Global Warming

The phrase “global warming” is one that gets used repeatedly by a lot of people. It slips in and out of conversations, but it seems to be the kind of issue that people imagine will just go away on its own. As a result, the problems resulting from global warming are becoming alarmingly more grave.

Global warming is not a new issue. The beginning of the Industrial Revolution brought many new inventions to simplify and make our lives easier. Such inventions included cars, household appliances, and plants that burn solid waste, fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas, and coal (epa.gov). Before the Industrial Revolution, humans caused very few gases to be released into the atmosphere, but now scientists say, through the burning of fossil fuels, a large population growth, and deforestation, humans are affecting the mixture of gases in the atmosphere (World Book 8; 232). This mixture of gases in the atmosphere is causing the worldwide problem known as global warming.

The Earth has a natural “greenhouse effect” which is caused by energy from the sun controlling the Earth’s weather and climate, and heating the Earth’s surface. In response to the sun, the Earth radiates energy back into space (Curtis 159). Atmospheric greenhouse gases such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other gases trap the energy, leaving the Earth and retaining it as heat, much like the glass of a greenhouse. This is a natural and necessary effect. Without it, temperatures on Earth would be much lower than they are now and life as it is today would not be possible. Thus, with the greenhouse

effect, the Earth’s average temperature is a more comfortable and life-supporting 60 degrees Fahrenheit (World Book 8; 232).

The problems that have arisen with the greenhouse effect have occurred due to the increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases. Data collected over the last one hundred years, shows that the average land surface temperature has risen between .8 and one degree Fahrenheit. Precipitation has increased around one percent over the