Environmental Policies - Research Paper Example

? Global Warming Global Warming The world has experienced a number of challenges overtime. From human beings activities such as warsthat have ravaged a big demography in the world to natural calamities such as pollution and environmental degradation that has contributed to the productive activities of human beings across the world. Although such activities have had a huge impact on the planet, one major challenge that currently faces the world is the challenge posed by global warming. Global warming is a phrase that has become popular to many people across the world. In this case, the issue has become a key environmental issue that has necessitated the response of the highest levels of government to find solutions on solving the challenge posed by the effects of global warming. As a result of the popularity of this issue, there have been key debates on whether the challenge it posses is dangerous for the world with another side dismissing global warming as an affair that is dangerous and does not exist although the two sides identify the importance of protecting the levels of greenhouse emissions into the atmosphere. This essay focuses on the challenging issue of global warming. The essay will provide a brief definition of global warming and engage in a discussion of global warming and especially on its key definitional aspect of climate change. Thereafter, the essay identifies the reasons that contribute to the aspect of climate change while identifying the main cause of climate change, which is the greenhouse gases emission. The essay will also identify the main responses to climate change and in particular, the main issues of adaptation to climate change and mitigation processes. Before engaging on any discussion on global warming, it is essential to understand what global warming means. By its very name, global warming is the increasing temperatures in the atmosphere of the earth and in oceans. It is important to differentiate between the weather and the climate of the world. In this case, the weather in a particular area includes temperatures, the amount of rainfall experienced in a place, the cloud cover, and the wind speed experienced in the place. On the other hand, the climate of a region or a place is quantified by finding the average of the weather in the place (Fern, 2009). Hence, the weather of a place could be defined as dry and hot, cool and wet, or even cool and dry while the weather could be sunny, rainy, windy, or any other type of weather. It is evident that the weather of a region could change anytime. This implies that the climate of a region could also change, which explains the phenomenon the world currently experiences in relationship to global warming as the world becomes hotter and hotter each day. Evidence of Climate Change The last two decades have remarkably been characterized by the changes in the climate of the world. In this case, the 1980s and 1990s were noted as very warm years and this was the beginning of the issue of global warming since this period ushered in the changes in world climate (Houghton, 2004). In these two last decades of the 20th century, climatic records indicate that there have been issues of climate change with the world’s climatic conditions growing hotter and hotter. Case in point, there has been evidence of unusually strong winds in Europe with the early morning of 16 October 1987 experiencing blowing down of “over fifteen million trees in the southeastern part of England and in its capital of London” (Houghton, 2004, p.2). Most recently, the world has experienced its fair share of disasters resulting from typhoons and hurricanes that have brought devastating effects on the environment with the effects of these challenges felt on the livelihoods of people and on their lives. Rainfall patterns have also changed, which is part of the climate changes that the world continues to experience. In this case, the world has experienced increasing incidents of strong rains that lead to flooding while other areas have experienced low rainfall with the intensity of rains decreasing to cause droughts and famine. In every three to five years, some parts of the world experience large areas of warmer waters appearing and persisting for a year or even for more than a year, which is a phenomenon that has come to be known as El Nino (Houghton, 2004). El Nino has been known to have devastating effects since it is associated with flooding, which affects food production and the fishing industry while the condition also causes drought conditions, which also affects food production. Nonetheless, this condition describes the increasing changes in the climate, which is evidence of the challenge of global warming that the world currently faces. Causes of Climate Change and Global Warming First, it is important to point out that the climate can respond to external activities, which causes the changes in climate. In line with this, it should be noted that the climate responds to external activities that contribute to the changes in the atmospheres and consequently contributes to the challenge of global warming. A report by the US National Research Council (2012) indicate that external forces can push the climate towards being warmer or even being cooler than the current levels. The council noted that external forces include increasing concentration of greenhouse gases, which is the biggest contributor of the challenge posed by global warming. Other external forces include volcanic eruptions, variations in the orbit of the earth, and the luminosity of the sun (US NRC, 2012). However, the issue of greenhouse gases has played a significant role in the climate changes that the world currently faces. Greenhouse Gases Emissions The process of greenhouse gases effect involve the absorption of radiations by gases that exist in the atmosphere of the earth from emissions made by human beings’ activities on earth (Casper, 2010; Stille, 2006). These radiations are infrared waves that the thickening atmosphere traps and causes a change in the normal level of infrared waves from the sun – on the earth’s atmosphere – and causes a change in the equilibrium of the waves. In this case, infrared waves increase making the climate hotter and dangerous for the survival of human beings, which is the process of global warming (Casper, 2010). On the other hand, the thickening atmosphere on the earth is a result of the huge quantities of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are released into the atmosphere, which is due to human being’s activities on earth burning fossils (Stille, 2006). It is crucial to point out that some greenhouses gases are essential for survival since the absence of these gases lead to zero temperatures although the current situation experienced is the increase in greenhouse gases that causes rising temperatures on the planet, which is the main reason behind global warming. Carbon dioxide is the major source of greenhouse gases. In fact, the gas accounts for about 80% of the total greenhouse gases emissions and the gas can be found in many places. It is common knowledge that the process of photosynthesis transfers carbon dioxide gas into oxygen. However, the current situation exhibits too much carbon dioxide to allow the photosynthesis cycle to convert the gas into oxygen, which consequently goes to atmosphere. Other than carbon dioxide, methane is another major contributor to the greenhouse gases effect although it only accounts to about 17% of the greenhouse gases. This gas occurs in instances whereby there is the process of decay with the airing conditions being low, which makes the gas to be called a swamp gas for its existence in swampy conditions and other water areas (Stille, 2006). Another gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect is the nitrous oxide accounts for 6% of the greenhouse gases. Commonly known as the laughing gas, the gas usually occurs naturally and it is used to manage pain among patients under the name laughing gas (Stille, 2006). Nonetheless, it is crucial to point out that this gas is the most intoxicating gas since it has abilities to exist in the earth’s atmosphere for about 100 years without diffusion into the atmosphere, which is longer than any other greenhouse gas (Stille, 2006). The final greenhouse gas consists of fluorocarbons that constitute about 5% of the greenhouse gases. These organic compounds have carbon and fluorine with most of them having the capacity to turn to liquid from their gaseous form or vice versa. Currently, HFC is the current form of these gases produced in the US and it is used in refrigeration and in air conditioning (Stille, 2006). It is crucial to point out that these greenhouses, despite their usefulness contribute to global warming and it is essential for human beings to take action in order to eliminate the dangers posed by their very emission. Human beings play a significant role in contributing to the greenhouse both knowingly or without their knowledge. In most cases, carbon dioxide gas is the gas that most people contribute in the atmosphere with this only working to increase its levels in the atmosphere. It is common knowledge that human activities that involve burning of fossil fuels such as coal, natural gases, and oil from dead plants is the main contributing factor to carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere because of human beings’ activities. In fact, human beings use these three fuels to run and operate most of the machinery that enables human beings’ productivity activities. Things like electricity generation, vehicles, factories, and many others contribute carbon dioxide gas into the atmosphere and with human being’s productivity being on the rise, there is an increase in the emission of carbon dioxide, which thickens the levels of greenhouse gases in the environment. Recently, there has been an increment in the levels at which human beings encroach on forest and cut down trees in a process known as deforestation to clear more land for agriculture production and establish new developments. In this case, deforestation not only releases the levels of carbon dioxide held by the trees, but it also decreases the level of photosynthesis since there are less trees to convert the carbon dioxide into oxygen gas. The reduced level of carbon dioxide conversion consequently thickens the amount of gas in the atmosphere and accelerates the process of global warming. These methods, and others not discussed, are some of the methods through which human beings contribute to the release of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and consequently contribute to global warming. Response to Global Warming Recently, there has been high-ranking political involvement by governments to eliminate or lessen the effects of global warming. In this case, various delegations have held meetings to propose various ways through which they can eliminate global warming. Nonetheless, it is essential to point out that there are conflicting views from various organizations and governments on how to deal with the challenges posed by global warming although there is an agreement on the importance of reducing the levels of greenhouse emissions in the atmosphere in order to deal with the major cause of global warming. Two approaches are advanced on how to deal with the greenhouse gases emitted into the environment. Mitigation is one of the proposals for dealing with the challenge posed by global warming. In line with this, mitigation is one of the best approaches to reduce the effects of future climatic changes. Mitigation involves the activities that involve a reduction of the emission of greenhouse gases or there is an enhancement of the capacity of absorbing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC], 2007). The activities are related to ensuring that there are approaches through which human beings conserve energy, increasing energy efficiency, and increasingly using renewable energy or other clean sources of energy (IPCC, 2007). Adopting these activities is a crucial approach through which countries lessen the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Another response to climate change includes the adaptation to climate change. This could be planned or as a response in reaction to changes in climate that could be spontaneous without the intervention of the government (IPCC, 2007). The IPCC indicates that adaptation to climate change is ongoing although it occurs on limited basis with barriers and limits being the failure to understand the costs attached to adapting to climate change. Conclusion It is evident that climate change has played a major role in the current challenge posed by global warming. In this regard, the effects of climate change are evident in the climatic changes related to rising temperatures, hurricanes and typhoons whose effects are devastating, and many other climatic change events experienced over the world. Climate change is evident since just like changes in the weather, climate change is inevitable. However, human beings are the biggest contributor to global warming since they contribute the most component of greenhouse emissions into the atmosphere with these emissions thickening and heating the atmosphere, which contributes to global warming. Nonetheless, policy changes related to mitigation and adaptation are devised in order to deal with the problem of global warming. Although adapting to global warming has a cost that is not quantifiable, it is evident that mitigation activities are essential in lessening greenhouse gases emission, which is the major cause of global warming. References Casper, J. K. (2010). Greenhouse Gases: Worldwide Impacts. New York, NY: Infobase Publishing. Fern, S. (2009). Global Warming. Huntington Beach, CA: Creative Teaching Press. Houghton, J. D. (2004). Global Warming: The Complete Briefing (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC]. (2007). Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report. Retrieved from http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/syr/en/spm.html Stille, D. R. (2006). The greenhouse effect: Warming the planet. Oakland, CA: Compass Point Books. US National Research Council. (2012). Climate change: Evidence, impacts, and choices. 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