Global Warming Argumentative Essay
| Subject: | 🌷 Environment |
| Type: | Argumentative Essay |
| Pages: | 4 |
| Word count: | 1104 |
| Topics: | Global Warming, Ecology, Greenhouse Effect |
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Introduction
Climate change is now a big global issue. There is an increasing amount of evidence that show the gradual decrease in the state of the climate. Global warming is by far the major aspect that is blamed to be causing climate change. Global warming is described as the increase of the overall temperature on earth. This phenomenon has had considerable effects on the climate in several parts of the world. Global warming has several scientifically proven causes ranging from tectonic movements, green house gases and atmospheric conditions.
Global warming is a phenomenon that occurs in a very interesting way. When the sun produces rays, some of it is trapped within the earth’s atmosphere. This retained heat, when in the right quantity, is good for survival of the living organisms on earth. But when too much of this heat is retained, it causes warming and this is what leads to climate change. The atmosphere is the layer of gases surrounding the planet earth. (Heler & Zavaleta, 2009). These gases are the ones required for survival by most living organisms. However, some of these gases have a ‘blanket’ effect on the earth. They prevent the heat from leaving the earth thus causing an increase in temperatures across the globe. These gases have been popularly known as the ‘green house gases’. The name was derived from the fact that these gases make the earth’s atmosphere behave like that of a green house. The green house gases include carbon IV oxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone and the hydrocarbons. Most of these gases are released into the atmosphere by burning of fossil fuels, exhaust fumes from locomotives like car and trains and even factories. In fact, current studies implicate automobiles and factory plants as the biggest sources of these green house gases. If nothing is done to curb this problem, scientists are estimating an average of 9 degrees increase in temperature at the end of the century.
One fact that I have learned from the facts and information surrounding global warming is that clearing of forest cover has greatly contributed to the rise in temperatures. Forests act as sinks that absorb the green house gases that are released into the atmosphere (Heler & Zavaleta, 2009). Clearing the forests reduces the amount tree cover available to absorb the released green house gases and at the same time the organic matter left in the open fields to decompose produces more methane, one of the green house gases. Furthermore, keeping large herds of cattle increases the amount of methane in the atmosphere since cow dung produces a lot of methane as it decomposes. Nitrous oxide gas has been increased by the increased use of nitrogen based fertilizers alongside other soil management practices that seek to improve farm yields. Some of the gases released into the atmosphere remain there for far too long, therefore, precipitating change in climate elements that have some far reaching effects on the survival of human beings.
Evidence of global warming that scientists use to evaluate the progress is available. Recent evidence shows that the surface temperature of the earth has increased by up to 0.3˚celcius over the last one century. The sea levels have also been rising steadily. Furthermore, glaciers have receded and the extent of the sea in the Arctic Circle is also shrinking. Scientists use objective methods to asses and evaluate the global warming phenomenon. In addition, scientists have proposed additional theories to explain try and explain the global warming problem. For example, some scientists postulate that the heat that used to be absorbed by the deep waters in the sea has saturated the deep waters. This means that no more heat is absorbed from the surface of the sea waters. The accumulation, therefore, explains the increase in the global temperatures. In addition, scientists refer to past records for objective guidance in their analysis. These records have immense information on past natural events or disasters that might have had a big effect on the general climate of the earth (Heler & Zavaleta, 2009). Currently, scientists keep a close observation of these events and use them to assess the impact on global warming. The advancing technology has also made it possible for scientists to analyze samples from glaciers and ice that could probably give a lot of clues as to the past climate changes. This enables them to reconstruct the past climates.
Global warming has a very big impact on the human race. First, the most direct and obvious effect is the increase in the annual temperature (Peters et al., 2013). This in turn will alter the crop growing seasons, increase erosion in the coastal areas, cause melting of the ice caps and even change the epidemiology and prevalence of some infectious diseases. Long and many hot days than cool days will also become a common occurrence. Places that never used to experience heat waves may start experiencing them. On the other hand, places that used to experience heat waves will now experience more intense heat waves. The rainfall pattern is also likely to change because of global warming. Wet lands Places in higher altitudes will receive more rainfall while tropical regions or places that were dry before will experience periods of less rainfall more frequently. In addition, rainfall will come in form of a storm rather than normal rain. Periods of drought in between the rainfall seasons will also increase. Hurricanes will become more frequent and worse because of the warm surface sea waters.
The knowledge of all these new facts about global warming has twisted my perspective about global warming and environmental conservation quite a lot. It is clear that a substantial amount of the causes of global warming can be avoided. I think human beings and especially the authorities that have jurisdiction in this area should intensify their campaigns on global warming. There is a great reason to worry because evidence shows that reversing global warming could decades, maybe even centuries. This fact should scare us into making more calculated strides in the fight against global warming. Much of the effects of global warming will affect the survival of the human species in general. There are many strategies that can be done to combat this problem. One of the strategies is making policies that regulate the use of energy sources that release green house gases into the atmosphere (Warming, 2004). The other way is to encourage innovative ways of energy generation that do not tamper with the environment. Lastly, I think it is the responsibility of every single one of us to be responsible enough in the use of energy sources.
- Heller, N. E., & Zavaleta, E. S. (2009). Biodiversity management in the face of climate change: a review of 22 years of recommendations. Biological conservation, 142(1), 14-32.
- Peters, G. P., Andrew, R. M., Boden, T., Canadell, J. G., Ciais, P., Le Quéré, C., … & Wilson, C. (2013). The challenge to keep global warming below 2 C. Nature Climate Change, 3(1), 4-6.
- WARMING, C. O. G. (2004). Biosolids and global warming: Evaluating the management impacts. Biocycle, 45(8), 54.
Offered for reference purposes only.