Global Warming Essay

Global Warming Essay Global Warming Essay Global Warming has become a serious issue in our world today. We are all being affected by it, and at the same time we do not realize how baldy this could affect our future. Many of us are aware of Global Warming, but we are not all on the same page with the subject. One side believes that Global warming is not actually what’s happening to our world, and instead it is something else that is or will be harming our world. The other side of the Global Warming debate people believes that it is global warming that is ruining the Earth and causing many catastrophes. There are many people in the world that believe that Global Warming is not what is causing this heat or anything for that matter. Instead of global warming people are predicting an Ice Age to come in the future. According to Shannon Goessling, many very well educated scientists have been warning us for decades that we are getting close to the end of the 11,500 year average period between ice ages. The â€Å"Little Ice Age† happened in the 1600s and it lasted nearly a century. Every 20 to 30 years, the much colder water near the bottom of the oceans cycles up to the top, where it has a slight cooling effect on global temperatures until the sun warms that water. That warmed water then brings slightly warmer global temperatures, until the next churning cycle. These people and scientists aren’t worried about Global Warming; they are more concerned about an Ice Age in the near future. On the other side of the argument, there are people that believe Global Warming is what is happening. Scott Clement says that scientists strongly believe that Global Warming Essay Global Warming Essay Global Warming Global Warming has become quite an alarming issue in the past decade. Although most people don’t find it directly affecting their everyday lives. This is the reason not much is being done about it. Some people are in complete denial of this phenomenon, while others are positive it is happening. I personally, believe global warming is happening. My argument is to prove global warming exists. It exists because of society’s everyday habits to use natural resources at an increasing rate. We must do something about it or our planet is â€Å"doomed† so to speak. Our world is a very finite planet on which we run a linear system (Annie Leonard). In other words, planet earth has limited natural resources; we are using those natural resources up more and more at a steady, increasing rate each year. By using these natural resources we contribute to global warming on the daily. Global warming has numerous effects on planet earth. These include rising temperatu res throughout the globe, melting of the ice caps causing rise in sea levels, ecosystems experiencing dramatic change, and more frequent droughts and floods. You can see how these eventually could lead to the extinction to life on Earth as we know it. There are many reasons why global warming is happening but there are two primary reasons for it. Although some deny global warming and some are sure of it, the two major contributing factors to global warming are the emission of man-made greenhouse gases and deforestation across the globe. They are proving to increase the average global temperature of earth, therefore supporting the theory of global warming. The emissions of man-made greenhouse gases are the biggest contributing factor to global warming. It wasn’t until the Industrial Revolution when this all started. All of the major greenhouse gases have increased in concentration since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution (Pidwirny). The Greenhouse Effect is a proven th eory that is highly correlated with global warming. The Greenhouse Effect is the process where solar energy coming from the sun (in the form of visible light) passes though our atmosphere in short wavelengths and heats the planet by getting absorbed by the Earth’s surface. Not all the light is absorbed. Some is transformed into inferred radiation and bounces off earth’s surface. This inferred radiation (now with long wavelengths) then travels back though Earth’s atmosphere and gets absorbed by the greenhouse gases, which are mainly carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and water. This in result causes excess heating of the planet. The more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the more heat energy will be absorbed, and therefore the more the earth’s temperature will rise. Ross Gelbspan, author of The Heat Is On, states that the .6 degree Celsius warming of the average global temperature over the past century correlates directly with the buildup of atmosp heric carbon dioxide (Gelbspan). This brings me to the example of the biggest carbon dioxide (CO2) distributor on earth, automobiles. Motor vehicles burn gasoline to turn their wheels. When this happens, the product of the combustion in the engine produces carbon dioxide. CO2 then gets spit out the exhaust pipe and is released into the Earth’s atmosphere. With the amount of automobiles across the globe that are driven everyday, well, you do the math. To prove this statement, according to Larry West, Author of U.S Autos Account for Half of Global Warming Linked to Cars World Wide says Gasoline in the United States contains 5.3 pounds of carbon per gallon. All of that carbon ends up in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide in automobile exhaust when the fuel is burned. So the average car in the U.S. puts more than 1.5 tons of carbon into the air every year (West). This is clear-cut evidence that we are contributing to the greenhouse effect. Another prime example of a greenhouse gas contributor is the decomposition of waste in landfills. Methane is Global Warming Essay Global Warming Essay Global Warming and Me When I think of myself on this planet, revolving and rotating in a never ending vastness of space and luminous bodies, it is hard to think that I could have much of an impact. But when I actually take time to look at what I do on a daily basis and will continue to do for up to around 80 more years, I can see a lake that no longer exists, a mountain made into a hardware store, a rainforest cut into a plantation. What are the specific actions that could be the causes of those events and what do I need to do to lessen that impact? Searching my daily routines I can find many actions that I make which could be altered to cause a great change in the amount of energy I use, trash I make, and destruction I cause. The first thing that comes to mind for me is food, my eating habits, what am I doing wrong by merely eating a diet to achieve a level of vitamins and minerals that my body needs to sustain a healthy life? Looking at an energy usage point of view, I should try to find a product that does their agricultural work with alternative fuels and energies, like solar, wind, water power, or ethanol. I want to find a product that also uses less plastic and Styrofoam or other non-biodegradable packaging that will cause further land and ocean pollution. Beyond the product itself, it is difficult to find a company that has prepared this specific type of food that may even have to be home grown or caught from the wild, with awareness to global warming and what contributes to it in the kitchen. It could be served cold and raw, this is the case for almost any fruit or vegetable, also that is the healthier way regardless due to live enzymes and vitamins that will be reduced or removed completely if cooked. After this process I have to watch if they package the finished product and what kind of packaging that is, if they choose to. A way to be able to know all of the previous information would be to have a home garden where I could get the majority of my fruits and vegetables an d using a provider of produce that I cannot grow in my climate, that adheres to some of if not all of the guidelines I have set forth. If this action was taken then I would be reducing the amount of solid waste that will litter our landfills, oceans, and many other aspects of nature that the trash may be dumped, blown, or washed to. I would be reducing the amount of energy used to create and prepare my produce which in turn lowers the amount of natural oil consumed, the amount of coal burned, and the amount of pollutants that are released into the air due to these processes. On the subject of meat, it seems unethical to eat meat from an environmentalist standpoint because of the amount of food it takes to raise livestock vs. the amount of food that animal provides, leaves the basic food that was fed to the livestock in the winners circle. But I believe that a moderate amount of organic meat is a necessity for a healthy long life, yes you can get proteins and other minerals/vitamins from plants and supplements, but they are not the exact ones that meat can provide. No America should not think that meat is a necessity for every meal of the day, and it should not be raised, processed and served the way we see it. The growth hormones, the pesticides on and in the food they are raised on, the preservatives in the meat once it is butchered, and the chemicals injected to enhance or alter the flavor for our enjoyment. There are very large issues that I have with the meat industry but I try to avoid those to a certain extent that should be more. Looking back it is easy to see that there are so many things I can do to help the environment and my impact on it and global warming, and that was just on the subject of food. Imagine if I took the same process to look at my computer and how much I use it, the