Environmental Studies - Global Warming Research Paper

Environmental Studies - Global Warming - Research Paper Example However, the aspect that cannot be disputed is that these human induced advancements, inventions and discoveries are happening at the cost of earth’s environment. Yes, technological advancements and industrial revolution, initiated by the men, have led to an increase in emission of greenhouse gases, burning of fossil fuels and that eventually led to global warming. Global Warming refers to rise in earth’s temperature due to the emission of green house gases, deforestation and burning of fossil fuels. It is no doubt that Earth is warming faster than ever before in history. The increasing temperature is, however, thought to come about because of the various human activities. However, at the same time, there is a view that global warming is a naturally occurring phenomenon, and the human activities in quest of development and comfort do not contribute to it. Thus, this paper even while discussing whether global warming is due to human actions or whether they do not contrib ute maximally to it, will take a concluding stance that it is human-induced. Background Earth’s temperatures depend on the balance between input of the sun and terrestrial radiation or its loss back into the atmosphere. There are gases that are critical when it comes to the balance of that temperature. This group of gases has a common name: greenhouse gases. Energy from the sun is in the form of shortwave radiation. Approximately, a third of the solar radiation that hits earth’s surface gets reflected back into the atmosphere. The remaining radiation is absorbed mainly by land and oceans. This, therefore, results into an increase in the warming of the earth’s surface. The surface subsequently emits long-wave radiation. At this point, if there are greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the radiation is trapped, thereby, warming the atmosphere. The gases form a blanket on earth thus increasing the temperatures by 35 degrees (Theodore, 2004). Role of human induced Gre enhouse gases in global warming Scientists believe that human activities have a direct impact on the increased levels of greenhouse gases on the earth surface. Global warming occurs because of the massive greenhouse gases, for instance, carbon dioxide and methane. Human activities are the main cause of the increase in green house gases. Global warming is characterized by rise in sea levels, melting of glaciers and ice caps, change in climatic conditions and rainfall patterns, etc. For the last 20 million years, research has it that burning of fuels has tremendously given rise to high carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere. A recent report by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shows that there is a vivid evidence for 0.6 degrees Celsius increase in global temperatures and about 20cm rise in the general sea level. In addition, sea ice thickness in Arctic Ocean has gone down by approximately 40% (Theodore, 2004). Mountains, on the other hand, are also recording the fastest ever experienced glacier melting rate. In North Atlantic region, there has been a constant rise in storm activities, drought, and floods. Prediction made by IPCC suggests that by 2100, there shall be arise in global temperatures by 5.4 degrees Celsius (Theodore, 2004). Generation of Greenhouse Gases has increased due to Human activities A simple way to prove Global Warming is happening and real is to refer to the earth’s temperature database of the previous years and compare the same with the current