Enviornmental Issue; Global Warming

Global warming is called the greenhouse effect because the gases that are gathering above the earth make the planet comparable to a greenhouse. By trapping heat near the surface of the earth, the greenhouse effect is warming the planet and threatening the environment. Many scientists criticized Mr. Hansen's report, and the debate over global warming continues today. Current fears stem largely from the fact that global warming is occurring at such a rapid pace. Models are predicting that over the next century, the global temperature will rise by several degrees.Some scientists still do not think that the effects of global warming are as severe as some people say. They think that droughts, hurricanes, and floods often blamed on global warming might actually have other causes. One major difficulty in studying global warming is the fact that weather data only exists for the last century and a half. As a result, understanding the present and predicting the future are very difficult.The threat of global warming is among the most important of all modern environmental problems. There are a variety of ways of dealing with it, each attempting to combat one of the many causes of global warming. The problems that cause global warming include overpopulation, deforestation, ozone depletion, garbage dumping, and many others. These all have unique solutions which are now being promoted by environmentalists. Certain laws and treaties are aimed at reducing the emission of pollutants that result in global warming. In 1988, the International Conference on the Changing Atmosphere drew scientists and decision makers from 48 countries. Some policies could successfully reduce global warming. Raising fossil fuel prices, taxing emissions, and encouraging people to take environmentally friendly action through such activities as planting trees will all help. Because many problems leading to global warming are caused or contributed to by overpopulation, people are beginning to work to reduce family sizes. Family planning services actually help in the fight against global warming. Education is a key method of reducing the greenhouse effect. By teaching people about such things as deforestation, environmental activists hope to prevent the problems that ultimately lead to global warming.Widespread media attention to the global warming problem is also increasing awareness. This is causing both individuals and governments to act more responsibly towards the environment.Global warming has a variety of causes. One of the largest factors contributing to global warming is the general problem of overpopulation and its many effects. The greater number of people consume more items which take more energy to make, they drive more cars, and create larger amounts of garbage. These factors all increase the global warming problem.Many different gases can increase the planet's temperature. The number of different products and human activities that contribute to global warming are so numerous that finding solutions to the problem is very difficult. Using a refrigerator releases dangerous gases, turning on the lights requires energy from a power plant, and driving to work causes gas emissions from the car. Countless other normal activities lead to global warming. Though having an atmosphere is important, the greenhouse effect may be making it excessively thick. The levels of gases covering the Earth have soared with industrialization, and developed countries now produce about 75% of greenhouse gases. The most common gas is carbon dioxide, accounting for about 50% of all greenhouse gases. Other gases, including methane, CFCs, nitrogen oxides, and ozone, also contribute to forming the greenhouse layer. Because these gases are produced by so many important and common processes, limiting their production to prevent global warming will be difficult. As population increases and Third World countries begin to use greater amounts of energy, the problem may expand rather than contract.To know just what the effects of global warming will be in the future is extremely difficult, if not impossible. Scientists use computer models to study the effects of global warming. These computer models have been fairly consistent in predicting general future trends, but often differ greatly when looking at the specifics.Some scientists say global warming has already been going on for a while. Others say that we do not have enough information now to know for sure. Despite the disagreements, most scientists are convinced that greenhouse gases are warming the Earth. What they are still trying to figure out is how quickly temperatures are rising, and what will happen as a result. The climate changes that will result from global warming are extremely difficult to predict. The weather is determined by so many factors that it is often compared to chaos by scientists. Changing the temperature will likely have some effect on the planet's weather, but just what that effect will be is nearly impossible to predict. If temperatures do indeed rise significantly, the most important result would be that some portion of the polar icecaps would melt, raising global sea levels. The rise in sea levels would be disastrous for some places. Islands would disappear, meaning their millions of inhabitants would have to relocate. Flooding would occur along coastlines all over the world, displacing more people and ruining cropland. In the case of major global warming and melted ice caps, some countries might simply cease to exist. Global warming, if uncontrolled, could cause a major catastrophe.