Global Warming Newspaper

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The World Weekly©                                         Written & Edited by Connaugh Jones

 

 

There's no question that the Earth is getting hotter-and fast, but the real questions are: How much of the warming is our fault, and are we willing to slow the meltdown by cutting down on  our massive usage of fossil fuels?

Nobody can tell if global warming is entirely our fault, but they can prove that we are certainly adding excess amounts of greenhouse gases, which is causing the process to speed up rapidly. If we were to cut out most of our usage with fossil fuels and turn them to renewable resources, the whole process wouldn’t be half as problematic.

Obviously, everyone has their own opinions, and people such as industrialists, believe global warming is entirely natural.

One factory owner told us that, “Scientists have dismissed claims that we can halt global warming by drastically cutting down our consumption of fossil fuels. New evidence has shown that the main cause of global warming is in fact the sun. The temperature rise recently blamed on fossil fuels, is mainly due to an increase in the sun’s energy output… An increase of just 0.2% in solar output has the same effect as doubling the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.”

    Although this could be true, as we are emitting more carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide etc. the extra heat from the sun would not be able to penetrate the added amounts of greenhouse gases, which will lead to the earth’s surface warming up.  

The picture on the left shows the Earth when the greenhouse effect hasn’t ‘gone wild’. The heat hits the Earth and some is absorbed, but the majority reflects out of the atmosphere and in to space.

The picture on the right shows the Earth when our greenhouse gases have been emitted. Most of the radiated heat gets either absorbed by the water on Earth, or it bounces off Earth’s surface, but is trapped in the thickened atmosphere.

 

 

  • Turning your central heating down by just 2°c in your home could not only help slow down global warming, but it reduces the amount of carbon dioxide by 300kg a year.

  • If you clean your filters in your air conditioning, you could save 350pounds of carbon dioxide form being emitted every year.

  • If you turn your T.V off instead of leaving it on standby, you could save 40% of the energy used with your television.

  • Change your older models of fridges or freezers for a newer one. Old fridges give off CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons), which are major contributors to climate change.

  • If you leave your windows open all day, and the temperature outside is less than 10°c, in a year it will use up over 1tonne of carbon dioxide.

  • Take a shower instead of a bath. If you don’t use a power shower, you could save over 4 times the amount of energy taken for a bath.

  • Planting just one tree would absorb over one tonne of carbon dioxide in its life. And because one acre of forestry is being cut down every second in the world, it would be a good investment to plant your own tree.

  • The average meal in the United States travels 1,200 miles from the farm to the plate. Buying locally will save fuel and keep money in your community.

  • If you shared lifts to work just 2 times per week, you would save over 1590 pounds of carbon dioxide between you every year.

  • This can increase fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by up to 10% due to wind resistance and the extra weight.

  • If 1% of car owners had their car checked regularly, 1billion pounds of CO2 every year!

Doing all these would save you over £2500 EVERY YEAR in your household!

       What is causing global warmng?

The main causes of global warming today are, deforestation, greenhouse gases being emitted, factories, aerosols, and there are too many motor vehicles on the road.

As you can see the majority of CO2 emitted is from power, transport and industry, which could easily be reduced by a lot.

The second largest cause of global warming is land use, and if we could all recycle just half of our waste, the amount of greenhouse gases given off would dramatically decrease.

Al Gore has emphasised this in his film and book, where he has told people what the effects of global warming are. He explained, ‘what changed us in the U.S with hurricane Katrina was a feeling that we have entered a period of consequences’. His website shows that the number of category 4 and 5 hurricanes have doubled in the last 30 years. He makes some interesting statements but, many people believe that hurricanes have nothing to do with global warming. If this is true, we don’t know.

Britain’s sea levels are all ready rising, but what will happen if they rise much more?

This is what the earth currently looks like.

                                                                                                           This will be earth  

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                                                                                             With 150m rise

                                                                                                         

View of globe in 2007      ...

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