influence climate, there is much uncertainty and debate over how much and how fast the climate will warm. Elevated global temperatures could result in coastal flooding and the shifting of major climatic zones and may have serious implications for agricultural productivity. Since 1850 there has been a mean rise in global temperature of approximately 1.8 Fahrenheit and a 28 percent rise in carbon dioxide levels. While most scientists think this temperature rise to the increase in carbon dioxide levels, other scientists argue that this temperature rise could just be part of a natural fluctuation; such fluctuations have been recorded for tens of thousands years and operate in short-term as well as long-term cycles. Because of the difficulty of distinguishing between emissions caused by humans and those caused by natural sources, and a number...
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...use of different chemicals? This is the question that has been the ground for major debate for many years, is our advancements causing global warming? When debating global warming the first thing to consider is what the cause of global warming is, and the answer to this basic question is greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are natural gases such as CO2, Nitrous Oxide or Methane and are created in one of two ways. The first way is, through natural cycles, for instance, CO2 is released through animal respiration or plant photosynthesis. The alternative greenhouse gas production comes from man’s use of different fuels and products; this can lead to anthropogenic climate changes. Anthropogenic Climate Changes are changes in the atmosphere brought on by human activity, and there is evidence of these kinds of changes all over. By studying the size of the polar ice caps we can see that they are shrinking and this may be due to a warmer atmosphere temperature brought on by none other than an anthropogenic climate change. An IPCC report from 2007 showing levels of some of the greenhouse gases also shows that the levels of greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere has skyrocketed since the post-industrial era, this can only be attributed to man-made machines that have come to rise. So how does human activity attribute to the climate rise? Greenhouse gases are natural occurring gases that hold in some of the heat energy that comes from the sun and bounce off of the earths’ surface; it’s...
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...Is Global Warming Skepticism Just Smoke and Mirrors? Dependence of Man on the Environment Greenhouse warming has always been a talk of the future and the talk of skeptics, well it is happening now. Representatives from countries all over the world will meet in July, 2011 to discuss slowing down global warming by setting the limits on the countries' greenhouse gases emissions, which include the emissions of carbon dioxide the industries, machines, and cars produced. (Reis, 2011). Despite of the current evidence of global warming, people still believe that this is something that is completely made up and blown out of proportion. Global warming has a direct affect on everyone and everything on this planet. Global warming affects not only our weather when it comes to heat but also precipitation to include snow, rain and hail. Global warming also causes a negative effect on animals. Animal species have no longer populated certain areas due to the climate change and in due to the climate they need to survive are migrating to where they can get that. Scientist and professionals say that the sea levels have increased due to the melting of the glaciers. (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2009, p. 207) Global warming is commonly referred to as an increase in the temperature of the lowest layers of Earth's atmosphere. Global warming has occurred in the distant past as the result of natural influences, but the term is most often used to refer to the warming predicted to occur as a result...
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...directly emitted into the atmosphere (primary aerosol like dust, sea salt and black carbon), or they can be formed in the atmosphere by condensation (secondary inorganic aerosol such as sulfates, nitrates and ammonium). Aerosols are argued to be cooling the surface of the earth. This is relevant because the effects of aerosols may have beneficial or possibly dire consequences. Aerosols play a large role in cooling the surface of the earth, counteracting global warming, medicine, and therefore nothing should be done to eliminate them. Many types of aerosols have a cooling effect on the Earth, such as the aerosols produced from the burning of fossil fuels. The aerosols produced from this are known to partially counteract global warming caused by various greenhouse gases. In order to say that aerosols cool the earth, we have to explore the different theories on how they are said to do so. According to Jeffrey T. Kiehl in "Solving the Aerosol Puzzle" the burning of fossil fuels and biomass (in natural and man-made fires) leads to the production of substantial amounts of aerosols in the atmosphere. These particles increase the reflection of sunlight back to space directly. This effect reduces the amount of solar energy available to the climate system, a phenomenon called negative climate forcing (that is, a cooling of the atmosphere) (Kiehl 1). This means that the more reflective property of the clouds, prevents sunlight from entering the earth's...
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...of climate change is distilled into an oversimplification of global warming. Global warming is mostly understood in lay terms as the warming of the earth due to the overproduction of greenhouse gasses. In reality, climate change is, “a measure of changes in the statistical properties of the climate system when considered over periods of decades or longer, regardless of cause.” There are three main views pertaining to climate change; global warming, solar irradiance, and natural cycles of the atmosphere. Global warming is the viewpoint that human influences have and are altering the atmosphere by raising the temperature of the planet. This viewpoint is the most widely accepted view from scientists around the world who believe that the release of large amounts of CO2 and Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) (amongst other gasses are creating a greenhouse effect. The effect of global warming is not completely known. While some sources such as environmental groups like Greenpeace, predict catastrophe, groups like NASA admit that the implications of global warming are not well known (NASA, 2011). The other view of climate change pertains to solar irradiance. The sun has affected the earth’s weather in the past and solar output has increased in the last hundred years. Because the sun is so intricately tied to the earth’s weather and tidal forces, it is only natural to assume that solar activity can have profound effect on the earth’s temperature. However, the alterations in solar...
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...Global Warming General Chemistry I Bret Lynn For millions of years the changes in Earth’s climate have been driven by forces of nature. Although, for the last century and a half, Earth’s average temperature has been rising faster than any time in the past 10 thousand years. “We’re on a track to 700 parts-per-million of carbon dioxide on the planet, we haven’t seen that for 50 million years”(1). The signs are everywhere: droughts in the American southwest, rising seas in Louisiana, tropical diseases spreading north, and extremes of weather from Florida to France. There are people that still say “global warming need not concern us” and “if it is happening at all, it is a natural trend there is not much we can do about it.” However, there is now hard evidence, which shows that the warming is not only real, it’s accelerating. The warming is altering the climate’s most basic chacteristics like rainfall, days of sunshine, and nighttime temperatures. These changes are damaging the environment and agricultural production, threatening wild species into extinction, and putting at risk human lifestyle, health, and cities near the sea. It starts with the warming. In the Artic, reports of heat waves and droughts seem far away. Over the last 100 years, the world has seen a 1 degree Fahrenheit rise in its average temperature (2). However, in Alaska and Canada, winter temperatures have increased by as much as 5-7 degrees Fahrenheit in the past 50 years (2). Global warming is...
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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: Cause and Mitigation Tyler Turner Strayer Introduction to Physical Science SCI 110 Prof. Amanda Slaughter June 5, 2016 Global Warming: Cause and Mitigation In this paper I will be discussing different causes and effects of global warming. First we will look at comparing and contrasting natural versus anthropogenic climate changes and include examples of each type. We will then discuss which position I will take in wither global warming exists or not. After that we will I will assess two current mitigation strategies for global warming and analyze the effectiveness of the mitigation strategy. Lastly we will look at the policy changes that I would propose to help stabilize global climate, and what business sectors or nations would be held to stricter standards to my proposed policy. To start this paper off I will first look at comparing and contrasting natural versus anthropogenic climate changes and providing examples of both. But I think to start off we need to first know what natural climate change and anthropogenic climate change are. Natural climate changes are anything that effect the climate of the earth in natural ways, for example the sun, the moon, the atmosphere. But what is anthropogenic climate change? Anthropogenic climate change is defined as; “the production of greenhouse gases emitted by human activity” ("Anthropogenic Climate Change," n.d.). Let us first look at natural climate changes, and what causes these type of changes. There...
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...Lab Research Report 2: Global Warming: Cause and Mitigation Rhys Greer September 14, 2014 Dr. Rana Miller Strong University Compare and contrast natural versus anthropogenic climate changes. Include specific examples of each. In an article written by the United States Environmental Association (EPA) it lists natural changes in greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations, volcanic eruptions and solar energy as some of the natural causes of climate changes on earth. The article goes on to say “Recent climate changes, however, cannot be explained by natural causes alone. Research indicates that natural causes are very unlikely to explain most observed warming, especially warming since the mid-20th century. Rather, human activities can very likely explain most of that warming.” These human activities are the causes of anthropogenic climate changes. The article also adds “Since the Industrial Revolution began around 1750; human activities have contributed substantially to climate change by adding CO2 and other heat-trapping gases to the atmosphere. These greenhouse gas emissions have increased the greenhouse effect and caused Earth’s surface temperature to rise. The primary human activity affecting the amount and rate of climate change is greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.” Some human activities that initiate climate changes are caused by the gas emissions from fossil fuels used to heat homes, petroleum based fuels like gasoline and diesel used for transportation...
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...Firstly, global climate change is defined as “a change in the long-term weather patterns that characterize the regions of the world.” From Figure 1, we can see that the Earth’s climate has always been changing (at least temperature-wise), as evidenced by the large fluctuations in temperature as shown in the graph, starting from 150000 years ago. Figure 1 [IMAGE]As shown in the graph, the average global temperature dropped for around 15000 years, and then started to increase sharply for around 10000 years, after which it dropped at remained relatively constant, although it continued to fluctuate by around 1-2oC. The average temperature then dropped sharply around 80000 years ago, and then rose again, followed by another 35000 years or so of relative constant temperature. After that, the temperature dropped steadily until around 15000 years ago, after which it began to rise sharply, with only a small decrease in the rate of increase in the past 2000 years. Hence, from figure 1 alone, we can see that the rate of change in the Earth’s global average temperature has been increasing over the past 15000 years, and even though the rate of change decreased somewhat during the past 5000 years or so, the worldwide average temperature is still on the rise. Therefore it is true that the rate of change could be potentially a concern to scientists. However, temperature is not the only climatic factor that is changing rapidly today. Concentrations of greenhouse gases...
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...Kyoto Protocol and Global Warming Evaluation Ron Lewis ECO/370 November 10, 2014 Ronda Jantz Kyoto Protocol and Global Warming Evaluation Introduction of Global Climate Change In this paper we will research, come to know and understand the causes and effects of global warming and global climate change. We will also come to know and understand the Kyoto Protocol. Let’s first look at the meaning of the words global warming and global climate change. Global warming is an increase in the earth's average atmospheric temperature that causes corresponding changes in climate and that may result from the greenhouse effect (Global Warming, 2014). Global climate change is changes in the earth's weather, including changes in temperature, wind patterns and rainfall, especially the increase in the temperature of the earth's atmosphere that is caused by the increase of particular gases, especially carbon dioxide (Global Climate Change, 2014). Earth's average temperature has risen by 1.4°F over the past century, and is projected to rise another 2 to 11.5°F over the next hundred years. Small changes in the average temperature of the planet can translate to large and potentially dangerous shifts in climate and weather (Basics of Global Climate Change, 2014). Global climate change is a really big issue in the world today, and trying to fight it is an ever bigger issue. The question is, can we fight it and how? Contrast the costs and benefits of combating Global Climate Change The benefits...
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