Global Warming

The greenhouse gases that are responsible for global warming include; carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. These gases occur naturally as part of the earth’s cycle. The Earth uses those gases to warm its surface. Carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when solid waste, fossil fuels, wood, and wood products are burned. Each greenhouse gas absorbs heat differently. If natural gases did not occur, then temperatures would be 91 degrees cooler than the current temperatures. These gases trap heat and cause the greenhouse effect, and rising global temperatures. Human activities are a large contributor to the levels of these gasses, which cause many problems since each year the numbers continue to increase. The burning of solid waste, fossil fuels, and wood products are major are major contributors to global warming. Automobiles, heat from homes, businesses, and factories are responsible for about 80% of today's carbon dioxide emissions, 25% of methane, and 20% of the nitrous oxide emissions. The increase in agriculture, deforestation, landfills, industrial production, and mining contribute a significant share of emissions too. The gases released into the atmosphere are tracked by emission inventories. An emission inventory counts the amount of air pollutants discharged into the atmosphere. These emission inventories are used by many organizations. However industries only reduce emissions by the level they are required to do so by the government or until they reach an equilibrium point at which the cost of reducing emissions is equal to the number of emissions produced.

The Centers for Disease Control have been involved in studying global warming's effect on human health. Global warming is a danger to a human's health. Its affect on climate can adversely affect humans in many ways. Studies show that in the past 20 years the number of individuals who have developed breathing problems throughout their life time has doubled, and many researchers believe that the increase in greenhouse gases and global warming is to blame. There are far more smog advisory days today then there were 20 years ago data indicates. When smog levels are high, it makes it extremely difficult for many individuals to breath, especially the elderly and the ones with respiratory problems. Plagues have been attributed to global warming. An increase in temperature can result in a longer life cycle for diseases or the agents spreading them. Living in a warm area allows bacteria cells to manipulate quickly and continue to grow. Cooler temperatures have scientifically been proven to destroy and living bacteria in the environment. Global warming will eventually lead to more precipitation, which enables infectious diseases to be more easily contracted and spread. Effects of global warming on human health might not be immediately detected. This means that in the years to come humans may be diagnosed with new diseases never head of before, meaning there may be no cure for the disease. There have already been a number of incidents where new deadly diseases have broken out in parts of the world and they have no cure. These incidents have not been linked to global warming; however, in my opinion I believe that global warming may have played a contributing role.

Global warming can also affect our future ability to obtain food. As climates change, plants and animals will change, leading to a change in the eating patterns of humans. An increase or decrease in precipitation is one result of global warming that could have devastating effects. First, the quality of crops would be affected by an increase or decrease in precipitation. Second, increasing rain could lead to an increase in soil erosion. Decreasing rain tends to lead to droughts which ruins crops and also leads to soil erosion. However, droughts also dry out lakes and rivers which lead to no drinking water for individuals in that certain area. There are a few areas in the United States that are experiencing this problem. In Arizona, lakes and rivers are drying out because of the extreme temperatures leaving individuals with no water and seeking help from neighbouring states.

There are many ways that individuals can help prevent global warming from increasing. A few simple things that everyone can do to help reduce greenhouse gases is; car pool, audit the energy in your home, buy fuel-efficient cars such as the hybrid, and reduce the consumption of electricity in your home. These are a few simple steps that all individuals can adopt into their everyday life style in an effort to help prevent global warming from increasing. Individuals can also write to their local congress representatives or their local newspapers in response to stories, which state that global warming is not occurring in our world today. Government authorities can contribute by passing laws to force factories to reduce emissions by spending more money on research and development to become more efficient and produce less waste. They can also form a treaty with other countries to legally bind limits on emissions of heat trapping gases.

The impact of the damage that high levels of emission will have in the future depends on several factors, demographics, economics, technology, policies and institutional developments. Future predictions of many scientists and researchers do not look good of what may happen to the world. Without the help of emissions control policies, CO2 levels are projected to be 30 -150% higher in 2100. Our renewable resources will be very limited. With cooperation from citizens and government officials, we can slow the effect of global warming by reducing greenhouse gases and emissions.

Bibliography

1. “Global Warming; Early Warning Signs,” http://www.climatehotmap.org/
2. C. Horner, Red Hot Lies, (United States: Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2008.)
3. “Global Warming,” New York Times, http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/news/science/topics/globalwarming/#
4. “Global Warming Science and Impacts,” Union of Concerned Scientists, http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/science/ipcc-backgrounder.html
5. Ian Sample, Global Warming; Future Predictions, (UK: David and Charles, 2008.)