Global Warming and Greenhouse Effect - Essay Example

? Global Warming Introduction The greenhouse effect is an expression that describes an increase of the average earth temperature and is usually associated with global warming which has rightfully become the subject of much debate and great concern worldwide. Though warnings regarding the human produced cause of an accelerated greenhouse effect and the consequential catastrophic outcomes have been voiced for more than a century, global warming has just recently become a significant political discussion, at least in America. This paper will first describe the greenhouse effect then will explain the way man-made and naturally occurring gases affect it in addition to the potential consequences of these forces. It will then present a rebuttal. What is Global Warming? Basically, the greenhouse effect behaves in the following way. When sunlight pierces the atmosphere and strikes the surface of the earth, not all of the sun’s solar power is absorbed. Roughly 30 percent of this energy is reflected back into space. Certain atmospheric gases act in much the same method as does the outer wall and roof of a greenhouse, consequently the terminology. These gases allow sunlight to pierce then trap a portion of this solar energy. The remaining energy heats the earth (Gutierrez, 2008). It is a precarious balance and due to these greenhouse gases being artificially amplified by man-made sources, more continuously builds up in the atmosphere thus trapping more of the solar energy and reflects less back in to space. This avoidable circumstance is causing the earth to warm. Reasons of global warming Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is the most common of the greenhouse gases. Trees ‘breathe in’ CO2 and when they die, CO2 it is restored back into the atmosphere. The clearing of trees by mass burning, which is occurring at a phenomenal rate in the tropical rain forests, is decreasing the amount of CO2 that is absorbed therefore increasing the quantity that is added to the atmosphere. CO2 contributes about half of the total gases that produce the greenhouse effect. Though deforestation is contributing greatly to the excess of CO2 pumped into the atmosphere, a larger fraction is caused by the use of fossil fuels such as coal and oil. Fossil fuels are burned by electricity-producing power plants, vehicles and factories to name a few sources. The great majority of this excessive fuel consumption, its toxic pollutants and greenhouse-enhancing byproducts are found in the U.S., Russia and Europe. Among other greenhouse gases are methane, which is released when plants are burned during the clearing of land, during the coal-mining process and oil exploration activities; chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which is the gaseous substance which cools refrigerators and provides aerosol cans with propulsion and nitrous oxide (N2O) which is the lesser cause of greenhouse gas. It is estimated that man-made causes represents half of the CO2 production. (“Treaty,” 2001). The rising amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is becoming progressively more disconcerting. Eighty percent of the earth’s population lives in countries that, combined, emit just 35 percent of the total CO2 while the U.S. and the Russia combined are responsible for creating half. Motor vehicles are a significant cause of air pollution. The burning of fuel to heat homes and power industries along with the poisons emitted from smokestacks at coal-burning power plants. “Vehicles produce high levels of carbon monoxides (CO) and a major source of hydrocarbons (HC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), whereas, fuel combustion in stationary sources is the dominant source of sulfur dioxide (SO2)” (Socha, 2007). If the balance between the CO2 levels of the ocean and atmosphere is disturbed by adding ever-increasing quantities of CO2, the oceans will continue to take in greater concentrations than it would naturally. The resulting warming ocean waters are less capable concerning their capability of absorbing CO2 and when the seas can no longer keep up with the encroachment of this naturally equalizing cycle any longer, then an increasing quantity CO2 lingers in the atmosphere. Ever-increasing the quantities of CO2 in the atmosphere causes the warming of the earth’s surface therefore accelerating the greenhouse effect. “Currently carbon dioxide is responsible for 57 percent of the global warming trend. Nitrogen oxides contribute most of the atmospheric contaminants” (Socha, 2007). Global warming will cause the end of earth The effects of polluting the air are far-reaching and cannot be avoided by remaining inside the home because indoor air pollution can be detrimental, caused by such factors as mold, poor ventilation and microbe within air conditioning systems. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that “toxic chemicals found in the air of almost every American home are three times more likely to cause some type of cancer than outdoor air pollutants” (Socha, 2007). Smog, a contraction of smoke and fog, is a chemical air pollutant which plays a role in the greenhouse effect and is a major health hazard especially to persons in larger U.S. cities with many vehicles and are located in warm, dry regions. While the world waits the unavoidable and far-reaching effects associated with greenhouse gas discharge, people’s lungs are being poisoned while the plants they eat are being destroyed. Pollutants such as nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide cause immediate and irreversible damage to the leaf pores of trees and plants. Continuous exposure of leaves to air pollution breaks down the waxy coating on them which prevent excess water loss and helps shield the leaves from pests, diseases, frost and drought. “In the Midwestern United States, crop losses of wheat, corn, soybeans, and peanuts from damage by ozone and acid deposition amount to about $5 billion a year” (Socha, 2007). All credible members of the scientific community agree that the earth’s temperatures are rising due to the burning of fossil fuels. All peer-reviewed scientific evidence shows that these pollutants are eradicating the protective Ozone layer of the atmospheric by changing its composition. Manmade pollution is altering the earth’s climate. The effects are being felt around the world, not just in the America where the preponderance of the CO2 emissions is produced. Scientists predict that in 50 years, yearly temperatures in the United Kingdom could increase by than three degrees (Fahrenheit) on average, than where they are currently. (Climate Crisis 2000). The National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) has performed studies which demonstrate that the past decade has been the warmest in recorded history. One might think, especially during the colder months of winter, some warming of the earth doesn’t appear that it would be such a terrible idea. Numerous types of fruits and vegetables could be grown in northern regions that now can only be produced in warmer climates. Warmer oceans would attract many more types of fish to the colder climates as well. In addition more tourist dollars would flow to what would become the temperate, sandy beaches of Canada or England. On the other hand, as in apparently all rosy scenarios, there is a negative aspect and in this case, one of horrific proportions. “Studies in the UK have found that warming could increase rainfall by more than 20 percent during the winter by the 2080’s and decrease it by the same amount during summer months in the southern half of that country.” (Climate Crisis 2000). Climate change would cause severe droughts in some regions but low lying places such as coastal regions would likely be under totally water. This would affect millions of people in the U.S. alone and hundreds of millions in China and India. People are understandably concerned regarding the substantial problems the effects of global climate change will cause not just to humans, property and land masses but to the economic wellbeing of the world’s nations as a whole. Whole regions of many nations will be forced to abandon their homes and business. This necessary course of action will be a prolonged and torturous one. Scientists are also very troubled regarding the Gulf Stream, which serves to warm the European continent and the negative effects a change in the world’s climate will have on this and other massive ocean currents. “Ocean currents transport large amounts of heat around the world: climatologists call it thermohaline circulation (THC)” (Climate Crisis 2000). If the Gulf Stream is slowed or reallocates further south because the Greenland’s ice melting, all of Europe would likely develop a climate much the same of present-day Greenland which, opposed to its name is nearly all ice. A television documentary produced by the BBC proved that Greenland is melting at an alarming rate by providing photographic substantiation comparing recent aerial photos to ones taken 40 years ago. Perceptible effects of global warming are somewhat insignificant today to the average person, but its effects are indisputably growing in degree. If the population of the planet were to instantly stop polluting the atmosphere with carbon dioxide emissions, climate changes would still carry on long into the future. There are several scenarios that should be scrutinized from multiple of perspectives when considering the strategies for managing transformations in the global climate. One aspect of global warming is that though trees could significantly benefit from an increase of CO2, the main means by which photosynthesis is processed; the long term effect to trees is yet unclear. In the short term, various agricultural products and forests will likely benefit from the “increased fertilization and water efficiency effects of higher CO2 concentrations” (Hanson et al, 2000). In the long term, the distribution of agriculture will be altered requiring considerable regional adaptations. Many studies have been done; however, all they have shown so far is that “sufficient information is still not known regarding specifically how atmospheric changes may affect these innumerable components that play a role in a healthy eco-system” (Hanson et al, 2000). Attempting to predict future quantities of greenhouse gas, particularly concerning CO2 gasses is not a precise science especially when also trying to predict future climate changes. Determining the net greenhouse effect is complicated because of its links to accompanying energy cycle characteristics. Still, records have been kept a sufficient amount of time so as to craft comparative trends regarding the effects of global warming. “One of the problems regarding to measuring global warming is that the phenomenon is not occurring in an obviously uniform and steady manner. Many areas of the world, in fact most, experience a wide variation of temperature and climactic effects from year to year” (Wunderlich & Kohler, 2001). Consequently, the results from scientific studies are vulnerable to challenges made by a minority of political pundits, politicians, pseudo-scientists and other persons whose agenda obliges them to reject the overwhelming evidence that man-made emissions are accelerating global climate change. Consequence of the earth’s snow caps melting and the resulting sea level rise of have been extensively documented. Other problematical effects have been identified but not as commonly known. A reduction of snow cover in addition to sea and lake ice will have grim consequences for regions at higher latitudes and lower elevations, especially during the winter and spring months. At greater global temperatures, atmospheric water vapor will result proportionately greater precipitation. The greenhouse effect will magnify due to cloud composition transformation. As the Polar Regions warm greater amounts of precipitation will amplify this effect. (Wunderlich & Kohler, 2001). Shifting vegetation patterns will make millions of people migrate or otherwise adapt to a degree which is open to speculation. The accelerated evaporation rate will hasten the drying out of soil which will cause arid, desert-like conditions in many regions. Areas that presently undergo intermittent drought conditions during warm weather months will be affected more so then others. As the water recycling rate accelerates heavier amounts of rainfall will result as well as the number of heavy rainfall events. Greater rates of rainfall in addition to the warmer global temperatures produce more intense tropical storms therefore hurricanes will be even more frequent and intense than presently predicted. As horrendous as this scenario of the near-future is, land masses will experience the most changes as a result of the greenhouse effect. “Temperatures are expected to increase more rapidly over land compared to oceans because of the ocean’s higher heat capacity and because it can transfer more of the trapped heat to the atmosphere by evaporation. Over land, the warming has been and is expected to continue to be larger during nighttime than during daytime” (Wunderlich & Kohler, 2001). From before the beginning of time, coastal regions have been constantly exposed to erosion due to the movements of the tidal waves but with each cycle the eroded sediments are re-deposited. Shores change form but do not disappear altogether in much the same way as inland areas which are susceptible to erosion as well. The land is deposited somewhere else but is not lost. A continuing rise in sea level over the last 100 years has driven the tide-line farther inland, sinking coastal lands and causing steady erosion. The tidal beaches and wetlands progressively migrate inland as assorted plant life expands on newly formed beaches creating a new reduced shoreline. The degree of coastal transformation is determined by the topography of the land close to the shoreline. If a sudden change in elevation between the inlands and shore occur, as is happening in coastal Louisiana, tidal wetlands are lost. “The tide comes and goes like clockwork, but if we continue to watch and wait, our coastal regions will face more erosion damage than we can repair, and the sea’s gentle image might be changed in the eyes of those affected” (Spyres, 2001). The terrible events of 2005 involving southern sections of Mississippi and Louisiana when rising ocean levels ruined property and displaced thousands of people will recur on a globally if predictions of climate change and ensuing sea-level rise are correct. “With Katrina’s devastating effects on the Gulf Coast fresh in our memories, we’ve seen the effects of 200,000 refugees. Imagine the effects of a hundred million” (Chutry Experiment, 2006). Scientists collectively forecast that the changing climate will result in the melting of massive glaciers which will immediately cause a sea-level rise which will accelerate erosion resulting in the loss of huge areas of land. The change will produce elevated storm surges thus increasing the amount of area affected by flooding due to heavy rains which introduce an even greater amount of coastal areas to erosion and allows salty undrinkable ocean water to permeate into rivers upstream of communities these rivers once served. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has determined the seas surrounding the U.S. will increase by approximately 20 inches by the year 2100 and from six to 38 inches in other areas of the world. The seas are today rising along America’s Atlantic coast by a tenth of an inch per year and by half that rate on the Pacific coastline. Scientists caution that the outcome will be disastrous if the current trend continues and have assessed that a one-foot sea level rise could eradicate up to 200 feet of the Eastern shoreline. The West coast would lose 400 feet and several miles of present day Louisiana would be underwater. A 20-inch rise in sea-level could eliminate about 40 percent of U.S. coastal wetlands. A rise of three feet would inundate an area the size of Massachusetts. (Ackerman/Stanton, 2008) Certainly the sea level rise would displace countless numbers of people all along all coasts in all regions of the world. “Environmental degradation may produce vast numbers of ‘environmental refugees.’” (Goffman, 2006). The shortages of food and housing in addition to political, ethnic and religious conflicts would force millions to migrate to another place causing indirect and destructive effects to the areas they inhabit. Distressed masses of people flooding into another highly populated area quickly will deplete the resources of that area causing a cataclysmic domino effect throughout the entire world. A five inch sea level rise would force millions in India alone to travel northward to regions that are not able to adequately take in an inundation of humanity of this enormity. Recent history has shown that the spread of disease is always a consequence of mass migrations. Global warming will not cause the end of earth The very obvious, inarguable scientific facts concerning man-induced CO2 gases intensifying the greenhouse effect are not as obvious to some who are disputing the peer-reviewed scientific evidence with questionable data and logic. For example Anthony Lupo author of the article “Anthropogenic Global Warming: A Skeptical Point of View” proposes that CO2 should not be considered a pollutant which is a short-sighted hypothesis, at best, to any person who has witnessed black clouds of CO2 smoke pouring out of industrial smoke-stacks into the previously clean air. Lupo’s claim that CO2 is useful for plants and occurs naturally is true but only when considering amounts that occurs naturally which are minute and not the extreme quantities which have been emitted worldwide during the past century. (Lupo, 2008). Larry Bell maintains that the climate is not being affected by human made pollutants, that this is a lie based on manufactured data, speculative theories and entirely unproven modeling predictions. The evidence for global warming is not credible because the organization that is considered the authority, the one quoted most often by the media and scholastics is the proven biased United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). “Increasingly claims were made for which there was no evidence; in some cases the 'evidence' was clearly manufactured” according to S. Fred Singer, the former director of the U.S. Weather Satellite Service and University of Virginia (Bell, 2011) A popularly myth that is widely distributed and accepted is the claim that a consensus exists among the world’s scientists that a man-induced global warming is indisputably true. The opposite is true. For example, more than 650 scientists and climate experts from all parts of the world testified before the U.S. Senate in 2008, all of which provided contrary evidence, that man-induced pollution is not contributing to the Earth’s warming. Most stated, in essence, that what the Earth is experiencing is a naturally occurring phenomenon during official testimony. The infamous IPCC report that spawned the global warming hysteria has been challenged by more than 30,000 scientists who have signed petitions that rebuke its methods of research therefore its findings. The biggest lie according to Bell is that fossil fuels are connected with the warming of the Earth and that the climate has changed in unprecedented and dramatic ways since the Industrial Revolution. “Alarmists project such horrors as melting Greenland and Antarctic ice that causes oceans to flood coastal areas, increasingly severe weather and hurricane trends, migration of mosquito-borne plagues northward from the tropics, destruction of coral reefs, and yeah, lest we forget, those stranded and starving polar bears and penguins.” (Bell, 2011) Conclusion The incentive for those who refute the science of climate change is apparent, greed. For some, oil and gas companies for example, their bottom-line would suffer if the countries of the world switched to clean energy alternatives such as solar, wind and geothermic. Cap and trade laws would force industries to reduce pollution their plants release, a potentially costly proposal. Many argue that if these corporations made less profit they would have no choice but to reduce their workforce which would hurt the economy. This way of thinking conveniently forgets the many thousands of new jobs created by alternative energy technologies. When dollars are the motivation, the truth does not appear to matter to polluters nor does the wellbeing of the earth’s environment or the people on it. Auto companies have traditionally been ardently opposed to any type of climate change legislation because they claim it’s, again, too costly. Because of this they would not be able to compete with foreign auto manufacturers, as if the inferior products they’ve made during the past 40 years had no correlation with their lack of competitiveness. We must ask ourselves are we guardian of our earth and what will we hand down to future generations, a world with an environment suited to life or something much different. If the recent three decades of political inaction is an indication, then the answer is probably no. The vast majority of environmental scientists worldwide accepts the adequate evidence that warns global warming is well underway already and cannot be reversed, it can only be slowed and the worst case scenarios averted. Scholars, scientists and reasonable people of all nations and cultures do not question the fact that if CO2 emissions are not drastically reduced beginning now, the consequential greenhouse effect will alter the Earth’s climate and perhaps the sustainability of living creatures on it. Regrettably, the country that uses the most energy therefore causes the most greenhouse gas pollution has only recently began to address the issue. The Obama administration has directed funding to green technologies but is being blocked every step of the way by the opposing party, the party associated with being sympathetic to the wealthy and big corporations. It is critically important that world’s citizens fully understand that a deadly planetary experiment has been set in motion which we cannot easily be switched off. The planet is being injured beyond repair due to selfishness, a shameful legacy that will negatively affect future generations if there are any. Land masses, agriculture activity and the air we breathe will undergo a drastic change from the effects of climate changes, but to what extent is unknown. Corporations may be worried about their profits and warn of slowing the economy by putting restrictions on pollution but what will the economy be when green fields turn to desert, millions are displaced and disease runs rampant while political structures crumble from the unrest? References Ackerman, Frank and Stanton Elizabeth A. (May, 2008) “What We’ll Pay if Global Warming Continues Unchecked” Global Development and Environment Institute and Stockholm Environment Institute-US Center, Tufts University Accessed May 19, 2011 from < http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/cost/cost.pdf> Bell, Larry (January 5, 2011) “The Climate Crisis Hoax” Forbes.com Accessed May 19, 2011 from < http://www.forbes.com/2011/01/03/climate-change-hoax-opinions-contributors-larry-bell_2.html> “Climate Crisis: All Change in the UK?” (November 12, 2000). BBC News. Accessed May 19, 2011 from “Global Warming Treaty” (January 26, 2001) The CQ Researcher pg. 46 Accessed May 19, 2011 from Gutierrez, Isabel (July 13, 2008). “Global Warming/Greenhouse Effect” Model United Nations Far West Accessed May 19, 2011 from < http://www.munfw.org/archive/40th/unep4.htm> Hansen, J., M. Sato, R. Ruedy, A. Lacis, and V. Oinas. (2000). “Global Warming in the Twenty-first Century: An Alternative Scenario.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Vol. 97, pp. 9875-9880 Lupo, Anthony PhD. (March/April 2008). “Anthropogenic Global Warming: A Skeptical Point of View” Missouri Medicine Vol. 105 No. 2 pg. 25 Accessed May 19, 2011 from Socha, Tom. (September 11, 2007) “Air Pollution Causes and Effects” Recycle Life.net Accessed May 19, 2011 from Spyres, Julie. (2001). “The Rising Tide: Global Warming Accelerates Coastal Erosion.” Erosion Control. Santa Barbara, CA: Forester Communications. (The) Chutry Experiment. (June 3, 2006). “An Inconvenient Truth.” Accessed May 19, 2011 from Wunderlich, Gooloo S.; Kohler, Peter O. (2001) Improving the Quality of Long-Term Care. The National Academies Press, p.18. Read More