Global Warming

Global Warming

Global warming is the new or possibly rejuvenated issue on American minds. Even though awareness has risen a degree, a lot of people remain uneducated on the topic. Whether this is because of a feeling of helplessness or more simply a complete lack of concern, it will have to be confronted eventually. The topic caught my attention when a television commercial came on about a little girl who was left by her father on train tracks. The train was to be a symbol of global warming. The commercial depicted that this generation might not suffer the effects of climate change, but it will be our children who are left to deal with the aftermath.

Global warming is said to affect our health, increase the risk of tropical storms (such as hurricane Katrina), droughts, with a possible increase or decrease of crop yields, glacier reduction which would lead to increased sea levels and damaged ecosystems.(Globalwarmning.org) What causes global warming? Who is responsible? What are the total side effects? And what can be done to fight global warming? Are we being forced to choose between our economy and our environment? These are a lot of the questions the American people are wondering about. Billions of government funds have already been cut from environment preservation funds, while the slow developments of alternative fuels that don't release green house gases, are still awhile away.

Green House Effect

Most people can tell you global warming is the increasing average temperature of the globe. Which is caused by a process called the "green house effect". This term is often regarded as entirely negative. What most don't know however that without this mechanism the earth's temperature would be up to thirty degrees cooler. Green house gases (such as carbon dioxide and methane), trap heat in the earth's atmosphere warming the earth's surface. The unusual climate change has been mostly attributed to an increase green house gases. The actual temperature change, from a reliable data source (which goes only as far back as the 1850's) shows that the temperature has only gone up .5 degrees Fahrenheit within the last 156 years. There are some climate models that predict a possible temperature increase of 2.5-10 Fahrenheit within the next ninety four years.

(usatoday.com)

Carbon Dioxide

Carbon Dioxide has increased about twenty five percent in the earth's atmosphere since the 1800's, ten percent in the last 48 years, and is climbing at a rate of .4 percent a year (NASA). CO2 has an atmospheric lifespan of 50 plus years and is the most man made greenhouse gas. This is identifiable by a liner climb in the quantity of CO2 in the earth's atmosphere. Most of which are frequently produced by the burning of fossil fuels. The United States accounts for 4 percent of the global population and is responsible for 25 percent of current CO2 emissions. 56 percent of those emissions come from motor vehicles

(Common Dreams).

I would call Carbon Dioxide the dominating human contribution as it makes up three fourths of the green house gases in the atmosphere. However there has only been a twenty five percent increase in CO2 in the atmosphere and the global temperature rose only .5 within the last 156 years. Hindsight is 20/20 but as it stands now we can control the level of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere. The situation is manageable and not yet irreversible. Carbon Dioxide makes up three fourths of the total amount of greenhouse gasses that makes the remaining quarter not as important as far as human contributions.

(Wikipedia)

The Little Ice Age

Somewhere within the early 14th century the northern hemisphere entered in what was called a Little Ice age. This is a climate irregularity where the temperature dropped one degree Celsius and continental ice sheets grew. The Little Ice age started to recede around the 1800's. Some say that the Little Ice age ended around the early 1850's, but the continental ice sheets created during that period are still receding. Due to the incomplete recession of these Ice sheets some say that we are still in the process of coming out of that Little Ice age. This might constitute as an explanation of the recent fluctuation in temperature. I personally think this hypothesis makes a good example of how inadequately temperature records are holding back more definitive explanations. It came to my surprise to learn that during more severe ice ages that temperature only dropped ten degrees.

(Wikipedia)

Hurricanes

We know that global warming is a possibility, but what is it going to entail for our current and future generations? One of the most prominent concerns on the mind of my peers and I was the possibility of increased hurricane activity. Fightglobalwarming.com (9/26/06) states with a recent MIT study, that destructive potential of tropical storms has doubled over the past thirty years (Nature1). Also that category four and five hurricanes have doubled since the 1970's. However, objectively we do have the satellite technology to observe most hurricane occurrences, but back in the 70's they didn't have as much global coverage.

The larger part of how global warming affects hurricanes is in the warming of ocean temperatures, which helps fuel a hurricane's mechanics. Ocean temperatures have risen very little in the last 154 years. And the ocean experiences warming temperature change at a third of rate of the landmass's incline. So the overall effect of the warmer climate with our current hurricanes have been isolated or fairly minuet. If the oceans were to experience a high temperature incline, stronger and larger tropical storms could be expected.

Glaciers

Another possible side affect of global warming is the reduction of glaciers. This is a threat because of only a few reasons. It could limit the drinking water in certain regions and a possible sea level increase. There are other possible side affects such as damaging the coral reef and loss of land mass, but evidence is too insufficient and exists primarily within the realms