Name:

Professor:

Communications:

20th June 2011

Global warming – myth or reality

Over the years, global warming has become a controversial topic with some arguing for it while others oppose it. This controversy revolves around issues like, is global warming real or just a scientific lie, what are the causes, what are the effects and remedies? Above all issues, the one that has raised a lot of controversy is the cause of global warming. Beginning in the mid 20th century, arguments and counter arguments have arisen on whether human activities are the main causes of global warming (John Theodore Houghton, 2004). More to this, arguments have also risen on whether the so called effects of global warming are normal climatic changes or not. However, there one general consensus among all stake holders that global temperatures have risen rapidly in the last 100 years and that the world is warmer than in the past.

In 2009, representatives from over 200 countries meet in Denmark under the United Nations committee on climate change to discuss way of tackling this looming disaster. One of the most identified causes of global warming was emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Most of the carbon dioxide that is released into the atmosphere is from a process known as the greenhouse effect. Greenhouse effect involves absorbing and releasing of infrared radiations into the environment resulting in a warmer planet. One major argument of those who don’t believe that global warming is partly caused by human activities is that there are some natural gases that have a warming effect on the atmosphere. Examples of major greenhouse gases are water vapor, carbon dioxide, ozone and methane. Although there is little or no contention that some greenhouse effects occur naturally, human activities in the recent past have been proven to accelerate the production of greenhouse gases. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, the amount of greenhouses gases released into the atmosphere has gone up resulting in alteration of atmospheric radiation balance. Since 1970, carbon dioxide and methane concentrations in the atmosphere have gone up by 36% and 148% respectively and these levels are higher that at any instance in the last 800,000 years of human history (John Theodore Houghton,2004). Additional research has also revealed that higher levels of carbon dioxide were last recorded about 20 million years ago. Human overdependence on fossil fuels accounts for about three quarters of the total carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. The remaining quarter of the total carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by humans comes from poor land use and deforestation.

Despite the above mentioned facts about human contribution to global warming, the argument over whether global warming is caused by human activities or by natural processes continues. Nature has its own ways of regulating climate without the assistance of human beings. The earth’s revolution and rotations have been for a long time been identified as the two main processes that have the greatest effect on climate. Changes in the intensity of the sun also affect the cooling or warning of the world. In the ancient times, volcanic activities were the main causes of global warming (Mark Maslin, 2007). During volcanic activities, debris and harmful gases including carbon dioxide are released into the atmosphere causing alteration in atmospheric radiation balance. Recent volcanic activities have had minor climatic effects mostly resulting in global cooling as a result of reflection of the sun rays by the volcanic particles caught in the atmosphere.

Although studies show that the earth was already in a warming trend, research done by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has shown that the process has been accelerated by recent increase in the amount of carbon dioxide emitted in to the atmosphere. This rise in the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere can be traced back into the onset of the industrial revolution. For a long time, industries have been using fossil fuels to power their operations resulting in a 35% increment in the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. Industrial revolution created a ready market for farm products that were used as raw materials therefore causing an increase in demand for arable land. Consequently, People began clearing forests and other catchment areas in search of farmland resulting in increased carbon dioxide release into the atmosphere (John Theodore Houghton, 2004). Many scientists agree that although there are several natural factors that have continued to influence climate change, human activities are responsible for most of the global warming that has taken place in the last fifty years. Much of the global warming caused by humans has mainly been caused by variations in the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere. It has also been caused by changes in the amount of aerosols and poor land uses.

IPPC scientists have been able to obtain the historical documentation of the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in the last thousands and thousands of years. To do this, they carried out a study of ice cores from Antarctica and Greenland. This study was carried by assessing the constituents of the air trapped in the ice. The study revealed that the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane gas rose steadily during the industrial revolution. Several other climatic researches have confirmed that there is a strong association between increase in climatic temperatures and greenhouse gases emissions (Marcel LeRoux, 2005). A slight increment in global temperatures has a great effect on the world weather system mainly because the two are interlinked. Factors like atmospheric pressure, winds, ocean currents, reflection of the sun by ice and the presence of particles in the atmosphere can have very far-reaching effects on both the global weather and climate. The rise in temperature as s result of global warming has a lot of effects like loss of polar ice, rise in sea level, rise in tropical storms and recession in glaciers. It’s believed that about 20 % of Antarctic ice has been lost since 1979 (Mark Maslin, 2007). Unless drastic measures are taken to curb global warming, scientist are warning that we are headed for trouble where factors beyond human control will increase the rate of global warming. These factors include increased warming as a result of lack of reflection by polar ice, increased emission of carbon dioxide from permafrost due to recession of ice caps and decline of the ocean currents that bring warmth to many parts of Western Europe and North America. If nothing is done to control human activities, , scientists predict that global temperatures could rise by as much as seven degrees by the end of the 21st century.

Despite many scientists proving that global warming is real and that human activities have accelerated it in the recent past, there are opposing views that appear convincing. The opposing arguments are persuasive since they argue that global temperatures have been going down and not increasing in the recent past. They also argue that increase in the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere is as a result of global warming but not the cause. Regardless of how convincing these arguments may appear to be, IPPC scientists have been able to prove the opposite (Marcel LeRoux, 2005). Through showing the correlations between carbon dioxide and global warming by studying the constituents of the air trapped in polar ice, pro global warming scientist have established the relationship between global warming and atmospheric carbon dioxide. In conclusion, I want to state that global warming is real and this can be supported by the recent increase in natural disasters like tsunamis and tornadoes.

References

John Theodore Houghton. Global Warming: The Complete Briefing. Cambridge University Press. 2004. Print

Marcel LeRoux. Global Warming: Myth Or Reality: the Erring Ways of Climatology. Springer. 2005. Print

Mark Maslin. Global Warming: Causes, Effects, and the Future. MBI Publishing Company. 2007. Print