Greenhouse Gasses
Essay Preview: Greenhouse Gasses
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Global warming is a topic of which is highly debated. Furthermore, scientists are severely divided on this particular issue. There are scientists who believe that global warming is a result of human actions and events. And, there are some experts who believe that global warming is not occurring and that environmental issues occur as a natural process on the earth. However, if global warming is occurring, it is thought to have vast ramifications throughout the entire earth.
Air pollution, in the form of a heightened production of carbon dioxide and methane into the air, is what has attributed to global warming (Solar Observatories Group, 2008). This may lead to what is now called the greenhouse effect. This is when carbon dioxide and water vapor form an invisible blanket around the globe that allows the suns light to enter, but traps the heat (Henslin, 2000). Without this blanket, temperatures would drastically fall, and the earth would be unable to support life (Henslin, 2000). However, if the blanket is too thick, it traps too much heat which delivers devastating consequences for the environment and biological system (Henslin, 2000).
Phenomenons such as the rising of sea levels, a global temperature rise, warming oceans, shrinking ice sheets, declining arctic sea ice, a glacial retreat, a number of extreme weather events, and ocean acidification attribute to the evidence of global temperature rise (Conway, Jackson, Jenkins, Sullivant & Tenenbaum, 2009).
According to many scientists, the causes for these phenomenons are due to the changing of natural greenhouse gases due primarily to human activity on earth (Conway et al., 2009). Over the last century, the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil has increased the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide in the air (Conway et al., 2009). This occurs because the coal or oil burning process combines carbon with oxygen in the air to make carbon dioxide (Conway et al., 2009). Thus, human activities such as clearing of land for agriculture, industry, and pollution, to name a few, have increased concentrations of greenhouse gases (Conway et al., 2009).
Climate change is very likely to have immense impacts on our planet and its life (Solar Observatories Group, 2008). Global warming has the potential of making life hard for the human race (Riebeek, 2010). This is due to the fact that we have already built a colossal infrastructure based on the climate we currently had (Riebeek, 2010). Thus, individuals who live in temperate zones may have milder winters, more abundant rainfall, and expanding crop productions (Riebeek, 2010). However, individuals in other areas will suffer from increased heat waves, coastal erosion, a rising sea level, unpredictable rainfall, famine and or droughts (Riebeek, 2010). This may affect the growth and life span of our sustainable life such as plants. Many animals rely on plants as a food source. If the animals food source begins