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Noah Hahn
Miss Stone
English 1010 Period 8
14 October, 2015
Greenhouse Gas
We do not realize that in our day to day lives we and our environment are facing a
potentially dangerous type of pollution. The summers are getting warmer; the winters dont last
as long. The greenhouse effect is the gradual warming of the air surrounding the earth as a result
of heat being trapped by emissions that we are giving off, creating a fluctuation in the earths
surface temperature, resulting in a dramatic climate change. Everyday activities that we as
humans do play factor in this; from driving our cars, the farms that produce our food, the
deforestation and industrialization that occurs all around us. These things just keep making the
atmospheric space thicker and keeping in the heat from the sun. The United States is one of the
highest nations of emissions. This issue is something that needs to be discussed among people.
Greenhouse gases affect us on our daily lives, and should be something that we should be
concerned about. From the melting glaciers in Antarctica, to the depressing amount of pollution
in China, it isnt just a problem here in America and shows that this is an issue that the world
must focus on and not just a nation. It has also come to my attention because I have personally
seen the amount of emissions that factories and big rig vehicles are giving off. These are some of
the main reasons that I chose to discuss this topic. I usually view the idea of global warming as
sort of a farce, until I started to see the results of it. This worried me, because I have also not
seen many people acting against the amount of greenhouse gas emissions we give off. I also want
to address that saving energy is important to facing that troubles of climate change.

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Greenhouse effect occurs when the suns radiation is absorbed or reflected by the earths
surface, when absorb that radiation then emits back towards space, but with the unnatural
amounts of emissions the heat doesnt make it through all the way. These emissions are called
greenhouse gases, such as water vapor, carbon dioxide methane ozone and nitrous oxide, some
natural and some man-made; much like a blanket around the earth keeping it warm. This can lead
to the increase in the earths temperature, causing climate change. Without this naturally
occurring phenomenon, the earth would be much too cold to survive in.
Greenhouse gases are one of the most discussed topics of today, and of years past. From
this topic the main thing that gets brought up the most, would be; what are the causes and effect?
There are many causes of greenhouse gases; from the deforestation of rain forests, vehicles that
produce carbon dioxide emissions, and the rapid increase in this generations population. With
those included Carbon dioxide gas produced by the burning of fossil fuels and forests is one of
the more major causes of the greenhouse effect.
Deforestation is bad for the atmosphere, and the general carbon cycle, because the trees
in all of these forests absorb the carbon in the air. Though when we cut them down and produce
more carbon, greenhouse gases, in the air than the remaining amount can absorb it creates a bad
change in the natural carbon cycle.
There are computer models that can try to predict what the climate will be in the future,
though they are not exactly precise. They used computer predictions of the past to compare that
of now, and it proved that they were fairly accurate. The Topex, a Topographic Experiment, has
collected information on the changes in the sea levels, the temperature across the world, and the
amount of greenhouse gases emitted in the atmosphere. About every day, this satellite created
500,000 measurements, at every point on the Earth. This shows the proof that the scientist know

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that the amount of greenhouse gases that we are emitting, are resulting in a major climate
change, which could be for the worse.
In recent years there have been a large amount of reports that the worlds climate is
undergoing a dangerous change. This increase in the earths surface is caused by increased
amounts of carbon gas around the earth. Most climatologists believe that the greenhouse effect is
the most likely cause of this global warming. Sea levels are starting to rise due to the melting of
glaciers (Environmental Encyclopedia, 2011).
If the earths surface temperatures do rise, as many scientists predict, we could have
catastrophes beyond our control. These increases of temperature could change the way we grow
our crops, which could damage countries that rely on imported goods. Polar caps in Antarctica
and Iceland will melt and could make the ocean rise to upward of 1 foot. This would affect those
that live on islands; the Everglades of Florida wouldnt be habitable ever again. Animals that live
in these wetlands would have to migrate to dryer lands, where they could not live for very long
(Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, 2015)
The thought of global warming has never really concerned me, though that is because I
was looking at it with such a small window. I think that most people today think the same way
that I use to, but instead we should be looking at this threat on much a larger scale, of one are
nation, and two the world. Though there are some people that believe that there isnt really a
need to worry about reducing the amount of our emissions, and argue it with pretty structured
evidence. It is known that our civilization, in America, is built and relies on technology. It has
been proven in the past; on June 4th, 1944 America stormed Normandy. They used the technology
at the time to predict the weather, and if it was not accurate those soldier mightve never made it
to that beach (Global Warming, 2006).

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Another topic discussed in the area of proposing the idea of reducing greenhouse gases, is
whether these gases are caused naturally or not. Those supporting the major climate change will
believe that the reasoning is absolutely due to the man-made gases. Though the opposing side to
this had some definite proof that this trend should be natural. Most of the global warming that
has created a concern was before the 1940s, before the 80 percent of gases that have been
recorded today were even emitted (Global Warming, 2006). One of the other major arguments
with those that oppose the accusation that emissions are creating a global warming is the faults in
their models. The models that have been given are far too simplistic, in that they should be
covering the millions of variable that go into what effects global warming. I would have to agree
to this, because when Ive done research in the past I have found that all of the models I see only
discuss small bits of the actual problem.
The global warming is partially natural, and the fact of these small amounts of warming
pose far less of a threat than massive amounts of cooling. People during the medieval times
people would benefit from the increase in temperature, certain plants will grow more places were
available for settling, though with one ice age we were put back with growing seasons, the life
expectancy was shortened by 10 years, and seas became more violent (Global Warming, 2006).
To the opposing side of the idea that we should cutback out emissions, it would be a huge
mistake to cutback the amount of energy that is required by things like the Kyoto Protocol. It
could create a long term recession in the United States, and the amount of money that would go
into putting this in action would be billions of dollars. The increasing prices of the energy that
would go into enforcing that conservation, would damage the low income families that spend
most of their money on that energy, and that money only stretches so far (Global Warming,
2006). The author talks about how we shouldnt have to change our life style, or how the

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government shouldnt be able to force us to spend our hard earned money on things that we
really dont need to. I would have to disagree to a certain extent. I think that it isnt very hard to
change a life style, just take the bus more often, or drive with a friend, plant some trees etc., it
doesnt take some dramatic change. As for the American government siding with the Kyoto
Protocol, I would have to agree that we as citizens should not have to be worried about this
reduction.
Now that we know what the major causes and the different sides of opinion, the largest
topic is the action we can take against these greenhouse gases, though the climate system is quite
complex and things that seem to be helpful, can in return prove to be harmful in the long run.
One of the solutions known as the Kyoto Protocol was presented to numerous nations to create
a treaty that would make industrial countries reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that they
were emitting. The United States didnt agree with this saying that it would have too big of a
negative effect on their economy. (Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, 2015). One of the
most popular solutions would be the idea of more people driving hybrid/electric cars. Robert
Engelman who is the vice president of programs at Worldwatch Institute, an environmental
research organization, said that driving more hybrids wouldnt counteract the climate change
issue enough that it would be worth it.
Renewable Energy is another way we can help to slow down this major global warming.
Renewable energy can be anything from wind energy, solar, and even some bio-fuels. These
forms of energy are starting to be used more and more by large companies. This is a major plus
because with these types of renewable energy we wont have to worry about the depleting
amount of fossil fuels. This is quite important that we, as America, start using these because even

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if every country has the right to emit emissions created from fossil fuels, America and China are
the leading factor of the pollution (Hybrid and Electric Cars, 2015)
Hydroelectric power is another major way that we could be sustainable without letting off
as much emissions that we do. Hydroelectric creates power from the movement of water running
through a series of turbines. Different from other sources of energy, it doesnt rely on the
depleting amount of fossil fuels, but instead its extremely eco-friendly. The power plants that
contagion these hydroelectric machines have an incredible small amount of greenhouse gases
being produced, though building these plants happens to be quite expensive and can use a large
amount of resources. The Hydroelectric power plants are an excellent example of a simple yet
very effective way of fighting against the pollution that we humans have created.
We have started to see the positive effects of these techniques. The Environmental
Protection Agency has reported that the amount of greenhouse gases that are being emitted in the
United States has dropped 1.6 percent from 2010 to 2011 and 7 percent since 2005 (Opposing
Viewpoints Online Collection, 2015). Thats an average of 1.4 per year, and if future presidents
do as Obama did in making it a bigger political issue, that we can see those numbers only rise.
The climate change due to the greenhouse gases might just be the greatest challenge the
next generation will face. For the health of our nation, and even our world to endure, we need to
create a strong international voice that conveys the concern of greenhouse gases and how it is
damaging our atmosphere. Though it might not seem an immediate danger, you can look around
at what is happening around the world and you can see that there is a polluting problem. There
are actions being taken to reduce the amount of pollution in the air, but Im afraid it wont be
enough. We need to reduce it more by doing the simplistic things like planting a tree, or

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carpooling. Even though these thing might not seem like a lot, if more and more people start to
take these steps we might just make a difference.

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Citations
Baliunas, Sallie. "Greenhouse Gas Emissions Need Not Be Reduced." Global Warming. Ed.
Cynthia A. Bily. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from
"Studies Lack the Hard Evidence That Warming Is Human Induced." American Legion
Magazine (Jan. 2002). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.
Engelman, Robert. "More Hybrid Vehicles Will Not Fairly Address Climate Change." Hybrid
and Electric Cars. Ed. Louise I. Gerdes. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2015.
At Issue. Rpt. from "The More Hybrid Drivers the Better?" 2009. Opposing Viewpoints
in Context. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.
"Global Warming." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2015. Science in
Context. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.
"Greenhouse Effect." Experiment Central: Understanding Scientific Principles Through Projects.
M. Rae Nelson. Ed. Kristine Krapp. 2nd ed. Detroit: UXL, 2010. Science in Context.
Web. 7 Dec. 2015.
"Sea level change." Environmental Encyclopedia. Gale, 2011. Science in Context. Web. 7 Dec.
2015.
"Sharp greenhouse gas cuts prudent, realistic." Toronto Star [Toronto, Ontario] 14 Dec.
2009: A18. Global Issues In Context. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.