Outline

Thesis: The effects of global warming and climate change can be reduced by decreasing the
consumption of fossil fuels, by improving the efficiency of current transportation vehicles and
systems, and by preserving the health of forests and trees around the globe.

Topic Sentence 1:
One of the first steps towards reversing the effects of climate change would be to decrease the
consumption of fossil fuels
 he industrial activities that our modern civilization depends upon have raised
atmospheric carbon dioxide levels from 280 parts per million to 400 parts per
million in the last 150 years.
 95 percent probability that human-produced greenhouse gases such as
carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have caused much of the
observed increase in Earth's temperatures over the past 50 years.
 Coal is the substrate, supplying roughly half of the electricity used in the
U.S. and nearly that much worldwide
o https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/10-solutions-for-climate-change/

https://climate.nasa.gov

Topic Sentence 2:
Another course of action that will help reduce climate change would be to upgrade the
infrastructure of buildings
 means building energy and transportation infrastructure for a clean energy economy
that produces at least 80 percent less carbon pollution than we did in 1990
o https://climate.nasa.gov

 Buildings worldwide contribute around one third of all greenhouse gas

emissions
 Investing in new infrastructure, or radically upgrading existing
highways and transmission lines, would help cut greenhouse gas
emissions and drive economic growth in developing countries.
o https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/10-solutions-for-climate-change/

Topic Sentence 3:
Another way to decrease CO2 levels would be through reducing transportation contamination.
 Transportation is the second leading source of greenhouse gas emissions
in the U.S.
 Biodiesel hybrid electric vehicles (that can plug into the grid overnight)
may offer the best transportation solution in the short term, given the
energy density of diesel and the carbon neutral ramifications of fuel
from plants as well as the emissions of electric engines. A recent study
found that the present amount of electricity generation in the U.S. could
 provide enough energy for the country's entire fleet of automobiles
to switch to plug-in hybrids, reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the
process.

o https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/10-solutions-for-climate-change/
Topic Sentence 4:
Another impactful course of action that would help decrease the effects of climate change would
be to avoid cutting down forests, and to plant more trees
 Timber harvesting in the tropics alone contributes 1.5 billion metric tons
of carbon to the atmosphere. That represents 20 percent of human-
made greenhouse gas emissions and a source that could be avoided
relatively easily.
o https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/10-solutions-for-climate-change/

Counter Argument:
Despite all of the evidence that favors the concept of the man caused global warming effect,
there are some that may state that the current climate change process is natural and thus merely a
cycle of the Earth’s temperatures
 Solar irradiance
 a decrease in solar activity coupled with an increase in volcanic activity is
thought to have helped trigger the Little Ice Age between approximately 1650
and 1850
 f the warming were caused by a more active Sun, then scientists would
expect to see warmer temperatures in all layers of the atmosphere. Instead,
they have observed a cooling in the upper atmosphere, and a warming at the
surface and in the lower parts of the atmosphere. That's because greenhouse
gases are trapping heat in the lower atmosphere
 Climate models that include solar irradiance changes can’t reproduce the
observed temperature trend over the past century or more without including a
rise in greenhouse gases.
https://climate.nasa.gov