Global Warming - Essay Example

Factories Are the Main Cause of Global Warming Global warming is one of the most debatable theories in the present age. A lot of reasons are identified as contributing to global warming. One of the major reasons held responsible for global warming is the pollution contributed to the environment by the factories. There are different views regarding factories’ pollution as the main cause of global warming. Some theorists and analysts suggest that it is the main cause of global warming while others discard this opinion. This paper discusses both sides of the argument, and shows how consideration of factories’ pollution as the main cause of global warming is safer and more realistic than not. The contemporary farming systems and production of industrial food make excessive use of chemicals, energy, and genetically modified organisms. Factories not only contribute to global warming directly, but also in a range of indirect ways. For example, a lot of land is consumed in the establishment of factories. Most of the factories across the globe have been established at lands that were green areas before. Hence, factors have been established at the cost of forests. Destruction of the forests and wetlands causes global warming. Trees consume carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release oxygen. The lesser the trees, the more the percentage of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and accordingly, the more the global warming. There is a complex science behind the phenomenon of global warming. Tar sands, natural gas, and coal plants are undoubtedly contributing to the pollution of greenhouse gas. The number of cows, pigs, and chickens that are crammed into the Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) is almost 65 million worldwide (Cummins). These animals are kept in very unsanitary and unhealthy conditions. Not only are these animals kept in unhygienic conditions, but also the methane released from these factory farms is 70 times more harmful per ton than carbon dioxide for the atmosphere of the earth (Cummins). These animals feeding on soybeans and genetically modified corn instead of grass and forage, and living in confined conditions rather than in the natural open environment are susceptible to different kinds of diseases. Their immune system against sickness is enhanced by feeding them a diet rich in antibiotics. These antibiotics, when released into the rivers and wetlands serve as a great threat for the environment. CAFOs cause global warming by releasing greenhouse gases in large amounts into the atmosphere. This has also been scientifically proven. The Environmental Integrity Project found that the air at some test sites of factory farm in America has been found to be more polluted even than the air in some of the most polluted cities of America (Cummins). As per the findings of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) published in a report of 2006, up to 18 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions induced by humans can be attributed to animal agriculture, including 65 per cent emissions of nitrous oxide and 37 per cent emissions of methane (Cummins). Factory farms are contributing to global warming indirectly in many ways. The nitrous oxide emissions from the pesticides with which genetically modified corn is grown for the animals in CAFOs cause global warming. The emission of nitrous oxide surpasses even methane in its harmful effects on the environment, which in turn is about 200 times more harmful per ton as compared to carbon dioxide (Cummins). In addition to this, factories are established on fertile lands for the growth of genetically modified foods. This fertile land could have otherwise been used for plantation and green areas for environmental health and safety, but its use by factory farms produces the opposite effect on the environment. Considering the opposite side of the argument, critics disregard the concept that global warming is caused by factories. According to this school of thought, global warming is too complicated and complex a phenomenon to be understood in simple terms. Accordingly, it is hard to attribute global warming to one particular factor, such as factories’ pollution. There can be numerous reasons of global warming including a reduction in the volcanic activity in the 20th century as compared to that in the 19th century, brightening of the sun with the passage of time, or changes in ocean circulation pattern (“UCSB ScienceLine”). Critics suggest that global warming is more of a political phenomenon than a realistic phenomenon. Powerful countries want to halt the industrial progress of developing countries by declaring industrial growth as the causal factor of global warming. Critics also suggest that global warming cannot be overlooked completely because the earth has indeed undergone some transformation with respect to climate, but human activities do not have a substantial impact on the environment because humans cover too little portion of the earth. “The accumulation of evidence from scientists relying on celestial rather than man-made explanations for changes to the global climate has led even the BBC, an ardent advocate of the man-made global warming theory, to credit the Sun [for causing global warming rather than humans]” (Solomon). To conclude, pollution caused by factories is the main source of global warming. This conclusion is reached through an inclusive review of the scientific data not only on the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, but also other greenhouse gases include nitrous oxide and methane. To say that humans are too few to impact the environment so massively is ambiguous because humans have already proven their power by substantially reducing the natural resources of earth. A comprehensive accounting of the consumption of fossil fuel and the emissions produced from the whole farming cycle including the different kinds of raw ingredients, equipment, methods of production and processing, and creation of the optimal conditions of temperature and pressure to ensure proper cooking are suggestive of the establishment of factories’ pollution as the main cause of global warming. Establishment and growth of factories causes global warming in a number of direct and indirect ways. An in-depth analysis of all potential causes of global warming leads to the conclusion that all causes of global warming originate in the establishment of factories. Works Cited: Cummins, Ronnie. “How Factory Farming Contributes to Global Warming.” EcoNews. 21 Jan. 2013. Web. 12 March 2014. . Solomon, Lawrence. “Why Humans Dont Have Much To Do With Climate Change.” The Huffington Post. 12 Sep. 2013. Web. 12 March 2014. . “UCSB ScienceLine.” N.d. Web. 12 March 2014. . Read More