Global Warming is Real - Report Example

Global Warming is real Outline A. Global warming is one of the central issues of our century and human activities have been blamed for the warming up of the earth and oceans I. Environmentalists, scientists, level-headed global leaders as well as national and international bodies have warned of the dangers of global warming and climate change II. Global warming has been highly politicized as science fiction partly because most of the data and information on the issue is highly theoretical and research is inconclusive B. Global warming is characterized by the continuing increase in the average temperature of the earth and ocean waters I. Projections of the global warming trend through climate models paint a grim picture of the future C. Scientists agree that global warming is real and human beings are largely responsible for it D. The observed rise in the concentration levels of greenhouse gases such as CO2 in the earth’s atmosphere contributes to global warming by trapping heat in the atmosphere E. The consistent drop in ice levels all over the world and the melting of the global snow, especially in the arctic, is a result of the gradual change in the global climate temperature F. The perceived rise in sea levels over the previous years is caused by the rise in the climate temperature G. Despite the skepticism of interest groups, politicians and some scientists all over the world, global warming is real and not a mere scientific myth as previously thought Global warming is undoubtedly one of the central issues of our century; there have been increased concerns of the impending climate change as a result of human’s continuous impact on the natural environment (Booker, Christopher 1). Human’s continuous exploration of the earth for its resources has left the planet in a terrible condition since most of the activities such as deforestation and mining have negative impacts on the natural environment and ecosystems. As a result of the growing concern for the environment, many nations have adopted environmental conservation and protection approaches to promote sustainability of the natural environment for the sake of future generations. Environmentalists, scientists, level-headed global leaders as well as national and international bodies have been at the fore front of raising environmental consciousness, particularly with regards to the impending danger of global warming and climate change as a result of human’s destructive relationship with the natural environment. Nonetheless, the issue of global warming has been highly politicized and controversial in nature and is sometimes dismissed as something out of the fictional world of science or a construct of science fiction. Part of the reason that makes global warming a highly controversial topic is the fact that most of the research in the area is based on future projections or climate models of the observed global climate trends in the previous decades. Furthermore, most of the data and information on the issue of global warming is highly theoretical and scientists are still in the process of gathering and validating evidence in support of the thesis for climate change and global warming respectively. In that respect, despite the growing concern of environmentalists, climate scientists, and governments worldwide regarding the apparent global warming, certain global politicians, interest groups as well as scientists have dismissed the issue entirely as a myth (Booker, Christopher 5). This paper will investigate the known facts of global warming to establish whether it is real or nothing short of science fiction; precisely, the observed empirical evidences such as the apparent rise in sea levels and rise in recorded surface temperature will be probed. Global warming has been characterized by the continuing increase in the average temperature of the earth, or the rise in the average air and sea temperature at the surface of the earth; as noted, global warming has been a major concern for many nations over the past years, and remains a relevant global concern for the global society even today. Scientists have been concerned by the observed rise in the average temperature of the earth’s surface especially in the last three decades, which were perceived to have been successively warmer than any previous decade (Brush 334). The concerns over the alleged increase in the average temperature of the earth’s surface has caused many fears all over the world, with leading nations making the issue a global concern in search of measures and approaches of arresting the situation. Scientists have researched the issue of global warming widely through climate model projections painting a very disturbing picture of the future, if nothing is done to rectify the alleged trend of the continuous increase in the average temperature of the earth. Precisely, the horror of the reality of global warming is unimaginable given that it might render the whole earth inhabitable; given that temperatures will be so high, all life systems upon the surface of the earth will be unable to survive and will cease to exist. Presently, the widespread scientific opinion of scientific change is that global warming is real and the average temperature of the earth’s climate system is undoubtedly warming and that human beings are largely to blame for the apparent increase in the average temperature of the earth’s surface (Palmer 24). The scientific consensus on the strong empirical evidence of the reality of global warming has been presented in many synthesis reports by leading global scientific bodies of both national and international repute. Furthermore, surveys of opinions among climate scientists as well as climate experts support the widespread scientific consensus that global warming is real and not a scientific myth as suggested by several detractors. Individual scientists, institutions like world’s renowned universities and laboratories have contributed to the overall scientific opinion on global warming through numerous peer-reviewed publications. However, the widespread consensus among the climate scientists that global warming is real and inevitable given the global trend of harmful human impact on the natural environment is not enough to validate the truth of their assertion without scientific proof. Several proofs exist that seem to support the scientific claim of global warming; these proofs can provide a brilliant entry point to investigations into the validity of the claim that global warming is real and not a mere creation of science fiction. For instance, the destructive relationship between human activities and the environment has long been established as a proven fact in the industrial age of mankind; human activities are responsible for the alleged rise in the average temperature of the earth. The observed rise in the concentration levels of greenhouse gases such as CO2 in the earth’s atmosphere by scientists is a sure sign of the continuous negative impact of man’s activities on the planet and on the global climate system in particular (Dodge 9). The human influence on the global climate system has been confirmed to be the single most environmental disaster of our lifetime since most of the human activities directly impact on the environment by contributing to the increased emission of greenhouse gases thereby causing global warming. Greenhouse gases including CO2 have been found to absorb heat from the earth’s surface, thereby preventing it from escaping into space as it should be in a natural balance of nature. This inevitably means that the obvious increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere potentially causes the earth to warm up more than expected since they trap most of the heat emitted by the earth that would have otherwise escaped into space leaving the earth to cool. Increased industrial activities that rely on energy obtained from the combustion of fossil fuels have inevitably increased the concentration of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, thereby contributing to the warming up of the atmosphere and seas, thus global warming respectively (Gelbspan 24). Another scientific evidence of the reality of global warming is provided in the observation that global ice levels have fallen drastically to extremely lower levels in present times in comparison to its high levels in previous decades. Scientists have pointed out that the drop in ice levels all over the world has been consistent over the years, thereby implying that temperatures of the earth’s surface have been rising, thereby causing the ice to melt into liquid water. This observation suggests that the melting of the global snow, especially in the arctic, is not just a mere coincidence of nature, but a real climate change that has been brought about by the gradual change in the global climate temperature. The observed melting of ice all over the world is yet another worrisome trend that seems to confirm the alleged reality of global warming as indicated by rising global temperatures. Evidently, the ever retreating snow cover at the North Pole provides great scientific basis for the theory of climate change and global warming respectively; the continuous rise in the average temperature of the earth’s temperature as evidenced by the melting of the ice leaves no doubt that global warming is real. The amount of snow covering the Northern Hemisphere was at a record low in 2011, according to information from the National Ice and Snow Data Center; precisely, the recorded amount of snow covering in 2011 was 2.92 million square miles below the average recording in 1979 and 865,000 square miles below the 2000 average (Christen 18). In that respect, there is more reason to believe that the continuous melting of ice all over the world, which is has been caused by the rise in the average temperature of the earth, is a sign of the highly dreaded global warming. Moreover, another scientific observation that lends proof to the theory that global warming is a reality of the present century is the perceived rise in sea levels over the previous years; the rise in sea levels indicates that water levels have changed over the years due to increased volumes of water. In the past 100 years, scientists have detected that the level of seas has been increasing steadily at an average rate of about 1.7 millimeters annually, based on tide gauge (Stive 27); satellite images have revealed that sea levels all over the world have risen between 4-8 inches. The increase in sea levels is caused by the apparent rise in the climate temperature since sea water absorbs part of the heat from the earth’s atmosphere thereby expanding; furthermore, the increase in sea levels is also attributable to the melting of polar caps as well as mountain glaciers that actively contribute to the bulging of seas. Nevertheless, the breaking of the Antarctica ice as witnessed at the Pine Island Glacier in 2013 (Prothero 14), is also responsible for the growing levels of global waters, thus the increase in sea levels, which greatly endangers coastal towns and cities. Ultimately, despite the skepticism of interest groups, politicians and some scientists all over the world, there exists enough empirical evidence that supports the idea that climate change is real and not a mere scientific myth as previously thought. Evidently, the recorded average earth’s surface temperature has been on an upwards trend over the last three decades thereby implying that global warming has been taking place. Furthermore, the observed rise in temperature is consistent with many other observations documented by independent scientific groups all over the world. The rise in sea levels, concentration of greenhouse gases, the progressive melting of snow and ice, the growing heat content of sea water and oceans, timing of weather events, as well as increasing humidity among others is attributable to the increase in the average global temperature of the earth. In that respect, there is no doubt that global warming is indeed a reality rather than a mere scientific myth as suggested by some detractors all over the world. Works Cited Booker, Christopher. “The real global warming disaster: is the obsession with ‘climate change turning out to be the most costly scientific blunder in history?” New York: Continuum International Publishing Group. 2009. Brush, Denise. “Global warming: Resources to sustain a collection”. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 48(4), (2009): 334-339,351. Christen, Kris. “New water data indicate global warming is real and anthropogenic”. Water Environment & Technology, 17 (5), (2005): 18.  Dodge, John. “Get over it: Global warming is real. Design News, 62.6, (2007): 9. Gelbspan, Ross. “Reality check: The global warming debate is over. Its real, inexorable, and headed our way.”  The Environmental Magazine, 11 (2000): 24.  Palmer, Andrew. “If global warming is real, how should humankind respond?” Oil & Gas Journal, 99 (2001): 24-26.  Prothero, Donald. “How we know global warming is real and human caused”. Skeptic, 17.14 (2012): 22,64. Stive, Marcel. “How important is global warming for coastal erosion?” Climatic Change, 64(1-2), (2004): 27-39.  Read More