Global Warming Debate

In the controversy over whether Global Warming there is two sides in which people can choose either human caused or just Mother Nature doing her thing. Most scientists will tell you that Global Warming is mostly the cause of humans. While there are some who will disagree and say that it is just nature doing what it has done for thousands of years. For most scientists the topic of global warming is one that is caused by us humans. They have many facts data to back this up. Some examples of these facts and data are the change in CO2 levels in the atmosphere, the rapid increase in temperature, stronger storms such as hurricanes, melting ice caps, decrease in permafrost, and the Larsen A & B ice shelves. These are some of the biggest points that help scientists show the damaging effects that Global Warming has on our climate. Between the years 1973 and 1999 the amount of CO2 has steadily been increasing from about 325ppm to about 360-375ppm and is still increasing today. This is one of the leading causes of Global Warming. The rise in CO2 directly correlates with rise in temperature. This is because CO2 is a greenhouse gas and, greenhouse gasses trap in some of the heat from the sun, and with more greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere the more heat that gets trapped therefore increases the temperature of Earth’s surface. Another example that leads scientists to believe that Global Warming is a human caused event is the melting/ disappearing of the Larsen A & B ice shelves. In January of 1995 the Larsen A ice shelf had completely disintegrated. And in February of 2002 the Larsen B ice shelf that was the size that could be compared to the state of Rhode Island had disintegrated in 1 season. This is concerning because while polar ice does melt it normally never melts that rapidly in that short amount of time. Another comparable instance of the melting ice caps is that of Greenland’s polar ice cap. Greenland’s ice cap is gradually receding at an alarming rate. From