Essay About Good Gas Mileage And Global Warming

Global Warming
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Global Warming
Global Warming, this is the topic lining many newspaper heads, a debate among
government officials and one even presidential officials have tried to keep out of the
media. Over the last couple of years many scientist have produced factual evidence of
the average temperature through out the world rising. It is a fact that global warming is
real and that it can and will happen to our planet. 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 affect, resulting especially from pollution. Many
questions we ask are what cause global warming, how much is it changing the world in
which we live, how will we deal with it, what can we do to help, what can businesses and
industries do to help, and what can the government do?
There are many causes of global warming beginning with one of the major
greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide. Carbon Dioxide comes from power plants,
automobiles, airplanes and buildings, it traps heat into the atmosphere, causing a
warming of the earth. About 40% of carbon dioxide comes from the burning of fossil
fuels to provide electricity to power plants. Cars, trucks, mini vans, jeeps and other
automobiles contribute to at least 33% of the carbon dioxide that contributes to the global
warming effect. A pick up truck or utility vehicle that does not get good gas mileage is
worse of a hazard than a small compact car. For each gallon of gas an automobile uses it
is estimated that 19.6 pounds of carbon dioxide is released into the air. Other than
automobiles and power plants, airplanes come in at a 3.5% contributing rate and
buildings at 12%. Methane releases CH4 into the atmosphere and while it is not as
common as CO2 it is 20 times more effective in trapping heat in the atmosphere than
carbon dioxide. The most common form of methane is rice paddies, and the U.S.
produces most of the rice grown in the world. The only gas scientists have considered to
be both good and bad is water vapor. Water holds 2/3 of the heat, and is a form of all the
greenhouse gases, but as the earth gets warmer the humidity rises allowing more
warming. This is good because the warmer the air is the higher humidity can be and this
reflects heat back into space. Next is Nitrous Oxide, it is produced by oceans and
rainforests but also manmade in the form of nylon and nitric acid (a type of fertilizer used
on farms). It is a type of gas many people may be familiar with by going to the dentist
office, also know as “laughing gas”. It is also used as an anesthetic in hospitals around
the world. Deforestation also known as logging, which is the cutii9ng down of more than
34 million acres of trees every year, contributes 20-25% of atmospheric carbon dioxide
into the atmosphere. The destroying of our forests are sending hundreds of millions of
tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year. Ordinarily the forests would soak
up billions of tons of carbon dioxide keeping them from reaching the atmosphere. The
little things we do everyday such as making a living, driving to work or fertilizing a crop