Evaluate consequences of global warming - Essay Example

Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the consequences of global warming; its adverse impacts on the earth’s ecological system, and consequently on human, plant and animal life. The leading theory on global warming is that human industrial activity over the last century is the root cause of global warming, since it has been causing carbon dioxide emission into the atmosphere. Similarly, modes of transportation such as cars and buses increase the emission levels. Further, the burning of fossil fuels and clearing of forests result in production of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases, which remain in the atmosphere for several decades and even centuries (Behreandt, 2006).

The accumulated gas prevents heat in the atmosphere from escaping into space, and the retained gas causes rise in the environmental temperature, termed as the greenhouse effect. This causes greater retention of heat by the earth, because carbon dioxide absorbs the earth’s heat radiation and acts like a blanket over the earth’s surface (Houghton, 2004). The rise in atmospheric warming activates natural processes that cause increasing release of greenhouse gases. Michaels (2005, p.50) states that “planetary near surface temperature has increased by approximately 1.

5 degrees centigrade over the past century, and will continue at a higher rate for the next century”. The United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the American Meteorological Society, the American Geophysical Union, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science agree that “greenhouse gases accumulating in the earth’s atmosphere as a result of human activities, cause surface air temperatures and subsurface ocean temperatures to rise” (Behreandt, 2006, p.10). The melting of ice from high altitudes and glaciers alters unique landscapes,