In this food chain of climate change, the major sub category is the constant temperatures change. It begins from Global Warming, which is a result of pollution. Where is all this pollution coming from? The answer is the human race. Driving cars that release off fumes, the burning of coal, and fossil fuels, people who don’t recycle.
“The increase in the mean temperature of the earth due to excessive emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrogen.” ( Green) These extra gases are making it hard for heat to escape the Earth’s atmosphere resulting in warmer temperatures. Here is a model of the Greenhouse Effect retrieved from http://epa.gov/climatechange/kids/greenhouse.html. Ethical Issues on Global Warming There are many causes of Global Warming to include Carbon Dioxide from power plants, cars, airplanes, and from buildings. “In 2002 about 40% of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions stem from the burning of fossil fuels for the purpose of electricity generation.”(Ayres) 93% of electricity generations is produced by coal. 33% of the carbon dioxide comes from vehicles.
Unfortunately, the activity of burning or combusting fossil fuels releases various kinds of hazardous substances and pollutants which eventually leads to changes in the environment; such as climate change, global warming, and changes in environmental health. Let us start with the change in climate or climate change. For over the past 150 years, the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal and oil have caused the concentrations of heat-trapping "greenhouse gases" to increase significantly in our atmosphere. These gases prevent heat from escaping to space, somewhat like the glass panels of a greenhouse. It would change our climate, but it would not bring us close to the level of uninhabitable Venus.
EAP VI/A R/W YUCHENG WAN 11/27/12 Is Global Warming Manmade? Abstract Global warming is caused by numerous activities such as driving, taking airplanes, generating electricity, displaying fireworks, using air conditioning, developing industry and logging because those activities emit so much carbon dioxide that global temperatures rise up. Trees store CO2 in the forest system, so if forests are damaged, much CO2 will be released, which will increase the global temperatures. As this paper illustrates, natural climate cycles have already changed from warm to cool, so global warming is not because of natural factors. The solutions for global warming may include improving the efficiency of energy, protecting forests, producing more energy from renewable sources, generating electricity by wind, traveling in more fuel-efficiently vehicles, riding bicycles and using more efficient electrical appliances.
Owing to the development of industry and the use of fossil fuels, the amount of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere has produced and the average global temperature seems to have risen. What’s more, deforestation can affect climate changes. The growing of trees and plants can absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere because of photosynthesis, however, deforestation lead to carbon dioxide emissions. Both of these can lead to global warming of the atmosphere. The report (UNEPWMO, 2004, P10) also pointed out, the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation are altering the composition of the atmosphere and contributing to climate change.
Since we have the attention of everyone, now is the best time to take action against global warming. Due to the increasing temperatures every year our public health and our agriculture/food supply is at high risk for new and worse diseases due to global warming; we need to change our climate control policies to protect ourselves. Gases are being trapped inside of earth’s atmosphere like a soda can, and are gradually increasing Earth’s temperatures that ice will start melting and there will be flooding due to rising sea levels; plants and animals will start becoming endangered (as cited in Cooper, 2001). We have already seen coastal flooding in parts of Central America and Bermuda’s forests are now endangered due to flooding (as cited in Clemmitt, 2006). Global warming has been an issue since factories were introduced to this world; gases and toxins are being highly exposed into our atmosphere causing a tremendous reaction to the balance of nature.
Acid rain as a result of industrialization has had many negative effects on the New England region in particular. The Adirondack Mountains are of special interest due to their soil composition that does not allow for the seizure of the two primary particles in acid rain. This has caused issues pertaining to the water reservoirs in the area that now are sometimes unable to support life do to the high acidity. Acid deposition as it is more formally called is typically composed of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. These two components are naturally occurring from sources like volcanoes but the industrial revolution has exponentially increased the amount of these chemicals in the air.
Recent studies have shown that ninety-seven percent of scientists believe that manmade actions cause climate change (Samenow). The inconvenient truth is that climate change is a reality that must be addressed. The environment has become polluted, unpredictable, and dangerous as a result of climate change. The three major effects of climate change are: flooding, drought, and spread of disease. Scientists studying the polar ice caps have observed consistent annual increases in the rates at which they are melting; this indicate, that the temperature of Earth’s water is increasing and sea levels are rising.
First, the melting of ice caps and glaciers is releasing water into the oceans. Second, human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels, combined with natural activities, it causes the rise of the earth's surface temperature.3 Second, climate change is already having a serious effect on every continent and throughout the world’s ocean. The consequences of sea level rise mainly reflected in three aspects: cultural heritages, indigenous communities and coastal lands. 4 First, sea level rise threats cultural world heritage. Data shows that 136 out of 700 listed cultural heritages throughout the world will be affected in the long term.
Although the issue did not start to gain national attention until the early 2000s, scientists have been studying atmospheric gases and the effect that human consumption of fossil fuels has on the atmosphere and climate since the early nineteenth century (Rich). The overwhelming consensus among scientists today is that the climate is changing drastically and humans are causing it through specific, preventable actions (Rich). Global warming is caused by an increase in greenhouse gases, which, under normal conditions, it (the greenhouse effect) is what makes life sustainable by keeping the earth within a constant range of temperatures (Gore). About 30 percent of the light and the heat of the sun is reflected back into space, either by clouds, or by the earth’s surface (especially ice, which is particularly reflective.) About 20 percent of the light and heat from the sun is