LAB 4 for Nats 101
"The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Global Warming"
The mystery behind Global Warming
By: Jeff Guba
Introduction
It can be said that the temperature on Earth has increased over the past decade and some wonder why this is happening. The key suspect behind these temperature changes is Global Warming in which certain situations cause changes in Earth's Atmosphere. A big problem behind global warming is known as the "Greenhouse Effect" which certain gases(Carbon dioxide, Methane, and Nitrous Oxide) alter climates and environments[1]. One specific problem introduced in a movie, "Waterworld", displayed what would happen if global warming led to melitng the polar ice caps. The world would be forever underwater and today's society would never survive the aftermath. A huge problem for humans will be if the atmosphere, more specifically the ozone layer, disappears. The ozone layer is what protects human skin from the Sun's ultra-violet rays which cause cancer. This is why the study of resources being used that effect the atmosphere is so important to find a way to use different resources for similar situations that will not harm the Earth and its Environment.
Scientific Discussion
Behind the idea of Global Warming is what elements are used to effect the ozone layer on Earth. The temperature of the earth increases due to an increase in carbon dioxide emissions. The idea of the atomic structure and mineral formation playing a part in this topic is two fold. The first point is that atomic structure of CO2 multiplies to create so many CO2 atoms in the atmosphere and this atom threatens the atmosphere to increase temperature and change every year as CO2 emissions increase[2]. When such minerals as oil are used to create gasoline this product threatens the air and causes an increase in deterioration of the ozone layer, which helps to increase the amount of radiation from the sun to hit the Earth and cause catastrophic damages. This can be seen below where the illustration below displays how radiation from the sun will increase if the ozone layer disappears. It's sad but if the plants that consume CO2 to help keep the CO2 levels down in the atmosphere weren't being destroyed this problem may lessen. Unfortunately the idea of deforestation has helped to create this problem involving global warming and when rainforests are increasingly consumed by mankind what will we do to breathe. The need to increase recycling products is so much more important than one sees it because this plan is what helps the atmosphere and the environment to survive. People who throw away items instead of recycling them think that they are one person and think "what can one person do to help the environment". One person leads to 100's, then 1,000's and so on in which Earth has a serious problem. It is interesting how certain topics can lead into other topics such as global warming.
Figure 1: Solar Radiation
This picture courtesy of The Environmental Protection agency, www.epa.gov
-Increasing amounts of radiation absorbed by the Earth's surface leads to what is known as Global Warming as illustrated above.
Pro-Con Discussion:
The topic of Global Warming has created many positive and negative results throughout today's society. One pro to global warming is the idea that the increase in temperature since 1979 hasn't risen by much. If the el nino incident is ignored by society many will see that Earth is going through a cooling trend. The big con to global warming is how this situation will effect Earth centuries from now for future generations of society. Unfortunately we cannot tell what will happen in the future but one can prevent any serious disaster from happening by use in advancement of technology to stop global warming. Below, in Table 1, there is a summary to the Pro's and Con's of global warming.
Table 1- The Pro's and Con's of Global Warming
| Pro's | Con's |
| The most widely feared and also most misunderstood consequence of a hypothetical greenhouse warming is an accelerated rise in sea levels. But several facts contradict this conventional view. Global average sea level has risen about 400 feet in the past 15,000 years. | In addition, there is evidence of changes in sea level; that glaciers are retreating worldwide; that Arctic sea ice is thinning, precipitation patterns are changing and that the incidence of extreme weather events is increasing in some parts of the world. |
| These results are in sharp contrast to the global instrumental surface record, which shows substantial warming, mainly in northwest Siberia and subpolar Alaska and Canada. But tree-ring records for Siberia and Alaska and published ice-core records that I have examined show no warming since 1940. In fact, many show a cooling trend. . . . | And the last few decades have been the hottest this century. Indeed, the three warmest years during the last 100 years all occurred in the 1990s, and the 12 warmest years . . . occurred since 1983. |
| Satellite data show no appreciable warming of the global atmosphere since 1979. In fact, if one ignores the unusual El Nino [weather during] . . . 1998, one sees a cooling trend. | However, the Earth's climate is now changing. The Earth's surface temperature this century is as warm or warmer than any other century during the last 1,000 years. [It] has increased by between 0.4 and 0.8C [0.72F - 1.44F] over the last century, with land areas warming more than the oceans. |
| Earth's climate has been relatively stable during the present interglacial [period] -- that is, the past 10,000 years. During this time, modern society has evolved and, in many cases, successfully adapted to the prevailing local climate and its natural variability. | We hold a skeptical view of the climate science that forms the basis of the National Assessment on Climate Change because we see no evidence to back its findings. Climate-model exercises are not evidence. |
| Based on the range of climate sensitivities . . . and plausible ranges of greenhouse gas and sulfur-dioxide emissions, climate models project that the global mean surface temperature could increase by 1-5C [2F - 9F] by 2100. These projected global average temperature changes would be greater than recent natural fluctuations and would also occur at a rate significantly faster than observed changes over the last 10,000 years. | Once the large ice masses covering North America and north Europe had melted away, the initial rapid rise of about 80 inches per century gradually changed to a slower rise of 6-8 inches per century about 7,500 years ago. But the slow melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet continued and will continue, barring another ice age, until it has melted away in about 6,000 years. |
Conclusion:
After taking into account the background information on global warming and a few writer's perspectives I have come up with the main idea toward global warming. The idea that greenhouse gases effect and change Earth and its environment. Although greenhouse gases don't seem to have any effect to one's eye the gases from cars, carbon monoxide, and other gases are killing our ozone layer. In the future our planet may not have an ozone layer to protect us from ultra-violet rays. This is why the use of technology will play such a huge role in trying to rid the world of these greenhouse gases. In today's world the idea of the electric car exists to rid the world of this carbon monoxide problem except that the main car industries still sell gasoline automobiles. The idea of solar energy as another resource is being used to create another useful resource that won't hurt the environment or the atmosphere. At the same time society will need to learn to conserve exhausting such gases into the atmosphere to understand they are saving the planet and society at the same time. No one may notice it but when people start to discover cancer in their body from just walking around under the sun it may be too late for survival of mankind.
References(MLA Format):
[1]
[2]- Cline, William R. . The Economics of Global Warming. June 1992. Institute for International Economics
[3]- Mabey, Nick; Stephen Hall; Clare Smith; Sujata Gupta. Argument In The Greenhouse. Published by Routledge, London. 1997. 4-5