Argumentative Essay About Melting Glacierss

Global warming is a threat to humanity. As an international student from Singapore, I am alarmed about the catastrophic consequences of climate change. It is already happening in our lives. Rising sea levels caused by the melting glaciers poses a direct threat to my home. Island nations and coastal cities will suffer the inevitable if we do not act now. In six degrees, Mark Lynas warned the impending arctic tipping point, once passed, the melting of the glaciers cannot be reversed, leading to a loss of habitable environment. However, I believe that the situation is worse than what Lynas anticipated.

Despite some efforts from the international to curb the increasing carbon emissions, glaciers are melting faster than ever. These melting glaciers result in far more dire consequences than just rising sea levels. On top of losing habitable land on coastal areas, the loss of permafrost ice layers release massive amounts of methane gas, further amplifying the greenhouse effect. This creates a positive feedback loop bringing Earth’s temperature up and over the tipping point faster than original projections. There is overwhelming evidence to suggest that, once
we reach the tipping point, the positive feedback loop cannot be reversed. In a detailed analysis of scientific evidence, my research suggests that the arctic tipping point is imminent and the potential threat of melting glaciers stretch beyond just rising sea levels.

My research paper will focus on the developing scientific evidence behind the arctic tipping point after its introduction in Lyna’s book in 2007, and examine possible solutions.
It will be written in a scholarly but not esoteric fashion directed to the general public and members of the academia alike. I will include scholarly articles for scientific evidence and media mediums for popular opinion. The first supporting scientific source is a research paper on Arctic Climate Tipping points by Dr. Timothy M. Lenton, climate change professor at university of exeter. He provides a credible analysis of the approaching arctic tipping point by using quantitative analysis of declining arctic ice sheet from 2000 to the present. His models suggests that the decline of ice sheets further accelerated effects of global
warming.

Another article by Dr. Oran R. Young, offers a highly interesting analysis from the perspective of governance, analysing the damage caused by global warming and identifying the limitations of government in attempts to come into agreements. On top of that, I have come to include a book Arctic voices: Resistance at the tipping point, offering local Alaskan perspectives of climate change in their daily lives.

Next, I have also identified alarming popular media information. A blog published by Christian Science Monitor in September 2009 already suggests that “we are beyond recovery in the arctic”. The blog includes highly credible sources from the federal scientists and Penn State University. On an op-ed section in the New York times, L. Friedman offers public opinion that the highly politicized nature of the problem makes any changes to tackle climate change very difficult. The most striking popular media source, an article from Slatest, on rising sea levels, states that ice glaciers are due to melt 10 time faster than previous estimates. The discovery of these alarming facts shocked me as a reader.

The ultimate goal of my research is to give admonition and urge peoples around the world to work together and tackle the greatest threat of our century. I will continue my research and look at the efforts of other Nations such as my hometown Singapore in the fight against climate change. Like wine in the glass, once tipped over, humanity will have cannot reverse the effects of climate change. The chance of survival is slim in an entirely new planet with extreme climate conditions.