Global warming caused by human activities

 

Introduction

Global warming is a phenomenon associated with high rates of increase in global temperatures. This rise in temperature on a global scale has led to great implications on climate system that is affecting the world’s ability to sustain life. Records show that the temperature of the world is continuing to rise and it has been concluded that the dominant cause of the change is anthropogenic activities. The use of fossil fuels is considered as the number one cause of the high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The high levels of the gas and others create a greenhouse effect that prevents terrestrial radiation from escaping into the atmosphere and instead bounces back to the earth and cause a general rise in temperature. The effects of the rise in global temperatures have been different in different parts of the world, but some of them include, melting of large amounts of ice at the poles which have led to the rise in sea levels. The high increase in the quantity of water from the melting ice is expected to submerge most coastlines due to sea levels. It also has led to increased temperature and changes in precipitation patterns which are causing an expansion of deserts that exists within subtropics. Other impacts include extreme weather conditions in different parts of the world. Some of them include droughts, hurricanes, heat waves, floods, species extinction and other catastrophic events.

Prompt

Read and explore the sources and develop a synthesis on the relationship between human activities and global warming. Your essay has to have strong and coherent explanations of the phenomenon and its link to humans.

You need to have a stand for which you will base your argument on.

Clearly, show the connections between the assignment and the goals and objectives of the syllabus. You have to explore some of the topics we have learned throughout the course and show how assignment strengthens your understanding of the course.

You need to define some of the important terms in the assignment as well as how they are relevant to the course.

Your essay has to maintain originality. All quotations from the sources have to be backed by citations.

 

 

Source A. (Bender)

Source B. (MacMillan)

Source C. (McKibben)

Source D (Riebeek)

Source E (Image)

 

Source A. (Bender)

Bender, Morris A. "Modeled Impact of Anthropogenic Warming on the Frequency of Intense Atlantic Hurricanes." Science (2010).

Several recent models suggest that the frequency of Atlantic tropical cyclones could decrease as the climate warms. However, these models are unable to reproduce storms of category 3 or higher intensity. We explored the influence of future global warming on Atlantic hurricanes with a downscaling strategy by using an operational hurricane-prediction model that produces a realistic distribution of intense hurricane activity for present-day conditions. The model projects nearly a doubling of the frequency of category 4 and 5 storms by the end of the 21st century, despite a decrease in the overall frequency of tropical cyclones, when the downscaling is based on the ensemble mean of 18 global climate-change projections. The largest increase is projected to occur in the Western Atlantic, north of 20°N.

Source B. (MacMillan)

MacMillan, Amanda. Global Warming 101. 2016. <https://www.nrdc.org/stories/global-warming-101>.

Scientists agree that the earth’s rising temperatures are fueling longer and hotter heat waves, more frequent droughts, heavier rainfall, and more powerful hurricanes. In 2015, for example, scientists said that an ongoing drought in California—the state’s worst water shortage in 1,200 years—had been intensified by 15 percent to 20 percent by global warming. They also said the odds of similar droughts happening in the future had roughly doubled over the past century. And in 2016, the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine announced that it’s now possible to confidently attribute certain weather events, like some heat waves, directly to climate change.

The earth’s ocean temperatures are getting warmer, too—which means that tropical storms can pick up more energy. So global warming could turn, say, a category 3 storm into a more dangerous category 4 storm. In fact, scientists have found that the frequency of North Atlantic hurricanes has increased since the early 1980s, as well as the number of storms that reach categories 4 and 5. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina—the costliest hurricane in U.S. history—struck New Orleans; the second-costliest, Hurricane Sandy, hit the East Coast in 2012.

The impacts of global warming are being felt across the globe. Extreme heat waves have caused tens of thousands of deaths around the world in recent years. And in an alarming sign of events to come, Antarctica has been losing about 134 billion metric tons of ice per year since 2002. This rate could speed up if we keep burning fossil fuels at our current pace, some experts say, and causing sea levels to rise several meters over the next 50 to 150 years.

Source C. (McKibben)

McKibben, Bill. Global Warming’s Terrifying New Chemistry. 2016. <https://www.thenation.com/article/global-warming-terrifying-new-chemistry/>.

Global warming is, in the end, not about the noisy political battles here on the planet’s surface. It actually happens in constant, silent interactions in the atmosphere, where the molecular structure of certain gases traps heat that would otherwise radiate back out to space. If you get the chemistry wrong, it doesn’t matter how many landmark climate agreements you sign or how many speeches you give. And it appears the United States may have gotten the chemistry wrong. Really wrong.

 

There’s one greenhouse gas everyone knows about: carbon dioxide, which is what you get when you burn fossil fuels. We talk about a “price on carbon” or argue about a carbon tax; our leaders boast about modest “carbon reductions.” But in the last few weeks, CO2’s nasty little brother has gotten some serious press. Meet methane, otherwise known as CH4.

Source D (Riebeek)

Riebeek, H. Global Warming. 2010. <https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/GlobalWarming/page2.php>.

Earth’s temperature begins with the Sun. Roughly 30 percent of incoming sunlight is reflected back into space by bright surfaces like clouds and ice. Of the remaining 70 percent, most is absorbed by the land and ocean, and the rest is absorbed by the atmosphere. The absorbed solar energy heats our planet.

As the rocks, the air, and the seas warm, they radiate “heat” energy (thermal infrared radiation). From the surface, this energy travels into the atmosphere where much of it is absorbed by water vapor and long-lived greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane.

When they absorb the energy radiating from Earth’s surface, microscopic water or greenhouse gas molecules turn into tiny heaters— like the bricks in a fireplace, they radiate heat even after the fire goes out. They radiate in all directions. The energy that radiates back toward Earth heats both the lower atmosphere and the surface, enhancing the heating they get from direct sunlight.

This absorption and radiation of heat by the atmosphere—the natural greenhouse effect—is beneficial for life on Earth. If there were no greenhouse effect, the Earth’s average surface temperature would be a very chilly -18°C (0°F) instead of the comfortable 15°C (59°F) that it is today.

Source E (Image)

We are responsible for the increase in CO2. 2017. <http://www.ucsusa.org/our-work/global-warming/science-and-impacts/global-warming-science#.WZECLVEjHcs>.

The image above clearly shows how human activities are responsible for the release of high amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (We are responsible for the increase in CO2, 2017).

 

 

 

Works Cited

Bender, Morris A. "Modeled Impact of Anthropogenic Warming on the Frequency of Intense Atlantic Hurricanes." Science (2010).

MacMillan, Amanda. Global Warming 101. 2016. <https://www.nrdc.org/stories/global-warming-101>.

McKibben, Bill. Global Warming’s Terrifying New Chemistry. 2016. <https://www.thenation.com/article/global-warming-terrifying-new-chemistry/>.

Riebeek, H. Global Warming. 2010. <https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/GlobalWarming/page2.php>.

We are responsible for the increase in CO2. 2017. <http://www.ucsusa.org/our-work/global-warming/science-and-impacts/global-warming-science#.WZECLVEjHcs>.