Human Actions and Global Warming

Human Actions and Global Warming

"Preservation of our environment is not a liberal or conservative challenge, it's common sense" (Reagan, 1984).

The Purpose of this paper is to address two questions about global warming. Is global warming due to human actions? Can the human race take action to stop global warming?

While some people believe that Global warming is a natural part of the earth's cycle, others believe that global warming is caused by human actions and the increase in greenhouse gasses caused by actions such as deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels.

An increase in the earth's average temperatures is a direct result of human actions, especially those actions from the industrial revolution. Global warming is caused by the rise in greenhouse gasses. As humans burn fossil fuels it has increased the amount of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. Mann et al. (1999) compiled the past 900 years' worth of temperature data from tree rings, ice cores, corals, and direct measurements in the past few centuries, and the sudden increase of temperature of the past century stands out like a sore thumb (Prothero, 2012). This famous graph is now known as the "hockey stick" because it is long and straight through most of its length, then bends sharply upward at the end like the blade of a hockey stick (Prothero, 2012).

Humans have also aided in global warming by destroying forests. Deforestation contributes to global warming (USA Today, 2009). Trees benefit the environment by absorbing CO2, but they return it to the atmosphere upon decaying or burning (USA Today, 2009). Nearly 40% of Earth's land surface has been converted for human use; as a result, large quantities of CO2 have been released into the atmosphere--at the same time, fewer trees are left to absorb it (USA Today, 2009).

Additionally, humans have added other greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere. Other contributors include methane released from landfills and agriculture (especially from the digestive systems of grazing animals), nitrous oxide from fertilizers, gases used for refrigeration and industrial processes, and the loss of forests that would otherwise store CO2 ("Causes of global," ). Furthermore, humans have used more fertilizers that are chemical since the 1950's. The run-off of this fertilizer has been shown to increase algae growth that would not have happened otherwise, it has also been shown to cause dead zones ion the oceans.

Global warming is a natural part of the earth's temperature cycles. The earth has gone through extreme temperature changes in the past, and they were not caused by anything that humans did. The earth has experienced several ice ages, which were a natural part of the earth's cycle.

Water vapor traps more heat than carbon dioxide. This causes a perpetual increase in the temperature. As the water vapor traps heat, the temperature rises casing more water to evaporate adding to the water vapor in the atmosphere, causing the temperature to rise more.

Increased solar activity in combination with the earth's imperfect rotation are additional causes to global warming. As the Earth spins, it does not achieve perfect rotation. It actually wobbles slightly, thus alternately exposing the northern and southern latitudes to more and less solar radiation (Jones, n.d.). This wobble in the Earth's rotation has been causing changes