Consequences of Global Warming and its Effects - Term Paper Example

Consequences of Global Warming and its Effects Introduction Usually ‘global warming’ is known as a global problem that issupposed to threaten the existence of life on the earth by causing fundamental and harsh changes in the ecology. But from a scholarly point of view, it can be explained as “the raising of the Earth’s temperature” (Dispensa & Brule, 2003, p.87) due to the increasing entrapment of solar-heat, in the atmosphere, by the greenhouse gasses such as “the introduction of Carbon dioxide, Methane, and other gases” (Dispensa & Brule, 2003, p.87) etc. In fact, in the highly technologically developed countries, people are involved in actions that generate the greenhouse gases enormously.

Overview of the Situation Various researches report that “killer heat-waves” (Houghton, 2004, p.188), a drastic natural phenomenon, occurred more frequently than ever. In the European countries the weather was the hottest summer in the August of 2003 in 500 years. It killed almost 27000 people all over Europe. The increase in the worldwide temperature of the atmosphere is directly connected to irregular behavioral weather changes such as “greater likelihood of droughts and heat waves; a greater incidence of floods” (Houghton, 2004, p.188), “wild-fires”, “spread of cold season insects”, “occurrences of climate extremes”, “spread of certain tropical diseases”(Houghton, 2004, p.188), waning glaciers and vanishing ice-sheets in the polar regions, alteration in the genetic “behaviors in living organisms”, “spread of seasonal diseases”, etc.

(Houghton, 2004, p.188) Identifications of the Problems of Global Warming The rise in the weather temperature is generally a reaction to a process called “greenhouse effect” that “is a natural phenomenon….whereby certain gasses in the atmosphere keep the earth’s temperature significantly higher than it would otherwise be, making it suitable for life” (Dispensa & Brule, 2003, p. 87). These gasses are called green-house gasses. These gasses do not allow the amplified heat-radiation to return to the space.

Meanwhile they store the blocked heat-radiation as heat in the atmosphere. Climatologists claim that “global-warming” occurs mostly due to human activities that play significant role in increasing the amount of the green-house gas in the environment. Natural reasons such as “sunspots and natural variation of temperature change by the evolution of earth” (Dispensa & Brule, 2003, p. 87) may raise the warmth of the globe. Though some scientists claim that some natural causes such as volcanoes, prairie fire, etc are also responsible for the production of greenhouse gasses, environment itself are endowed with other processes that can absorb those gasses.

But the emanation of these greenhouse gasses induced by human activities is so overwhelming that natural absorption process cannot devour all of the gasses emitted by human activities. In this regard, Dispensa and Brule (2003) notes, “The IPCC…uses the term climate change to refer exclusively to change in the climate brought about by human activities.” (p.87) Solution to the Problem of Global Warming The main solution to the crisis of global-warming is to decrease the release of greenhouse gasses.

Reaching this goal requires the introduction of non-fossil energies such as “sunlight, wind power, tidal energy, geothermal energy, hydro energy, hydrogen fuel” etc (Anonymous, 2006). Policies regarding the development of “fuel efficient cars and trucks”, “introduction of battery driven cars and solar” (Anonymous, 2006) vehicles, making laws and strict enforcement of them should be implemented. Also introduction of green technologies can play a significant role in reducing greenhouse gasses from the environment.

Generally the word ‘green’ denotes a particular color; still metaphorically it refers to the environment, ecosystem, and atmospheric balance. Epistemologically, the word ‘green’ is often used to refer to something that is environment friendly and eco-friendly. If a product can reduce the emission of carbon-compounds in a broader context, it is fit for the umbrella term “green” technology. A ‘successful green’ car needs to be less harmful for the environment while being cost-effective, popular, user-friendly, easily accessible to fuel resource, etc.

Evaluation of the solution But this reduction policy is not as simple as it seems to be, because modern industrial society heavily depends on fossil fuels in diverse purposes such as mills, constructions, transportation, factories, etc. Therefore a solution strategy should keep the current social development intact while reducing the reducing the greenhouse gasses. An efficient policy to decrease the emanation of greenhouse gasses must address the substitution of carbon-compound-emitting fuels with non-carbon-compound-emitting fuels.

Modern consumer society often exploits this term “green technology” to gain more capital. For example, a vehicle that does not harm the environment by emitting excessive carbon-compounds may not be effective or successful, if it is not popular among the people. Though a green car -such as the electric car, hydrogen-combustion car, etc do not generate pollutant; they are indirectly connected to the creation of pollutants. Therefore, ‘green successes’ should be calculated in a broader context.

Conclusion Global warming is supposed to bring about both visible and invisible changes in the global ecosystem. The invisible impacts of global warming are matters of thorough research, whereas the visible ones can easily be discernible through careful observations. The impacts of global warming are fairly visible in the changes that took place the past two hundred years or so. The reduction of greenhouse gasses is not as easy as it sounds, because industry-based modern crucially pivots on the burning of fossil fuels in various purposes such as transportation, mills, factories, constructions, etc.

Therefore a solution plan needs to retain the current development of the society as well as reducing. An effective strategy to reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses must focus on the replacement of fossil fuels with non-greenhouse-gas-discharging fuels. References Anonymous 2006-2009. ‘Solution of Global Warming’, Accessed: [24/Nov/2010] http://www.consequencesofglobalwarming.com/articles/ways-to-prevent-and-stop-global-warming-prevention.html Dispensa, J. and Brule, R. J. (2003) ‘Media’s social construction of environment issues: Focus on global warming’, International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy- A Comparative Study, Vol. 23, No. 10, p. 87. Houghton, J. 2004. Global Warming, 3rd Ed.

The Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, p. 188 US Department of Energy, “Vehicle Emissions: Just the Basics”, August 2003, available at