Global Warming

It has been getting warmer lately. The Earth is baking under a hotter sun and weather patterns are changing constantly. Many are calling this heating of the Earth global warming (a.k.a. The Greenhouse Effect). This report is dedicated to the understanding of what global warming is and how it is affecting the inhabitants of the earth. Global warming is defined through the ozone and carbon dioxide emissions. These emissions cause severe damage to the atmosphere. Climate changes caused by global warming can cause irregular weather patterns in many regions. Wildlife habitats are hit hard due to unexpected changes to their normal climates, therefore causing an imbalance in living nature. However, without the greenhouse effect, life would not be sustainable on earth. Solutions are offered to that previously mentioned pertaining to global warming, but it takes a tremendous effect to see major changes.

Global Warming is sometimes referred to as the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is the absorption of energy radiated from the Earth's surface by carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere, causing the atmosphere to become warmer. The greenhouse effect is what has been causing the temperature on the Earth to rise, and creating many problems that will begin to occur in the coming decades. For the last 10,000 years, the Earth's climate has been extraordinarily beneficial to mankind. "Humans have prospered tremendously well under a benign atmosphere," (Bates 28). The greenhouse effect and global warming both correspond with each other. The green house effect is recalled as incoming solar radiation that passes through the Earth's atmosphere but prevents much of the outgoing infrared radiation from escaping into outer space. The global warming refers to a long term rise in the average temperature of the Earth. How do they correspond with each other? It can be simply stated by saying that "without one, the other doesn't exist," (Bates 30). The natural greenhouse effect has kept the Earth's average surface temperature around 33 degrees Celsius. The natural gases in the greenhouse effect are water vapor, carbon dioxide (CO2), ozone (O3), as well as other trace gases.

Today, however, major changes are taking place. People are conducting an inadvertent global experiment by changing the face of the entire planet. The ozone layer, which allows life to exist on the Earth's surface, has been proven to be rapidly depleting over certain parts of Australia. The cause of this depletion comes from many forms of CO2 (carbon dioxide) and CH4 (methane) emissions. The major ones (effecting the ozone) are the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and clearing of glasslands to raise crops, and the cultivation of rice in paddies using inorganic fertilizers that give off N2O (nitrous oxide) (Miller 241). All of these activities are unfavorably altering the composition of the biosphere and the Earth's heat balance. Average global temperatures have risen 1 degree Fahrenheit over the last century. If carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases continue to spill into the atmosphere, global temperatures could rise five to 10 degrees by the middle of the next century.

Surprisingly enough, some scientists either believe that the ozone has either nothing to do with global warming or is merely a minor factor affected by it. Major effects of global warming are more aimed towards changes in climate. Most are said to be the greatest at the higher latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, with the largest temperature rises occurring in winter. Most areas will experience summertime highs well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. New temperature records will be set each year.

As a possible prelude to global warming, the decade of the 1980's has had the six hottest years of the century (Erandson 18-22). Atmospheric disturbances brought on by the additional warming will produce more violent storms. Some areas, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere, will dry out and a greater occurrence of lightning strikes will set massive forest fires. The charring of the Earth by natural and man-made forest fires will dump additional quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Changes in temperature and rainfall brought on by global warming will in turn change the composition of the forests. At the present rate of destruction, most of the rain forests will be gone by the middle of the next century. This will allow man-made deserts to encroach on once lush areas. (Bassett 1-2).

Evaporation rates will also increase and circulation patterns will change. Decreased rainfall in some areas will result in increased rainfall in others. In some regions, river flow will be reduced or stopped all together completely. Other areas will experience sudden downpours that create massive floods. The central portions of the continents, which normally experience occasional droughts, might become permanently dry wastelands. Vast areas of once productive cropland could lose topsoil and become man-made deserts. Coastal regions, where half the human population lives, will feel the adverse effects of rising sea levels as the ice caps melt under rising ocean temperatures.

The melting of the polar ice caps is one of the greatest fears that scientists have today. If the present melting continues, the sea could rise as much as 6 feet by the middle of the next century (Bassett 1-2). Large tracks of coastal land would disappear, as would shallow barrier islands and coral reefs. Low-lying fertile deltas that support millions of people would vanish. Delicate wetlands, where many species of marine life hatch their young, would be reclaimed by the sea. Vulnerable coastal cities would have to move farther inland or build protective walls against the angry sea, where a larger number of extremely dangerous hurricanes would prowl the ocean stretches.

Not only does global warming have a serious effect on weather, but wildlife as well. Forests and other wildlife habitats might not have enough time to adjust to the rapidly changing climate. The warming will rearrange entire biological communities and cause many species to become extinct. Weeds and pests could overrun much of the landscape. Since life controls the climate to some extent, it is uncertain what long-term effects a diminished biosphere will have on the world as a whole. It is becoming more apparent, however, that as man continues to rapidly consume the Earth's resources, the climate could suddenly change in such a way that it is no longer