Global Warming: Is It Really Happening?

You might be jumping with joy when it is fifty-five degrees Fahrenheit in the middle of January. However, you become very confused the next week when there is a blizzard that makes it impossible for you to dig your vehicle out of the snow. Have you ever sat back and thought about why this happened? Global warming causes this phenomenon. Global warming is defined as the gradual increase in the earths surface temperature (Climate Change). This increase is causing the unusual weather that has currently taken over our usual weather patterns. Many nonbelievers say that it is natural for the Earth to warm up a few degrees every couple of centuries, and that global warming is not real. However, this logic can only be formed because people do not want to believe that our world is in trouble. It could be argued that the Earth has had its hot moments where the average climate temperature has raised more than it should. However, the climate changes of the past did not happen rapidly, like they are today. There are many findings that prove that global warming is in fact real. The recorded increase in the Earths temperature, the problems in the arctic, odd weather patterns, and the greenhouse effect are all evidence that global warming is real. We, as habitants of this Earth, need to change our lifestyle in order to reverse global warming.

Global warming is a difficult theory to grasp. There have been many times in history that the Earths climate has changed, experiencing times of both warmth and cold. This is mainly due to changes in the Earths orbit, natural factors, and the energy that is released from the sun. The Earth usually has as average temperature of fifty-nine degrees Fahrenheit, or fifteen degrees Celsius. The rise in the Earths average temperature is one of the main focuses in the argument supporting global warming. Within the past one hundred and twenty-nine years, the Earths average temperature has increased 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit, or 0.8 degrees Celsius. While this small rise in temperature might not seem to be large enough to cause the mass panic that is currently taking over our culture, the short amount of time it has taken for this temperature rise is what is causing the alarm. In particular, the rise noted over the last thirty years seems to be causing most of the concern. Out of the twenty

warmest years on record, nineteen have occurred since 1980. The three hottest years ever observed have all occurred within the last eight years (Allianz). While historically the Earth has gone through periods of warmness, it has never warmed as quickly as is currently being recorded. The 20th centurys last two decades were the hottest in 400 years and possibly the warmest for several millennia, according to a number of climate studies (National Geographic News). Another shocking fact is that past trends in the Earths climate history show that the Earth should be in a cool down period, not a warming period as it is now. Throughout its history, the Earth has gone through many natural stages. It is shocking for scientists to not see the Earth go through the correct stages.

One cause of the unnatural temperature increase is mainly due to human beings. Many are citing humans to be the reason why the unusual warm period is happening. Think about it: What happened around one hundred and thirty years ago? Answer: The industrial revolution. Is it just a coincidence that the warming process began when industry was first taking place? In the past thirty years industry has grown even more, becoming global rather than international. While the changes observed over the last several decades are most likely due to human activities, we cannot rule out that some significant part is also a reflection of natural variability (National Geographic). The exact role humans play in causing global warming deals with the emission of greenhouse gasses. Greenhouse gasses are the gases that allow sunlight to enter the atmosphere freely. When sunlight strikes the Earths surface, some of it is re-radiated back towards space as infrared radiation heat. Greenhouse gases absorb this infrared radiation and trap the heat in the atmosphere (Greenhouse Gases.). Some greenhouse gases, such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, are natural, while other industrial gases are manmade. These gases keep the Earth about thirty-three degrees Celsius warmer than it usually would be. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, there has been an increase in certain greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide. This increase in carbon dioxide has directly caused an increase in the Earths average temperature. Thus, we can now experience snow in the middle of April and fifty-five degrees in January. This increase in the greenhouse gases has to do primarily with the burning of fossil fuels. The carbon cycle process naturally regulates concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (Greenhouse Gases). Usually the carbon cycle can hold up to

6.2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year. Yet, lately there has been an increase of 4.1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and worse, the total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are projected to increase by forty-three percent between 2000 and 2020 (Hardy). By ignoring the problem we are not fixing it; it is simply becoming worse. The burning of fossil fuels has caused the increase in the greenhouse gases, and 4.1 billion metric tons is a large increase. With the knowledge of this enormous increase, and how it relates to global temperature, people might actually begin to believe that global warming is not just a myth. In addition to the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide, hurricanes and typhoons have also become worse over the past thirty years. They are now stronger and longer lasting than ever before. But, what role does global warming play in both hurricanes and typhoons? The answer is in the temperature of the ocean. As previously stated, global warming has caused the Earths climate to raise 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit. This rise in the Earths temperature obviously causes a rise in the temperature of the oceans. High temperatures in the Earths oceans are what cause hurricanes. If the temperature continues to rise, hurricane historian Jay Barnes of Pine Knoll Shores, North Carolina believes that it will generate more storms and more intense hurricanes (Roach). The length and force of the typhoons and hurricanes has doubled since the 1970s. It is hard to believe it is just a coincidence that the temperatures have quickly risen over the past three decades and the strength and amount of natural disasters has also increased. Kerry Emanuel, a professor of atmospheric science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has found that for every 1 degree Fahrenheit that the oceans temperatures rise, there is a five percent increase in the intensity of a natural disaster. The temperature of the oceans has increased approximately 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit, 1 degree Celsius. Therefore, our latest natural disasters have been 2.5 percent stronger. Hurricane Katrina, followed by Hurricane Rita, and the typhoon on Christmas Eve in 2006, has caused people and scientists to take a harder look at the real causes behind them. Were they simply natural events, or could they have been prevented if the world were trying to prevent global warming? Global warming is also beginning to cause a lot of problems in the arctic region. Arctic ice is rapidly disappearing, and the region might have its first completely ice-free summer by 2040 or earlier. The ice caps are melting dramatically, which is causing a rise in sea levels. According

to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, the seas would rise about two hundred and thirty feet if all the glaciers melted today. The entire global ecosystem will be thrown out of balance if the ice caps melt. The ocean will desalinate because the ice caps are fresh water, and this desalinization of the gulf current will screw up ocean currents, which also regulate global temperatures. The stream shutdown, or irregularity, would cool the area around North-East America and Western Europe (Roach). Sea level rise impacts include increased beach erosion, saltwater intrusion into groundwater, and flooding of coastal habitats (Hardy p134). Certain regions are particularly vulnerable to the effects of sea-level rise. For island nations of the Pacific, the Indian Ocean, and the Caribbean, erosion, flooding, and saltwater intrusion into water supplies all threaten the social and economic viability of island states. These island nations could lose much or all of their land area to the sea. Other areas sensitive to sea level rise are low-lying river deltas, such the Mississippi and the Nile. Ice caps also reflect sunlight, which is reflected back into space to cool the Earth. If the ice caps melt, the ocean will be the only thing reflecting the sunlight, leaving the land to absorb the sunlight and cause the Earth to become warmer. Human activity also contributes to global warming through our increasing amounts of industrialism, consumption, and production. The increasing number of people in the world make global warming a progressive problem. When people are not informed about global warming, or they dont believe in it, they add to the problem. Ways that people contribute to global warming include not recycling, driving a lot, buying products that have to be shipped from far away, using a lot of hot water, not turning off electronics, and having a lot of waste. When surveyed, out of twenty males and females from the University of Cincinnati, seventy-five percent said that they believe in global warming, but only forty percent said that they try to help prevent global warming. Out of the forty percent, the majority of the students said that they recycled and carpooled as one of their ways to reduce the effects of global warming. However, eighty-five percent of students said that they would help prevent global warming if they knew how to do it. This indicates that people are not getting enough information about global warming, and how they can do their part in saving the Earth. Global warming is now a huge issue that people should really start to take seriously. There are scientific facts and statistics that support global warming. It is real and it is happening to our Earth right now. The people that do not believe in global warming are the ones who are using

the most energy and are not helping to prevent or reverse this process. The recorded increase in the Earths temperature, the problems in the arctic, odd weather patterns, and the greenhouse effect are all evidence that global warming is real. We, as inhabitants of this Earth, need to take a serious look at our lives, our habits, and our environment, if we want to protect the Earth, and address this very real problem of global warming.