McCallion
Quest

Feeling the Effects of Global Warming- Is the World Really in That Much Trouble???

By: Jackie Hamilton and Nahla Al-Sarraj 

Have you noticed how much warmer it’s become nowadays? Does the temperature, even when it’s snowing, feel warmer to you? What you’re experiencing is something the whole world is too, and it’s starting to be a large calamity. Greenhouse gases are at a record high, with Carbon Dioxide being the major one. The earth is more than 60 degrees (Fahrenheit) warmer than it should be. The “Greenhouse effect” is warming up the earth so fast, in less time than any scientist believed, and it lead instantly to global warming. Whenever people hear about global warming, four questions are frequently asked: What’s causing the earth to heat up this way? What are the effects of global warming? Will there be any future problems? How can we prevent global warming from worsening? In this study, all of these questions will be answered. 

Causes

            Many things happening currently or have been happening for long periods contribute to “Global Warming.” Here are the most significant occurrences:

-Carbon Dioxide emissions 
-Burning of fossil fuels
-Cutting of forests and trees
-Population growth 

            Global warming is mainly caused by carbon dioxide generated from Man’s burning of fossil fuels and forests which is responsible for half the greenhouse gas warming. Increases in all the gases involved in global warming are due to mankind’s explosive population growth over the last century, and increased industrial expansion. Causes of rising sea temperatures are: the melting of ice, the warming of sea water, and the shrinking of the range of sea-ice around both poles.

The levels of CO2 have been steadily increasing (about 0.4% per year) from a level of 315 parts per million in 1958 to 353 PPM in 1990, therefore it is expected that CO2 is the largest cause of Global Warming because of the link between how fast CO2 is increasing and how fast temperatures are rising. Trees are the largest land based natural mechanisms for removing CO2 from the air. An acre of forest will absorb about 10 times the CO2 absorbed by an acre of crop land or grass land. One tree absorbs about 13 pounds of CO2 per year, and one acre of forest absorbs about 2.8 tons of CO2 per year. Nearly half of the CO2 being omitted each year remains in the atmosphere, while the rest is absorbed by trees and oceans. Because of all the paper products used, many trees have to be cut down which means losing a big help in removing CO2 from the air. Also, all the CO2 contained in the trees is released into the atmosphere. If all the chemicals continue being released into the air and populations grow at this rate for even longer, the effects of global warming would be even more damaging. 

Effects

            As there are many causes of global warming, there are also many effects. Temperature rise, change in precipitation, biomass, annual runoff, crop yield, rising sea-levels, the melting of ice caps and world-wide climate changes are amongst these effects. Everyone and everything around the world has been feeling the extreme temperature rises. In the Alps, cold-loving plants are starting to move to higher ground, where there is a cooler altitude.

            Trees are the most significant tool for protecting the earth and all its organisms from Carbon Dioxide. Nevertheless, when they are burned down, the carbon dioxide that they’ve collected is released back into the atmosphere. Every day, over 5500 acres of rain forest are destroyed, and global CO2 levels rise about 0.4% each year; these are the highest levels ever experienced.

As well, temperature rises due to global warming, even if slight, make a giant impact on society. In Europe, temperatures only rose by 2 degrees Fahrenheit and largely affected its civilization, causing a famine. Another example is in May 2003, when 1,600 people died in a record heat wave in India, and 3 months later, another 35,000 died in Europe.

            Also, global warming is affecting not only humans, but animals as well. Some animals who hibernate are finishing up to 23 days earlier; this makes many of them starve as they must wait for spring food to become available. Increases in UV-B of 6-14% have been found in high/mid latitude sites in the past 20 years. For every 1% drop in ozone levels, about 1% more UV-B reaches the earth’s surface. The winter of 1999-2000, ozone loss was at 20-25%. If humans continue polluting and destroying the earth’s health, all of these effects will continue, if not, worsen. 

Future Predictions and Problems

            Scientists believe that global warming has threats upon many living things, which in the future will be placed in even harder situations. They worry that overall warming will melt glaciers and the polar ice caps, raising sea levels enough to damage many low-lying islands and cities around the world. A problem that will affect humans everywhere around the world is the threat of salt water intruding into underground fresh water reserves in coastal areas. In 1992, a report was published by the UN which proposes that if CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions continue with present trends, the coastal planes of Bangladesh and the Netherlands will flood by the year 2100. Furthermore, the islands of the Maldives would completely disappear. This would happen if only a 2 foot increase in sea levels occurred. The average global temperature is expected to rise 1.4-5.8 degrees Celsius by 2100.

            The increase is expected to occur unevenly, with higher elevations and higher latitudes in the world experiencing greater temperature changes than lower elevations and equatorial regions. Even at the lowest projected temperature increases, climate change models predict more frequent and more severe storms, floods, heat-waves, and droughts- affecting ecological biodiversity, human health and economic security. If these recent trends continue, polar bears are not likely to survive to the end of the century as melting ice shrinks their habitat and compromises their access to food.

            Global warming will increase precipitation, river run-off, melting of the Greenland ice sheet, and melting of polar sea ice, all of which will increase the amount of fresh water flowing into the critical deep-water formation areas by Greenland. In addition, a warmer climate could lead to changes in weather patterns, agriculture and even allow some diseases to expand into new areas. However, property insurers predict that worsening storms caused by global warming could eventually bankrupt the insurance industry. Warmer oceans cause more intense storms. Experts believe that global warming could increase the intensity of hurricanes by over 50%. Example: Hurricane Katrina, 2006. The costs to implement a worldwide plan to cut the production of CO2 and other gases which contribute to global warming would cost approximately 3% of the world’s total GDP (gross domestic product).

            When extreme weather occurs, it is not unusual for people to ask if it is the result of global warming. Because of this link between higher ocean temperatures and hurricanes, there is speculation that hurricanes will increase in frequency and intensity in a warmer world, with higher wind speeds and greater precipitation. The frequency of hurricanes has not increased on average over the long term. However, scientists believe that global warming will result in more intense hurricanes, as increasing sea surface temperatures provide energy for storm intensification. An MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) study published recently in Nature provides the first data analysis that tropical storms are indeed becoming more powerful over time. If we don’t stop wasting limited resources on earth, the earth won’t be able to fight the heat and neither will its population.   

Solutions

However, there are ways to prevent the concerns listed in the previous paragraph. The earth’s population cannot continue to grow so much because everyone will use the earth’s limited natural resources. To lower the levels of Carbon Dioxide, we should plant more trees and reduce timber-cuts worldwide as well as recycle more paper products. Also, we should shift to renewable energies, more proficient technology, and positive climate change policies. To prevent pollution, we should ban smoking altogether (to help humans and the environment), try to decrease the use of vehicles, cut down on the demand for electricity and try to follow the environmental policy of “reduce, reuse and recycle”.  We should reduce the need to recycle paper by getting off junk mail lists. More ways to help reduce recycling/garbage are by buying quality products that will last longer, and to use containers instead of plastic bags. To help with the economic loss from climatic changes, insurance companies are now trying to form tactical alliances and team resources. By using these solutions, we may not only be stopping global warming from getting worse, but also keep the health of the world in good condition for years to come. 

Sources Cited 

1.         Global Warming: 12-16, Site: http://www.defra.gov.uk/Environment/climatechange/schools/12-16/xtrainfo/e.htm Visited: March 2006 

2.         The Effects of Global Warming, Site: http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1848/global.html

Visited: March 2006 

3.         Google Search Engine/ Images, Site: http://www.google.ca/images.html

Visited: March 2006 

4.         Science Museum of The National Academy of  Sciences

http://www.koshlandscience.org/exhibitgcc/index.jsp

  Visited: April 2006

5.         Atmosphere

        http://bicyclair.free.fr/atmosphere.php

              Visited: April 2006