Global Warming: Causes, Consequences, Solutions Essay

Since the early days of the greenho using up debate, scientists select been interested in the wallops of spheric thaw. In the joined States, the environmental Protection way has initiated a comprehensive on the impacts of climate neuter for the country. The publics increased attention to such problem is not anymore move as it threatens e actually creature with potentially devastating consequences, which has put artificial satelliteary thaw in the lime light (Silverstein et. al. , 2003p. 5 Fankha physical exertionr, 1995 p.16). Nevertheless, attempts at a monetary quantification of these impacts despite organism classic application of environmental economics imbibe started to emerge just recently (Fankhauser, 1995 p. 16). Many scientists believe that our orbiter has been experiencing a heating plant trend over the last 200 years- and that our activities be responsible for this globose soreing. It started with the industrial revolution, around one coke seventy- five0 (Silverstein et. al. , 2003p. 5 Kursunoglu et. al. , 2001 p. 151).People began to use machines in more and more atomic number 18as of life and daily functioning, from heating, to building, and manufacturing, to transportation. The machines were powered by charing fuels, such as wood, coal, oil, and inborn gas (Fankhauser, 1995 p. 16 Silverstein et. al. , 2003p. 5). If these fuels burn, they project century dioxide and other waste products into the atmosphere, which is the work of air that covers our planet (Silverstein et. al. , 2003p. 5). dodo fuels provide approximatelywhat 85% of the worlds energy, sustaining the worlds standard-of- subsisting and providing the power for transportation.These fuels argon inexpensive, transport adapted, safe, and relatively abundant. At the same time, their use contri only ifes to problems such as air quality and acid rain that are be addressed through diverse control efforts and to the problem of orbicular warming, which is outri ght being considered by governments of the world (Kursunoglu et. al. , 2001 p. 151). Scope and Limitation The study involves mainly the identification numbers of planetary warming in terms of its cause, consequences and solutions implicated.The study shall incorpo consecrate various speculative explanations in order to address the subject criteria of the problem imposed. The oscilloscope of the study shall coincide mainly on the environmental issue of orbiculate warming. Mainly, the study shall scrutinize the details of the review of related literature model to the original components imposed in the latter(prenominal) of the studies. Analysis and interpretation of selective information map shall involve clear and accurate depiction of the study utilizing the state and gathered info of the review of literatures.The following shall be the objectives of the study in this research paper a. To be able to critically analyze the primary components imposed in the study, particular ly the presenting phenomenon and the cause-effect relationships of globular warming b. To be able to provide necessary entropy analysis and implication utilizing mainly the references, data gathered in review of literature and the analysis of latter studies proposed in order to provide primary depiction of the actual status of the environment in terms of global warming. Review of Related Literature globular Warming Overview The basic principle of global warming can be downstairsstood by considering the radiation energy from the Sun that warms the countrys surface and the thermal radiation from the primer coat and the atmosphere that is radiated out to space. On average, these two radiation streams must be balance. If the balance is disturbed, it can be restored by an increase in the universes surface temperature (Houghton, 2004 p. 14). The gases atomic number 7 and oxygen that make up0 the bulk of the atmosphere neither absorb nor despatch thermal radiation.It is the water v apor, carbon copy dioxide, and some(a) other minor gases present in the atmosphere in much pocketableer quantities that absorb some of the thermal radiation and causing the difference of 21 degrees Celsius or so between the actual average surface temperatures on the Earth of about 15 degrees Celsius. Such blanketing condition is k straight offn as the natural nursery effects and the gases are known as glasshouse gases (Houghton, 2004 p. 16). The greenhouse gases are those gases in the atmosphere which, by absorbing thermal radiation emitted by the Earths surface, have blanketing effect upon it.The most important of the greenhouse gases is water vapor, but its amount in the atmosphere is not changing directly because of homosexual activities. The important greenhouse gases that are directly influenced by human activities are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, the chlorofluorocarbons (chlorofluorocarbons) and ozone (Houghton, 2004 p. 28). Normally, carbon dioxide is present in the atmosphere in small amounts-just enough to keep temperatures on Earth at a comfortable range for our planets living things. The burning fuels, however, has been increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (Houghton, 2004 p. 28 Silverstein et.al. , 2003p. 5). So far, global warming has not been substantial, increasing the average temperature of Earth by only about 0. 6 degrees Celsius in the last century. This change is so small that some scientists argue that it is just a natural fluctuation and not a trend. Other scientists state that there is a great deal of evidence to support global warming Summers are getting hotter and winters are getting milder, glaciers are melting, and sea levels are rising, but these signs are only the initial phase of global warming phenomena. The warming trend is expected to speed up and produce even greater effects (Silverstein et.al. , 2003 p. 6). Warming did not occur evenly around the world, and some scientists wondered whether t he changes in observed temperature might simply be a matter of the growth of cities near weather stations. Urban areas form heat islands pavage and rooftops absorb more heat than soils and plant leaves, so cities have smoke climates than rural areas. Climatologists admit they do not to the full understand Earths climate system. For decades, however, they have agreed that signs of global warming would be most not methable in cold regions (Pringle, 2001 p. 17 Silverstein et. al., 2003 p. 6) particularly in the Northern Hemisphere, because it holds less heat-absorbing ocean water than the reciprocal ohmern Hemisphere. Scientists have predicted that areas such as Alaska, Canada, and Northern Russia would harm more than Earth as a whole (Pringle, 2001 p. 17). Historical Overview Development of Agencies and Organizations It has been known for about 175 years that the presence in the atmosphere of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide that absorb in the infrared part of the spectru m leads to a warming of the Earths surface through the greenhouse effects.The firstborn quantitative slownesss were do by the Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius in 1896. In the 1960s, Charles Keeling and his colleagues began a tied(p) series of accurate observations of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration from the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. Such studies showed increasing values as a result of human activities, mainly the burning of fossil fuels (Hester and Harrison, 2002 p. 1 (Fankhauser, 1995 p. 16).By the 1980s, as the rate of increase of carbon dioxide concentration became larger, the possible impact on the global climate became a matter of concern to politicians as well as scientists. The report of a scientific meeting held at Villach, Austria in 1985 under the auspices of the scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) of the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) began to alert governments and the public at large to the potential seriou sness of the issue.Estimates were made that the carbon dioxide concentration could double before the end of the 21st century. In 1896, three multinational agencies, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the ICSU, who had co-sponsored the Villach conference, formed the Advisory Group of Greenhouse Gases (AGGG), a small international committee with responsibility for asserting the available scientific information about the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the likely impact (Hester and Harrison, 2002 p. 1).After the assembly of these well-known organizations, and formations of small groups, such as the AGGG, discoveries and wide assessments have been made regarding the issues of global warming. Private and public sectors in the United States and Europe have gathered (Fankhauser, 1995 p. 27), including those from other nations such as Japan, South Korea, etc. , in order assess possible etiologies, evaluate imp end causes and provide critical support-based solutions (Hester and Harrison, 2002 p. 1). Measurements of orbiculate Warming Even a fewer years ago, the acceptance of global warming was not as general as it is today.Global warming is difficult to prove as temperature records do no go back very far. Furthermore, the old records are primarily land based, are not representative of large areas of the world, are generally from urban areas, and are not always collected with precision. Existing records, however, were collated, treat and standardized by P. D Jones and T. M. L Wrigley (1990), and their formulation of standardized data indicates a slow warming trend since the last century with passing(a) periods of cooling (Hester and Harrison, 2002 p.1 Gupta, 1998 p. 86). The deviations from the general trend may occur repayable to three reasons sunspot cycles volcanic eruptions producing large quantities of fine ash in the air the occurrence of El Nino Southern Oscillation. Correctin g for all such factors, Jones and Wrigley estimated that the undercoat has become 0. 5 degrees Kelvin warmer since the 1880s (Gupta, 1998 p. 86). Evidence of global warming alike come from other sources. In recent years, glaciers on mountains, particularly tropical mountains, have melted faster than before.The temperature of the top hundred metres of sea water off the coast of California shows an increase of 0. 8 degrees Kelvin over the last forty years. The data from the ice cores of Antarctica withal indicate a warming trend (Fankhauser, 1995 p. 16 Gupta, 1998 p. 86). These cores through the ice indicate snowfalls of number of years in sequence, which later has turned into ice. As this happens, tiny air bubbles trapped in the ice, and these bubbles can be investigated to catch out the composition of the air at the time of the snowfall and also the temperature.The latter is determined by examining the ration of the two oxygen isotopes, 16O and 18O 9 (Fankhauser, 1995 p. 16 Gupt a, 1998 p. 86 Houghton, 2004 p. 28). The ratios reflect the ambient global temperature. A number of very hot years, in fact eight of the hottest on record, happened between 1980 and 1992. obscure from indicating the trend, this put global warming in publics attention. Etiologies of Global Warming Currently, there are three theories about the cause of global warming however, most of the scientists believe that the cause is an increase of greenhouse gases.Svante Arrhenius of Sweden in 1895 demonstrated the linkage between carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and temperature (Gupta,1998 p. 86). carbon paper dioxide is the prime etiology involved in global warming causation. In fact, without any carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the earth would be much colder mark to live. The global mean temperature would be below 0 degrees Celsius instead of being close to a comfortable 14 degrees Celsius. Most carbon dioxide comes from the chemical decomposition reaction of dead plants and animals, a nd the respiration of living animals, including humans, and plants.For thousands of years, there has been no problem with this because the oceans captive much of this carbon dioxide hence, taking it out of the atmosphere. In addition, plants carrying on photosynthesis also absorbed a great deal of the atmospheric carbon dioxide (Tomera, 2001 p. 113 Gupta,1998 p. 86). However, with the approaching of modernization, auto engines, power plants, industrial mills, and home and business heating systems burn coal, oil, or natural gas (Gupta, 1998 p. 86 Houghton, 2004 p. 28 Tomera, 2001 p. 113).Such broadsides for 98% of the carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere, while the other 2% id due to the increased deforestation and mining (Tomera, 2001 p. 113). Another theoretical issue imposed is in the use of fossil fuels and burning materials that release CFCs. The first relatively successful calculation of how much the human use of fossil fuel could warm the planet published in a paper 1896 by Arrhenius. With the conceptual mannequin of carbon dioxide as the primary source of global warming, various theoretical concepts have formed. In the late 1930s, G. S.Callendar, an English chemist, argued that human activities were causing an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide and that this might have already started global warming. Despite Callendars concern, and although the scientific community has known about the pot4ential of human-induced warming to raise the earths temperature since the early 19th century (Tomera, 2001 p. 113 Brown, 2002 p. 14), global warming received little attention from the scientific community during the first half of the twentieth century, which centered mainly on human causations of carbon dioxide increase (Brown, 2002 p.14). In 1957, two scientists with the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, Roger Revelle and Hans Suess, found that much of the carbon dioxide emitted to the earths atmosphere is not absorbed by the oceans, as some had assumed, l eaving significant amounts in the atmosphere that could eventually warm the earth (Brown, 2002 p. 14). With the current advent of environmental discovery and climatic technical advancements, there are now environmental impacts of the chemical substitutes that are now being developed by industry.These factors all into two main groups hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), which have limited ozone depleting potential, and HCFCs, which have no ozone depleting potential. Unfortunately, both groups of chemicals are greenhouse gases, both groups of chemicals are greenhouse gases, not as powerful as the fully halogenated CFCs but nonetheless significant (Marks and Plewig, p. 13). Such causation has been linked to the issue of ozone depletion wherein HCFCs are the prime depletors, and the end outcome contributes to the global warming.Since the stratospheric ozone or ozone layer is almost depleted by stratospheric chlorine, which depends on, for example, CFC emissions. CFCs are greenhouse gases, which account for approximately 25% of the global warming effect. Freon 11 is given a global warming potential of 1, which indicates the characteristics of a major contributor. Because of the dangers proposed by CFC use, there is great commercial interest in replacing such materials with substances, which have less ozone depletion potential (Whelan, 1994p. 73).