Turn up the Heat

Physical Geography

Turn Up The Heat

For decades and decades, human factories and cars have discharged billions of tons of artificial greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and the climate has begun to show many signs of global warming. On the other hand, some people want you to believe that global warming does not exist. There are many people are only out for personal gain and are outright liars. According to a scientist at NASA ÐŽoGlobal warming is the single largest threat to our planetÐŽ±(Weier2002). Over the past two hundred years we seen significant changes in the effects on our environment, primarily due to humans and both their lack of awareness, or their total disregard for the effects that their actions have on the environment.

Global warming is one of our toughest environmental challenges. It threatens the health of people, wildlife and economies around the world. The problem is carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping pollution. This pollution mainly comes from cars, power plants and other industrial sources that burn gasoline, coal and other fossil fuels. This matter collects like a blanket in our atmosphere. As a result, the planet gets warmer.

We can say that the amount of radiation from the sun that reaches the earth each year has been fairly consistent from year to year and century to century until recently. Thirty percent of the total solar energy that strikes the earth is reflected back into space by clouds, atmospheric aerosols, reflective ground surfaces, and even ocean surf. Seventy percent of the solar energy is absorbed by the land, air and oceans. ÐŽoThe absorbed light is mostly in the form ultraviolet and near infrared solar radiationÐŽ±(Weier2002). Absorption of this solar energy makes life on this planet possible. The energy does not stay bound up forever. If it did our planet would wind up being hotter than the sun. Instead, when the rocks, air, and sea heat up, they give off thermal radiation, which escapes into space and allows it to cool down. This radiation is invisible to our eyes, but our hands can feel it radiating from a fire or a car engine.

What we should be worried about now is that over the past 250 years, we have been artificially raising the concentration of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. Factories, power plants, and cars, burn coal and gasoline and spit out a seemingly endless stream of carbon dioxide. Power plants are the largest contributors to global warming. Every year they produce approximately 2.5 billion tons of pollution. The second leading cause of this pollution is automobiles, which pumps approximately 1.4 billion tons of pollution into the atmosphere each year. In addition to these, we as a human race produce millions of pounds of methane by allowing our trash to rot in landfills and by breeding ÐŽomethane-belching cattleÐŽ± (Weier2002). Nitrogen-based fertilizers, which we use on almost all of our crops, release unnatural amounts of nitrogen oxide into the atmosphere. The increased concentrations of greenhouse gases have prevented additional thermal radiation from leaving the Earth. Therefore, these gases are trapping excess heat in the EarthЎЇs atmosphere. Once these gases get into our atmosphere they are trapped for decades or even longer. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), global warming and the industrial revolution go hand in hand. According to the IPCC, based on studies they have done on fossils and ices cores, theses two gases are at the highest levels now, based on a period of 420,000 years. Overall they have found that ÐŽosince the industrial revolution, methane levels have increased by 151% and carbon dioxide levels have increased by 31%ÐŽ± (Weier2002).

Power plants, the leading cause of global warming, are in neighborhoods throughout the country. If people were aware of all of the potential dangers that these caused, they would probably want to move. Some of these health risks include, but are not limited to the following:

1.) Premature Death ~ Sulfur dioxide is the primary component of fine particles that can be inhaled and is linked to respiratory disease and premature death of approximately 30,000 Americans each year. (NRDC2003)

2.) Asthma~ Nitrogen oxides are major ingredients in ozone pollution. ÐŽoIn 1997, smog triggered 6 million asthma attacks and sent 160,000 people to the emergency roomÐŽ±(NRDC2003). of which approximately 1/3 were children

3.) Mercury contamination~ Mercury primarily settles in water, where it is ingested by fish. The results of this contamination include, neurological disease, birth defects and an impairment of developmental skills. (NRDC2003)

4.) Acid rain~ Oxides from power plants form in our atmosphere and appear in a form of rain, fog and snow. This precipitation damages forests and kills fish. This rain is so powerful that it has the capability of destroying cars and buildings. (NRDC2003)

One of the many risks for this continuing issue is that the atmosphere will continue to have dramatic changes. ÐŽoConcentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide will undoubtedly rise in the next 50 yearsÐŽ± (Balling2000). As many have noticed, the weather has become unpredictable, even for the experts. The effect on the mid-latitude and high-latitude areas, which includes areas such as the United States and Canada, is that temperatures will continue to climb. Global warming will set the stage for more mild winters and much warmer summers. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC2003), the three hottest years on record have all occurred since 1998. In addition, the storms that we receive will become not only bigger, but also wetter, as evidenced throughout this past winter. Scientists at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, which is a division of NASA that has taken the lead on issues related to the climate, has said that ÐŽoin the next fifty years, they anticipate that temperatures could increase upwards to 1ўЄCÐŽ± (Tennessean2004). This correlates to approximately a thirty-degree increase. The outcome of this is a threat on our animal and plant life, as well as increased risks of heat exhaustion and strokes, especially for the young and the old.

This increase is not only a problem for those of us in more well established countries, but can also raise issues to those in third-world countries. The biggest threat to these countries is that they do not have the funds necessary to address such issues. As the climate continues to change, they will be unable to keep. The issues that arise from weather spark far harsher consequences in these countries. The heat and rain will cause an already strained economy to become barren. In addition to the onset of diseases mentioned above,

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