The Consequences of Global Warming for Humans - Essay Example

Global Warming: An Inevitable Change? Introduction There is no permanent thing on Earth but change. Yes, from humans’ attributes, needs, and wants, to the technology they use, and even the environment -- everything in the world changes. Although some may have been drastic and seemed impossible to cope (e.g., war, poverty, drought, plagues), humans have always survived, mostly, by doing the right thing; they have always been invincible. However, there is one change that will put this invincibility to test. A rapid climate change is one change that a vast majority of experts predict humans to be incapable of coping with unless the speed is halted. In addition to its many threats to man and his environment, the current problem on global warming that is foreseen to cause damaging climate changes has triggered conflicting areas of concern to humanity which has left the leaders of the world’s nations, especially of the industrialized ones, taken aback of its consequences. Global Warming: What It Is Global warming or now commonly referred to as climate change, as described by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA, is a condition in which the Earth surface’s average temperature has increased at a much rapid rate which has never been recorded in history before (Mastrandrea & Schneider, 2007). Although there is no concrete evidence to support predictions, experts say that the rise in Earth’s surface temperature, which is said to rise with a maximum addition of 5.8 degrees Celsius within the next century, can elicit severe disadvantages to the habitats and the inhabitants of the planet. Authorities have determined several causes of the increase in Earth’s temperature, each identified either as natural or human in origin. Among the natural causes are “changes in the Earth’s orbit, the sun’s intensity, the circulation of the ocean and the atmosphere, and volcanic activity” (United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), n.d.). In 2002, a year after the US turned its back on the Kyoto Protocol -- an international agreement ratified by world leaders as one way to fight climate change, the US EPA submitted to the United Nations a report admitting that human activities are the primary cause of the current climate change (or global warming). Activities such as “burning fossil fuels, cutting down forests, and developing land for farms, cities, and roads” induce the release of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane, ground-level ozone, and nitrous oxide (US EPA, n.d.; Hill, 2010, p. 185). Essentially, the greenhouse effect -- a process that aids in keeping the heat inside the Earth’s atmosphere, is necessary in maintaining the heat needed to preserve life. However, over-trapping of the greenhouse gases causes exaggerated increase in temperature. As the activities that generate these gases become fairly common and more frequent due to industrialization (e.g., burning of fuels for energy consumption of automobiles, factories, and for electric power plant), human activities have inevitably led and will continue to lead to the production of its undesirable effects to human life, the ocean and other habitats, the weather, and many others by promoting greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide (CO2), which is released in almost all human activities, constitutes greatly to this buildup. Figure 1 in Appendix A (US EPA, n.d.) represents the pattern of global CO2 emissions from the second half of the 19th century to the present and the corresponding temperatures that come with it. The graph clearly shows that as the CO2 emissions have increased, so too has the global temperature; supporting claims that as the world becomes more industrialized -- where inhabitants mostly rely on machines in every activity done, a trend which has started after the second half of the 1800s -- the Earth’s temperature will continue to rise and exceed the average temperature needed to sustain life, provoking phenomenon like flash floods, drought, damaging storms, melting of polar ice, and plagues, among others, that will create changes in the ecosystems and in the lives of the living organisms. Global Warming: Its Implications to Human Living According to climatologists, the recent trends of fatal storms, the rise in Asia region’s sea levels due to the melting of the polar ice, the raging forest fires, and even the increase in the prevalence of diseases in some places are just a few of the early and visible attributable effects of global warming -- threatening life on Earth as we know it (Allen, Seaman, & Delascio, 2009). Clearly, this signifies that climate change is not just a usual problem that can be put off for some time. Albert Arnold Gore, former US Vice President and 2007 Nobel Peace Prize awardee for Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, even noted that climate change is a problem far greater than any other and is “extremely serious... on a long-term global basis” (as cited in Bertagna, 2006, p. 415). In a survey, Americans, “90% of Democrats, 80% of independents, 60% of Republicans said they favor immediate action to confront the crisis” as they have realized its imminence. However, not everyone believes as Al Gore and all the other environmental advocates do. Many, including the former President George Bush, have not seen the urgency of the threat of global warming; a trend which has resulted to international debates on the importance of sacrificing political and economic reputations to limit the cause of global warming by reaching a “consensus on how to fix it” through finding legal ways of limiting the release of the greenhouse gases to the atmosphere (Walsh, 2008). Nevertheless, by encouraging awareness on the issues of global warming and emphasizing its effects, these people will hopefully realize its impact. Conclusion Life is always changing; but these changing needs and wants have unexpectedly led the Earth and its inhabitants to where it is now: facing the threat of global warming. Although many believe otherwise, there is no denial that there may indeed be an apparent link between climate change and the disasters that have recently been experienced by the world. With proper dissemination of knowledge, like what Al Gore and the others do, life on Earth will be preserved from the “rising dangers from the ongoing buildup of human-related greenhouse gases” (“Global Warming,” n.d.) -- a responsibility that does not only fall on the shoulders of those who are in authority but of everyone. References Allen, R., Seaman, S. M., & Delascio, J. E. (2009). Emerging issues: global warming claims and coverage issues. Defense Counsel Journal, 76 (1), 12+. Bertagna, B. R. (2006). “Standing” up for the environment: the ability of plaintiffs to establish legal standing to redress injuries caused by global warming. Brigham Young University Law Review 2006 (1), 415+. Global warming. (n.d.). The New York Times. Retrieved from http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/globalwarming/index.html Hill, M. K. (2010). Understanding environmental pollution. Cambridge, NY: Cambridge UP. Mastrandrea, M. D., & Schneider, S. H., B. (2007). Global warming. Retrieved from http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/global_warming_worldbook.html The Nobel peace prize 2007. (n.d.). Nobelprize.org. Retrieved from http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2007/ United States Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.). Climate change science facts. Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/downloads/ Climate_Change_Science_Facts.pdf Walsh, B. (2008, April 17). Time. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/ 0,28804,1730759_1731383_1731363,00.html Appendix A Read More