Global Warming Statistics - Assignment Example

Global Warming Introduction Undeniably, global warming is a problem that needs immediate action all over the world. It is the rise in average temperatures of the Earths atmosphere and oceans. It happens when greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane are trapped in the atmosphere. Heat and light get in to the atmosphere but because they cannot get back, they cause temperatures to rise. Global warming results in climate change, which adversely affects our economy, health, and communities. Natural systems like rising sea level and decrease in snow and ice demonstrate significant temperature changes. Climatic changes can occur from external forces like greenhouse gases, solar activity, and volcanic eruptions, which have an effect of either warming or cooling the climate. Apparently, human activity is a major cause of global warming especially with the onset of technology and industrialization. Is there something we can do to stop global warming and its effects on our land? Statistics Fellow citizens, extreme weather events will be the new order of events in the world resulting from carbon emissions saturated in the air. Sandy is just one of the recent storm events that caused a great destruction. In fact, the storm destroyed 76,000 homes and businesses in New Jersey. Of these, some were hospitals that need about $3 billion to resume work. Governor Cuomo Stated that New York City needs about $42 billion in total to recover form this storm (Beinecke web). Over the past decades, statistics reveals that surface temperatures have gone up by a significant amount (0.6), degrees with two-thirds of the increase occurring in the 1980s with the onset of industrialisation. Many of the Americans now believe that global warming is an issue that need to be handled with great urgency. 70% of them believe it is real and 90% believe that it is caused by human activity. At least 31 Billion tons of carbon dioxide is released to the environment everyday, causing the green house effect. Accumulated carbon dioxide in the environment in the past 100 years, have resulted to a rise in the sea level by 17.5 cm, which is quite alarming (Mason web) Causes and Effects For sure, carbon dioxide emission to the atmosphere is the greatest contributor of global warming. When carbon dioxide and other heat trapping emissions are released to the atmosphere, they act as a blanket that traps and keeps heat. You realize that, introduction of fossil fuels to drive cars and run industries have not left our atmosphere the same. Other human activity that add carbon emissions to the atmosphere include deforestation and burning of charcoal, which leave the atmosphere bare and unable to purify the air. In the recent past, we have gone through severe droughts, storms, deadly heat waves, and had more acidic oceans that kill our marine animals. For sure, global warming is affecting our food supplies by draining them. On the other hand, drought is sweeping our animals leaving us with fewer choices of food. The biggest tragedy that awaits Americans is the loss of lives and destruction of livelihood from great storms causing by rising water levels. Solution It is the responsibility of every citizen to take part in efforts to curb global warming. One reason why global warming is still a world problem is lack of involvement of the public to find more sustainable means of supplying energy. Another reason why governments have opted to keep quite about global warming is the fear that the economy of a country will go down if we touch its sources of energy. For many years, we have assumed that corporate society is solely to blame for the carbon emissions. We have ignored a significant portion of carbon emitters, which are the individual households. Reducing billions of carbon dioxide released to the atmosphere calls for sensitizing households to get involved in the process. Each individual has to do self-examination and identify areas in their lives that they can reverse to emit less of carbon dioxide. There exists various ways that individuals can help alleviate carbon emission. The first step will be to have household’s plant trees around their surroundings, schools, and social places. This will go a long way to give the world a cooler place because trees will consume most of the carbon dioxide emitted in the atmosphere. Each household need to be provided with the trees to plant to make it easier for them. Secondly, we need to sensitize the public on several decisions they can take everyday and reduce fuel consumed. For instance, why would one choose to drive for short distances that can be walked? Can we take care of our environment as we keep our bodies fit? These are decisions that each one of us needs to consider before driving. Any single action will go a long way to reducing a small or large amounts of the environment pollutants. In the same regard, people who cover some distances to their workplaces can opt to travel by public means, which will in the end, reduce carbon emissions. In the instances where somebody has to drive to certain destinations, I urge that we watch out on speed because the faster we drive, the more we emit carbon dioxide. Thirdly, we need to change our eating needs, lifestyles, and habits to accommodate sustainable methods. We need to encourage small kitchen gardens where we can fetch our vegetables and fruits. Where we have to buy, let us encourage our own local vendors instead of exporting. When we decide to export, we encourage more flights and thus more carbon to the environment. Other decisions that can reduce carbon in our environment include opting to warm ourselves through heavy clothing other that heating systems use solar energy where possible, and recycling of wastes. The second move to this plan will target the corporate society. Because they also contribute to a significant portion of carbon emitted to the atmosphere. Because we have advanced in technology we can fund some technological firms to carry out research and come out with better options of energy. Conclusion Global warming is becoming a global problem and needs some urgency to attend to it. Many countries have ignored the issue because they think that it will affect their economy negatively. It is possible to curb global warming through public awareness. Individual households can get involved through choosing not to drive over short distances, using solar energy, planting trees, and growing their own fruits and vegetables. On the other hand, corporate society can help the situation by funding technology firms to come up with other sustainable sources of energy. We need to protect our ice sections of our oceans to stop the rising seal level; otherwise, we have to contend with deadly storms. Works Cited Mason, George. “Global Warming Statistics.” 2012. Web, 03 December 2012, Beinecke, Frances. “Sandy Reveals the Steep Cost of Delaying Climate Action.” 2012. Web, 03 December 2012. . Read More