Natural Climate Change - Essay Example

Global Warming affiliation Global Warming Global warming is the continuous increase in the level of atmospheric temperature over time. An imbalance in nature that allows more heat to accumulate causes global warming. Over time, the world has been exposed to both natural and made global warming. Natural global warming is nature invoked and also self-regulatory. The world moved from ice age to the current times due to natural global warming. Manmade global warming is hazardous painful to control. The primary cause is an influx of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that trap the suns radiations. Man-made global warming is controllable and reversible. Policy adoption and implementation can help contain manmade global warming. Natural Climate Change Climate change is caused by the forces of nature. Man has little or no influence on natural climate change, and they occur from time to time as the world readjusts to the forces. Leading causes of natural climate change include volcanicity and change in the energy of the sun reaching the earth. When volcanicity occurs, magma, ash, and other toxic gases are thrown into the atmosphere. The temperature rises to extreme levels due to the sweltering magma being ejected. The volcanic activities produce highly lethal gases such as Sulphur and methane. These gases become trapped in the air thus increase the temperature of the earth. The ash clouds the air and catches lots of heat. The volcanic ash and gases reflect back the sun’s rays trapping much temperature that causes global warming (Victor, 2011). Another cause of natural climate change is the change in the intensity of the sun reaching the earth. During the ice age, the sun was very instrumental in converting the mass of solid water into liquid water. The sun’s rays were weak, and water froze to ice. When the sunshine level increased, the earth became hotter, and more water liquefied, the liquid water collects to form lakes and oceans thus the land that had been buried resurfaced. Manmade Climate Change Man’s activities that contribute to change in the climate include the release of greenhouse gases and clearing of vegetation such as trees. Plants play an enormous role in maintaining the worlds temperature. Plants use the carbon dioxide in the air and convert it into stored energy. When plant absorbs carbon dioxide, they release oxygen. The oxygen the combines with hydrogen to form water that precipitates as rain. Cutting down plants destabilizes the balance by increasing the level of carbon dioxide. The excess carbon dioxide becomes trapped in the air. Trapped carbon dioxide creates an insulation for the suns rays, thus increases the atmospheric temperature (Archer, 2001). This process slowly leads to desertification. Another source of manmade climate change is the release of greenhouse gases from industries. The greenhouse gasses include carbon, Sulphur and nitrate oxides. The carbon dioxide released into the air traps the sun’s rays causing an increase in temperature. The other oxides combine with water in the air to form acidic rain. Sulphur oxides create holes in the ozone layer allowing ultraviolet rays from the sun to penetrate the atmosphere. The result is an increase of temperature and skin related diseases. Evidence of Global Warming One of the proof of global warming is the receding snowline on mountain tops and snow caps of the Arctic Circle. Before the industrial revolution in Europe in the 19th century, most mountains were covered with ice. Today, most mountains have been left with bare rocks and the snow has melted away. Mt. Kenya in East Africa popularly known for its beauty and snowcapped top is exposed without any ice. The Arctic Circle ice has been shrinking day by day. The shrinking is as a result of increased temperatures that melt the ice. Another evidence of global warming is the rising shorelines in beaches. The level of water at the shore has risen by 2 inches in the last 50 years. The increase in the water is a result of the melting of ice on the ice polar that stream down to the oceans. Ice on mountaintops has melted and joined rivers to the sea the result is an increase in the level of water in the oceans. The oceans are breaking from their traditional banks due to the rise in water level. Scientist analyzes that the principal cities on sea shores are at a risk of sinking due to the rising water level (Berlin, 2007). Rising global temperatures are another source of global warming evidence. Since the industrial revolution, the earth’s temperature has continued to increase at an increasing rate. The increase in greenhouse gases and depletion of the ozone layer are the main causes of the increase. The increase in temperature has resulted in severe desertification effects where lands have gone from being semi-arid to arid. Due to the ever rising atmospheric temperatures, the oceans water’s temperature has increased over the years by 0.3 degrees for the water close to the surface. Mitigation Strategies One way of controlling global warming is by carbon taxing. Carbon taxing involves the introduction of a population tax on all petroleum fuels. The tax is levied based on the amount of carbons present in each ton of crude oil (Ernesto, 2008). The tax earned is in turn used to generate other cleaner sources of energy such as wind power and solar power. The intention of instituting a carbon tax is to increase the cost of fuels that have a high level of carbons. The high cost of fuel makes businesses and homes seek other forms of cheap energy such as solar power. Carbon taxing is useful in all other fields except the automobiles industry. The main reason is that other types of fuel are not accessible except in Brazil where they use gasohol. Cost taxation policy helps keep the business of oil controlled by reducing the number of potential investors. Clean coal technology is another way of reducing global warming. Coal accounts for a third of the global greenhouse gases emission. Coal has very many impurities that release toxic pollutants into the atmosphere when thy burn. The clean coal technology aims at refining coal for other minerals then use the pure form of coal for electricity production. The cost implication of this technology is extremely high as the refining process is complicated and expensive. This policy aims at discouraging the use of coal to generate electricity. Policies for Addressing Global Warming Carbon taxing would be the best policy to curb global warming. The number of engines that use petroleum fuel is alarmingly high. The number of cars in the recent past has been increasing at an unprecedented rate. All these engines use oil as fuel. Modern science has come up with vehicles that run on renewable energy such as electricity and hydrogen. Increasing the cost of petroleum will shift attention to hybrid and electric cars. These cars have minimal pollution effects on the environment (Spencer, 2010). Implementation of the carbon tax would greatly impact on the economies of the Middle East and Canada. These countries are the leaders in terms of oil production, and their economies would strain. The world economy would shake as it predominantly depends on oil. Conclusion Manmade global warming is a ticking time bomb. The dangers associated with it are immense, and we have started experiencing them. Without the proper legal institution, we are going to create the world that is inhabitable. Using another source of energy or refining the petroleum we use for lesser emission is one of the main ways out of the waiting fiasco. The world needs to react fast and curb the increasing greenhouse gases for a safe tomorrow. References Archer, D. (2001). The warming papers: the scientific foundation for the climate change forecast. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell. Berlin, K. (2007). Global warming and the future of coal the path to carbon capture and storage. Washington DC: Center for American Progress. Ernesto.N. (2008). Global Warming: Looking Beyond Kyoto. New Haven, Conn: Center for the Study of Globalization, Yale University;. Spencer, R. W. (2010). The bad science and bad policy of Obamas global warming agenda. New York, NY: Encounter Books. Victor, D. G. (2011). Global Warming Gridlock: Creating More Effective Strategies for Protecting the Planet. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Read More