Matthew Duke
Prof. Deepika Maharaj
Engl 1301
April 5 2015
Global Climate Change Many researchers, scientists, and environmentalists are expressing concerns about changes in the overall climate of the earth. Global warming has altered our planet and its effects are catching up. Every year, almost 9 billion tons of carbon dioxide and methane is released into the atmosphere resulting in a significant temperature increase. This slight increase has disrupted our planets climate. Causing issues like sea level rise, record breaking temperatures, and natural disasters. As humans we all have our own opinions, but the problem of global warming should not be debated, it should be solved. One repercussion of global warming is sea level rise. From April 2011 to January 2015 the sea level has risen 25.73 mm, that’s just over an inch. Sea level rise is caused primarily by two factors related to global warming: the added water coming from the melting of land ice and the expansion of sea water as it warms. In the last few years Greenland has hit its highest recorded temperature and experienced its first full surface melt. Greenland contains about 21 feet of global sea level. This means when all of Greenland’s ice melts 80 of the world’s 100 biggest cities will be under water. Every year Greenland loses over 140billion tons of ice which is responsible for a significant amount of sea level rise. In 2007 it was projected that global sea level would rise .6m (1.9ft) by 2100. Why are surface temps increasing? Sunlight passes through the atmosphere and warms the earth’s surface. Our atmosphere consists of many gases. Some of these gases, such as carbon dioxide and water vapor, naturally absorb long-wave radiation that is emitted from the earth's surface. Short-wave solar radiation enters the earth's atmosphere and is absorbed by the earth's surface. This radiation is then recycled and emitted as long wave radiation. Gases such as water vapor and carbon dioxide absorb this radiation, hold it in the atmosphere, and keep the temperature of the earth warmer than it would otherwise be if there wasn't an atmosphere. This is what meteorologists refer to as the "natural greenhouse effect". Some examples of these gasses are Carbon dioxide, Methane, and Nitrous oxide. There has been an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels from 280 parts per million to 379 parts per million in the last 150 years. It is estimated that in 2050 the carbon dioxide count will be 600 ppm. This is at the point in which the global temperature would be "higher than it has ever been and will cause serious problems unlike the warning signs we are experiencing currently” (Shane smith VBS). The reason we exist on this planet is because the earth naturally traps just enough heat in the atmosphere to keep the temperature within a very narrow range – this creates the conditions that give us breathable air, clean water, and the weather we depend on to survive. Human beings have begun to tip that balance. We’ve overloaded the atmosphere with heat-trapping gasses from our cars and factories and power plants. If we don’t start fixing the problem now, we’re in for devastating changes to our environment. We will experience extreme temperatures, rises in sea levels, and storms of unimaginable destructive fury. Recently, alarming events that are consistent with scientific predictions about the effects of climate change have become more and more commonplace. In 2013 the IPCC projected the rise to be over one degree Celsius. Surface temperatures on earth are continuing to rise with the 20 warmest years having occurred since 1981 and with all ten of the warmest years occurring in the past 12 years with 2014 ranking as the hottest ever. Today’s calculations show there is an Annual increase of point six eight degrees Celsius. This steady increase in temperature has caused inconsistent and devastating weather patterns. The green house effect has already had observable effects on the
