What Is Global Warming?

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Carbon dioxide plays a major part of impacting the Earth s climate. Carbon dioxide traps heat form the sun. This effect is considered global warming, which is often referred to as the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect traps solar heat, like a green house for plants, which causes the solar energy from being released. Global warming or the greenhouse effect is believed to have been causing our temperatures to rise. If global warming persists, many problems will begin to occur in the coming decades.
Global warming has caused some speculation. The earth s climate has been changing for millions of years, making global warming a reality. Human activities contribute to global warming. Some of theses activities include, the burning of fossil fuels, deforestations, anything that produces methane gas, fertilizers, and other chemicals. Climate is not weather. These activities do not change the weather, but rather climate patterns across the globe.
People are conducting an inadvertent global experiment by using basic strategies that are available. One of these strategies is called abatement. Abatement means to slow or stop. This strategy helps to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide and other gases released into the Earth s atmosphere. It aims to improve energy efficiency. The main goal of this strategy is to emit other sources of energy such as solar energy and nuclear power. These other sources will help reduce the carbon dioxide that is released into the air. Another strategy being used is called adaptation. By using the strategy of adaptation, people are trying to live under the current conditions and adapt to the changing climate. The last strategy being used is the geo-engineering strategy. This means to engineer the Earth s atmosphere and oceans to reduce the amount of climate change. This strategy is relatively inexpensive and is likely to be used if there is a severe change in a climate. All three strategies can be used in help lowering the carbon dioxide being released in the air.
The twentieth century s ten warmest years all occurred within the last fifteen years. Of these years, 1998 was the hottest on record . Atmospheric disturbances brought on by the additional warming will produce more violent storms and larger death tolls. Some areas, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere, will dry out and a greater occurrence of lightning strikes will set massive forest fires. The charring of the Earth by natural and man-made forest fires will dump additional quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Changes in temperature and rainfall brought on by global warming will in turn change the composition of the forests. At the present rate of destruction, most of the rain forests will be gone by the middle of the next century.
Evaporation rates will also increase and circulation patterns will change. Decreased rainfall in some areas will result in increased rainfall in others. In some regions, the river flow will be reduced or stopped all together. Other areas will experience sudden downpours that create massive floods. The central portions of the continents, which normally experience occasional droughts, might become permanently dry wastelands. Vast areas of once productive cropland could lose topsoil and become man-made deserts. Coastal regions, where half the human population lives, will feel the adverse effects of rising sea levels as the ice caps melt under rising ocean temperatures.
Global warming will have a great impact on all people. Economically developed societies, like those in North America, Europe and Japan, could use technology to reduce severe impacts. They could develop new strategies to help crops, water systems, and costal development. Colder countries might benefit from the earth s climate heating up. It could lower their heating bills and provide longer growing seasons for crops. However, less developed countries may suffer from a severe climate change. Countries, like those in parts of Africa,
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