Our Only World ™ ©2006
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Stop Global Warming !!!!
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23 years old
NEW YORK
United States
Last Login: 3/8/2009
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| Status: | In a Relationship | | Zodiac Sign: | Scorpio | | Children: | Someday | | Education: | High school |
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About me:
What is Global Warming?
Simply put, human activities that create pollution are raising the Earth's temperature. Since 1980, we have experienced 19 of the 20 warmest years on record; all three of the hottest years ever recorded have taken place since 1998.
Ten Real Facts About Global Warming:
The Earth today is warming at a rate faster than in any time in the last 1,000 years.
Global warming has been particularly strong over the past 20 years.
In the United States, electricity generation accounts for 33 percent of total global warming emissions, transportation activities for 27 percent, and industrial activities for 19 percent.
Temperatures are predicted to rise another 2.5 to 10.4 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century.
The sea level across the globe has climbed between four and 10 inches in the past century.
North Pole arctic sea ice has shrunk almost 40 percent in recent decades, attributable in part to global warming.
If the West Antarctic ice sheet were to melt, sea levels could rise by another 16 to 30 feet, flooding coastal regions in places like Florida and Louisiana.
Droughts could become more frequent, putting central and western agricultural areas in the United States at risk.
El Nino events, which can lead to significant damage, could become more frequent and severe.
Tropical diseases could expand their range into areas further north, including the southern United States.
Effects of Global Warming
The impacts of gradual climate change are predicted to be serious and widespread more violent weather, shifting patterns of rainfall and drought, the spread of tropical diseases like malaria, and rapid increasing extinctions of plant and animal species.
The impacts of abrupt climate change would be even more frightening. Sharp temperature increases like we have seen in the last decade may cause the worlds climate systems to shift into a different state altogether. The melting of the Greenland ice sheet, for example, would cause a rise in sea levels measured in feet, not inches. Click here to learn more about abrupt climate change and its relationship to global warming. Browse through the links to More Resources below to learn more about the possible effects of global warming.
Causes of Global Warming
Naturally occurring carbon dioxide (CO2) surrounds the planet like a blanket, keeping in the suns heat and making life on earth possible. But by burning fossil fuels (oil, gas, and coal) we are pumping unnatural amounts of CO2 into the air, trapping heat in the atmosphere and altering its natural balance. Like an extra blanket on a summer night, this is causing the planet to overheat. In the past century, weve raised levels of heat-trapping pollution in our atmosphere by 30 percent.
The primary sources of this carbon dioxide pollution are power plants -- especially coal-fired ones -- and other industrial sources that burn gasoline, coal and other fossil fuels. In the U.S., power plants account for 36 percent of all CO2 emissions. Cars, sport-utility vehicles and other light trucks account for another 20 percent. Every year, one-fifth of humankind's annual emissions of carbon dioxide can be traced to the destructive logging of forests.
Although carbon dioxide produced by burning oil and coal is the primary culprit, a number of other chemicals produced by humans contribute to global warming, as well. They include: methane (agriculture and burning natural gas), ozone (car exhaust and power plants), water vapor (naturally occurring), nitrous oxide (fertilizer use) and chlorofluorocarbons (refrigerants and aerosol).
Climate:
An Introduction
According to the National Academy of Sciences, the Earth's surface temperature has risen by about 1 degree Fahrenheit in the past century, with accelerated warming during the past two decades. There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities. Human activities have altered the chemical composition of the atmosphere through the buildup of greenhouse gases primarily carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. The heat-trapping property of these gases is undisputed although uncertainties exist about exactly how earths climate responds to them. Go to the Emissions section for much more on greenhouse gases.
Our Changing Atmosphere
Energy from the sun drives the earths weather and climate, and heats the earths surface; in turn, the earth radiates energy back into space. Atmospheric greenhouse gases (water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other gases) trap some of the outgoing energy, retaining heat somewhat like the glass panels of a greenhouse.
Without this natural greenhouse effect, temperatures would be much lower than they are now, and life as known today would not be possible. Instead, thanks to greenhouse gases, the earths average temperature is a more hospitable 60°F. However, problems may arise when the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases increases.
Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide have increased nearly 30%, methane concentrations have more than doubled, and nitrous oxide concentrations have risen by about 15%. These increases have enhanced the heat-trapping capability of the earths atmosphere. Sulfate aerosols, a common air pollutant, cool the atmosphere by reflecting light back into space; however, sulfates are short-lived in the atmosphere and vary regionally.
Why are greenhouse gas concentrations increasing? Scientists generally believe that the combustion of fossil fuels and other human activities are the primary reason for the increased concentration of carbon dioxide. Plant respiration and the decomposition of organic matter release more than 10 times the CO2 released by human activities; but these releases have generally been in balance during the centuries leading up to the industrial revolution with carbon dioxide absorbed by terrestrial vegetation and the oceans.
What has changed in the last few hundred years is the additional release of carbon dioxide by human activities. Fossil fuels burned to run cars and trucks, heat homes and businesses, and power factories are responsible for about 98% of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, 24% of methane emissions, and 18% of nitrous oxide emissions. Increased agriculture, deforestation, landfills, industrial production, and mining also contribute a significant share of emissions. In 1997, the United States emitted about one-fifth of total global greenhouse gases.
Estimating future emissions is difficult, because it depends on demographic, economic, technological, policy, and institutional developments. Several emissions scenarios have been developed based on differing projections of these underlying factors. For example, by 2100, in the absence of emissions control policies, carbon dioxide concentrations are projected to be 30-150% higher than todays levels.
Changing Climate
Global mean surface temperatures have increased 0.5-1.0°F since the late 19th century. The 20th century's 10 warmest years all occurred in the last 15 years of the century. Of these, 1998 was the warmest year on record. The snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere and floating ice in the Arctic Ocean have decreased. Globally, sea level has risen 4-8 inches over the past century. Worldwide precipitation over land has increased by about one percent. The frequency of extreme rainfall events has increased throughout much of the United States.
Increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases are likely to accelerate the rate of climate change. Scientists expect that the average global surface temperature could rise 1-4.5°F (0.6-2.5°C) in the next fifty years, and 2.2-10°F (1.4-5.8°C) in the next century, with significant regional variation. Evaporation will increase as the climate warms, which will increase average global precipitation. Soil moisture is likely to decline in many regions, and intense rainstorms are likely to become more frequent. Sea level is likely to rise two feet along most of the U.S. coast.
Calculations of climate change for specific areas are much less reliable than global ones, and it is unclear whether regional climate will become more variable.
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