Global Warming, Man Made, or the Earths Natural Cycle
David Marr
Professor Linda Day
Engl. 1-A Research Paper
April 27, 2010
Global Warming:
Man made, or the Earth’s Natural Cycle?
Breaking news: On April 21st, 2010, Eyjafjailajokull volcano in Iceland erupted, and has continued to be active for the last four days. (ABC News) Since the first of the year 2010, there have been approximately twenty volcano eruptions or volcanic activity all over the world. (Rajai’s) Pretty alarming when you think about it, so why the increase in these natural occurring events? Alarmist would have you believe that a lot of the increase in global events like hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, severe weather conditions, and droughts are due to global warming. The facts: Volcano activity actually helps cool the earth. According to Walker, and King, “when volcanoes erupt they shot vast quantities of ash that contain huge amounts of aerosols into the air far above the weather systems. This ash and droplets of sulfate put out by volcanoes can sometimes live long enough to cause significant cooling of the Earth. (21) “Such was the case in 1991, when Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted with dramatic effect, it spurted a huge amount of aerosols twenty miles into the air. These aerosols where so high that over the next eighteen months they spread around the world and the global temperatures cooled by about 0.9 degrees F.” (Walker, King) I have mentioned volcanoes are natural occurring events that help cool the Earth. Yet you have a lot of people that seem to think that the Earth is warming, and many believe humans are the cause of it. Since global warming has become such a hot topic, the debate or controversy is whether global warming is real and if so, is humanity responsible or is it the Earth’s natural cycle? So let’s examine these two questions. What is global warming, and what causes global warming?
The Answers: Revkin states, “Global warming is the warming that happens when certain gases in the Earth’s atmosphere
Professor Linda Day
Engl. 1-A Research Paper
April 27, 2010
Global Warming:
Man made, or the Earth’s Natural Cycle?
Breaking news: On April 21st, 2010, Eyjafjailajokull volcano in Iceland erupted, and has continued to be active for the last four days. (ABC News) Since the first of the year 2010, there have been approximately twenty volcano eruptions or volcanic activity all over the world. (Rajai’s) Pretty alarming when you think about it, so why the increase in these natural occurring events? Alarmist would have you believe that a lot of the increase in global events like hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, severe weather conditions, and droughts are due to global warming. The facts: Volcano activity actually helps cool the earth. According to Walker, and King, “when volcanoes erupt they shot vast quantities of ash that contain huge amounts of aerosols into the air far above the weather systems. This ash and droplets of sulfate put out by volcanoes can sometimes live long enough to cause significant cooling of the Earth. (21) “Such was the case in 1991, when Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted with dramatic effect, it spurted a huge amount of aerosols twenty miles into the air. These aerosols where so high that over the next eighteen months they spread around the world and the global temperatures cooled by about 0.9 degrees F.” (Walker, King) I have mentioned volcanoes are natural occurring events that help cool the Earth. Yet you have a lot of people that seem to think that the Earth is warming, and many believe humans are the cause of it. Since global warming has become such a hot topic, the debate or controversy is whether global warming is real and if so, is humanity responsible or is it the Earth’s natural cycle? So let’s examine these two questions. What is global warming, and what causes global warming?
The Answers: Revkin states, “Global warming is the warming that happens when certain gases in the Earth’s atmosphere
Cited: McCaffrey, Paul. “The Reference Shelf.” Global Climate Change Ed. Paul McCaffrey, New York: H.W.Wilson. 2006. 6-20 Print. Revkin, Andrew. “Global Warming, Understanding the Forecast.” Ed. Susan Costello. New York: Abbeville Press. 1992. 60-70 Print Walker, Gabrielle