Is Global Warming And Climate Change Real?

Is global warming and climate change real?

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 Is Global Warming And Climate Change Real? 2

Introduction

Global warming is the steady increase in the general temperature of the earths

atmosphere which is credited to the greenhouse effect caused by elevated levels of

chlorofluorocarbons, carbon dioxide, and other pollutants. On the other hand, climate change is

the transformation in the regional or global climate patterns. This kind of change is accredited to

the augmented levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide formed by the utilization of fossil fuels.

Global warming plus climate change are hot topics in the present time. Debates over climate

change and global warming have been going on all around the globe. Although few people

consider it as the greatest challenge of all times, others regard it as a climate shift that happened

in the early 90s and have fallen since then. The people who believe that both climate change and

global warming are real have their scientific reasons to back their claims just like those who

disregard that they do not have their reasons. Getting to understand concerning global warming

and climate change as well as their impacts is significant to meeting the challenges posed by

them. This essay will examine the evidence to determine whether global warming and climate

change are real and offer a position on the same if it is true or false.

Causes of global warming

Global warming is majorly a problem of too much carbon dioxide that has been deposited

in the air that acts as a blanket hence trapping heat and then warming the earth. Some of the

factors that make us believe in global warming include;

Carbon dioxide discharges from fossil fuels

The ever increasing human race addiction to the use of electricity from combustion of

coal industries emits huge quantities of carbon dioxide into the air. In the United States, an
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approximate of 40 percent carbon dioxide emissions are said to be from electricity generating

companies while combustion of coal amounts to 93 percent of discharges from the electricity

service company (Markham, 2009, n.p). On a daily basis, a greater number of electric appliances

are manufactured, and without extensive substitute energy sources, people are highly reliant on

coal combustion for their individual as well as marketable electrical demand.

Carbon dioxide discharges from gasoline combustion

The contemporary car culture, as well as the craving for internationally sourced products,

is answerable for almost 33 percent of the global discharges in the United States (Denchak, 2016,

n.p). Insisting for more consumer goods and vehicles denotes that people are mounting the

utilization of fossil fuels for transit as well as manufacturing. The using up by people is

outpacing their discoveries of methods to alleviate the outcomes and without stop in outlook to

the broad consumer culture.

Methane discharges from agriculture and animals

Methane is a very intoxicating greenhouse gas that ranks right behind carbon dioxide. It

has a reduced existence since it is not profuse in the air. Methane gas is formed when organic

substance decays and as well when ruminants absorb their foodstuff. Some of the human causes

of methane comprise landfills, sewerage, animal waste, and dams. For instance, organic matter

trapped behind the walls of dams where it drops to the base of the dam and decays. Methane is

created by bacteria in the process of decomposition that gradually breaks out to the air and is

discharged into the surface. The process of methane production as well takes place in the inside

the body of animals and with amplified levels of concerted livestock production, the quantities of

methane discharged into the air are escalating (Climate.nasa.gov. 2017, n.p). One more basis of
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methane production is methane clathrate which is a compound that contains huge quantities of

methane which is ensnared in the sparkler structure of ice. It has been confirmed that when

methane gas breaks out from the seabed of the Arctic, the speed of global warming amplifies

significantly.

Deforestation

Vegetation absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere throughout the process of

photosynthesis converting the carbon that is stored in all plants. When the vegetation is burned or

cut down, the organic carbon is emitted into the air in the form of carbon dioxide that becomes a

carbon source other than carbon sinks. The exploitation of forests for firewood is the one source

of deforestation globally (Richards, 2017, n.p). Forests eliminate and amass carbon dioxide from

the air, and deforestation discharges great levels of carbon and reduces the level of carbon

captured on earth.

The increase in the habit of chemical fertilizers

The increased use of fertilizers by farmers on their farm crops has led to increased

discharge of nitrous oxide which is an intoxicating greenhouse gas. The use of chemical

fertilizers has increased in the recent days. The elevated pace of nitrogen-rich fertilizers

application has consequences on the heat storeroom of farmland crops. Also, the run-off of

surplus fertilizers forms dead zones in the oceans that cause distress for wellbeing of the human

race.
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Effects of global warming

The effect that makes people believe in global warming is the increase of sea level in

several parts of the world. This effect is partly accredited to the melting of ice and glaciers but

more to the transformations in the gasses contained in the sea. This is as a result of the warming

of the ocean surface hence increased temperature stratification. The oceans have absorbed twenty

times more heat compared to the atmosphere resulting in warmer oceans (Richards, 2017, n.p).

According to the recorded data, the increase in ocean temperatures extends far beyond that of

natural climate variation.

Higher sea levels

The regions at the polar are specifically vulnerable to a warming environment. The

average temperatures in the Arctic region are increasing twice as fast as they are in other parts of

the earth. This consequence does not only endanger the people, plants, and wildlife in the region

but also its severe impact is the rising levels of the sea. Some of the predicted regions by

scientists that are expected to increase in sea levels involve the ice sheets in Greenland and

Antarctica which are positioned on the U.S. East coast (Climate.nasa.gov. 2017, n.p). People will

believe the impact of global warming around the globe when they begin to undergo the

consequences of the growing sea levels that could render them homeless.

Severe recurrent weather

Higher temperatures have been recorded in several parts of the world and reported to

worsen many kinds of natural disasters such as heat waves, droughts, storms, and floods. Warm

climates create an environment that can amass, hold, and drop more water, transforming weather

patterns in such a manner that dry areas become drier and wet areas become wetter. In the
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present time, people have begun to believe that global warming is real since the amount of

billion dollar budget which has been spent on weather disasters is escalating in many parts of the

world (Markham, 2009, n.p). According to a study published in Nature, proof has been found out

by scientists that global warming will considerably elevate the strength of the greatest storms

globally (Nature.org. 2017, n.p). The escalating number of droughts, floods, intense storms

experienced in the present day poses a great danger to public health and safety. Drought

instances endanger access to clean drinking water, result in dust storms, heat occurrences, fuel

out of control wildfires, and flash flooding in the United States. Everywhere across the globe,

lack of water is a leading cause of death as well as serious diseases. Alternatively, heavier rains

in some parts of the world create rivers, streams, and make lakes to overflow that leads to harm

of life and property, pollute drinking water, form hazardous material spills as well as encourage

mold infestation plus harmful air (Markham, 2009, n.p).

Higher wildlife extermination levels

When sea and land experience speedy changes of weather, the animals that live in them

are doomed to vanish if they do not adjust quickly. Some of the land and water species will

manage the change while other will not. According to the 2014 assessment of the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, several lands, freshwater, and ocean species shifted

their geographic areas to cooler regions to escape warming. Chris Thomas argues that climate

change now signifies at least as huge risk to the number of species living on Earth as habitation

modification as well as destruction (Denchak, 2016, n.p).

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Shifts in atmosphere boundaries

A study performed in 2003 revealed that the troposphere boundary that encloses the earths

weather had escalated by more than 900 feet within a period of twenty years from 1979 to 1999

(Live Science. 2017, n.p). Scientists dogged that solar transformations throughout the 1900s had

caused the warming up of the earth layers. This has been attributed to human activities that have

caused an escalation in greenhouse gas discharges that make intent heat to stay in the

troposphere. The human race activities are said to cause a reduction in ozone in the stratosphere

thus leading to reduced sunshine to be engrossed by ozone layer which leads to cooling of the

stratosphere. The blend consequences of these phenomenons are answerable to about 80 percent

of the tropospheres boundary upward shift (Live Science. 2017, n.p). The results felt by people

from this boundary shift have made them believe in global warming.

Causes of climate change

Climate change is a prolonged shift in weather conditions acknowledged by changes in

precipitation, temperature, winds and other indicators. The earths climate is naturally

changeable at all times. Any factor that leads to a sustained change in the level of incoming

energy or the level of the outgoing energy can cause climate change (Epa.gov. 2017, n.p). The

change in energy is then distributed around the world by oceans, currents, winds, and other

techniques to affect the climate in various regions. Both natural and human race activities can

alter the rate of energy absorbed by the atmosphere. Some of the natural and human activities

that make people believe that in climate change include;

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Natural causes

The climate of the earth can be affected by natural factors that are external to the climate

system. Some of these natural factors include solar output, earths orbit around the sun, and

volcanic activities. Among these factors, the two which are pertinent on timescales of modern

climate change are the transformations in volcanic activity as well as solar radiation. Regarding

the earths energy balance, the two factors majorly influence the level of incoming energy.

Volcanic eruptions

Volcanic eruptions release carbon dioxide although they may also discharge aerosols like

volcanic dust as well as sulfur dioxide. The aerosols releases are in liquid and solid forms

whereby they hover around in the air. Also, these aerosols can involve viruses, dust, bacteria, and

salt particles. The aerosols emitted as a result of volcanic eruption scatter incoming solar

radiation hence causing a slight cooling effect. For instance, in the year 1816, a year without

summer happened following the violent volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia

(Davey, 2017, n.p). A lot was destroyed such as crops, people died, and food shortage increased.

In cases of violent volcanic eruptions, sulfur dioxide and ash particles are emitted into the

stratosphere. The sulfur dioxide mixes with water vapor in the air forming sulfuric acid as well as

sulfate particles that are jointly referred to as sulfurous aerosols. These particles are moved by

winds to all parts of the globe causing immense effects on the planet.

Solar radiation variations

Solar radiation variations are said to be in very small quantities. The variation is linked to

the number of sunspots which are darker regions on the suns surface. The development of a

sunspot occurs where an intense magnetic field weakens the flow of gasses that convey heat
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energy from the interior of the sun. The reason why sunspots seem to be dark in color is that the

temperature around them is lower than the surrounding area. The sun discharges slightly more

radiation throughout active moments of sunspots (Hunt, 2017, n.p). This is because the sunspots

are suppressing heat which then flows to the surrounding regions leading to brighter parts than

normal hence radiating excess heat. The variations of solar radiation due to these sunspots lead to

warmer global climate and cooler global climate.

Human causes

Human race activities have also campaigned in the leading deterioration of the global

climate. From since the start of the industrial revolution, human activities on the climate have

escalated considerably. Together with other natural issues, these human influences transform the

surface of the land and release several substances into the atmosphere (Environmental Defense

Fund. 2017, n.p). The activities influence the quantity of incoming energy plus the quantity of

outgoing energy as well as having cooling and warming impacts on the earths climate.

The human activities involved in causing climate change comprise of combustion of

fossil fuels, deforestation, and agriculture. When human beings are involved in burning oil, gas,

and coal to produce electricity or drive their cars, carbon dioxide is emitted into the environment

hence trapping heat. These activities add huge quantities of greenhouse gasses to those naturally

happening in the atmosphere augmenting the greenhouse effect as well as climate change. The

general effect of human influences since the industrial revolution has been warming effect on the

earth which has been driven majorly by discharges of carbon dioxide and improved by releases

of other greenhouse gasses (Hunt, 2017, n.p). The concentration of greenhouse gasses in the

atmosphere has led to an improvement of the natural greenhouse effect globally. This human
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induced development of the greenhouse effect is of concern since the ongoing discharges of

greenhouse gasses have the ability to warm the planet to heights that have been experienced in

the history of human civilization.

Effects of climate change

Climate change is already having a momentous impact on the environment, people and

the entire economies. The rising temperatures do not imply balmier winters but denote that some

parts of the world are experiencing extreme heat as others are slightly cool. Violent storms, as

well as other greater weather occurrences, also result from the augmented energy stored in the

warming atmosphere.

Among the effects of climate change is the impact it has on water masses all over the

globe. Climate change is having grievous forces on the global water sources through increased

droughts and flooding. Water is closely tied to other resources plus social issues like health,

transportation, food supply, and environment integrity. Warmer air as a result of climate change

holds an increased water quantity that makes rain outlines more intense (Environmental Defense

Fund. 2017, n.p). Freshwater bodies all over the globe are under extreme force from dredging,

pollution, drainage, damming, extraction, and persistent species. The combinations of climate

change with these other issues makes it worse, and the extremes of flooding and drought have

led to conflict and displacement. Furthermore, seas and oceans are crucial carbon sinks which

denote that they attract enormous quantities of carbon dioxide averting it from getting to the

upper part of the earth. However, augmented water temperatures as well as elevated carbon

dioxide absorptions than usual that make oceans tarter are by now having an effect on climate

change (Richards, 2017, n.p).

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Due to climate change, glaciers and permafrost are melting at an elevated range. The

mountain glaciers in each region of the world are said to have reduced in size and therefore has

the quantity of permafrost in the Arctic. The Greenland ice sheet rate of melting has escalated

over the years causing an alarming response (Nature.org. 2017, n.p). Also, the surface

temperatures of the sea are warming rapidly, and the warmers waters in the shallow oceans have

led to the death of many coral reefs in the past decades. A lot of coral habitats have died

following a weakening process by bleaching which is tied to warmer sea waters. Augmented

temperatures and severe drought are causing a huge decline in crop productivity all over the

globe. Reduced crop productivity has led to food shortages that have several social inferences

(Nature.org. 2017, n.p). There have been increased occurrences of heavy rainfall that cause

flooding in many areas of the world. Warmer temperatures have caused more intense rainfall

occasions in many regions of the globe leading to flooding.

Conclusion

In my opinion, global warming and climate change are real. These can be attributed to the

causes and effects of both climate change and global warming currently facing the globe. The

effects are real and evident on the faces of the earth and people have begun experiencing them.

Their effects on people, animals, and agriculture are indeed frightening. The facts regarding

global warming are frequently debated in media and politics platforms, but unluckily, even if

people differ concerning the causes, the outcomes of global warming and climate change are

real, measurable, and worldwide. The greatest effect noted with global warming and climate

change is the rise in temperatures which are said to have augmented by one degree Fahrenheit

over the previous century. Every aspect around the globe is getting affected by temperature rise
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among other effects. It is now upon the human race to come up with alternative sources of

energy to mediate the use of fossil fuels that are believed to pose much risk to the earth.
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