Is Global Warming Real?

Is Global Warming real?

The term global warming does not have a universal definition. It is a term used by many governments, organisations and companies to describe the rise in the average temperature on Earth’s surface. Deborah White says ‘Global warming refers to the increased temperature of Earth’s surface, including land, water and near-surface air’. The atmosphere is made up of various gases, some of these gases are called greenhouse gases. These natural gasses do not cause concern, however, scientists believe that extra greenhouse gasses, that are man-made by burning fossil fuel, is heating up the Earth causing global warming. Scientists believe this is causing glaciers to melt, leading sea levels to rise. Wildlife is struggling to keep up with the rapid climate change and weather conditions are becoming more severe. This is why global warming is also referred to as ‘climate change’. There is predicted to be less rainfall leading to water shortages and crop failures, certain species of animals and plants becoming extinct and the spread of disease due to insects migrating to warming countries to name just a few effects of global warming.

Greenhouse gases trap the suns heat and light in Earth’s atmosphere which raises the temperature on Earth, this is called ‘the greenhouse effect’. Greenhouse gasses include Carbon Dioxide, water vapour, Nitrous Oxide and Methane which absorb and release thermal infrared radiation leading to the increase in Earth’s temperatures. Greenhouse gasses are needed to support life as we know it. Without these natural gasses heat would escape into Space, they are what keep heat near Earth’s surface. According to The National Geographic [online] ‘This greenhouse effect is what keeps the Earth 's climate livable. Without it, the Earth 's surface would be an average of about 60 degrees Fahrenheit cooler’. The principal cause of global warming is thought to be the burning of fossil fuels such as oil and coal which releases CO2 into the atmosphere. Another major cause is thought to be deforestation. When deforestation takes place the carbon held by the trees and soil is released into the atmosphere adding to the greenhouse gases. Deforestation is described as the second leading contributor for carbon emissions globally (Climate Change: Our Priority). Pollution occurs when vehicles burn fossil fuels such as petrol and diesel to produce their power, when burnt these fuels will also be released into the Earth’s atmosphere.

Scientists have reason to believe that heat waves are becoming more frequent, cold snaps are shorter, glaciers are melting, and climate changes could see animal and plant species becoming extinct. With less rainfall crops could fail. If sea levels keep rising land will be covered leading to whole populations needing to be moved to other land. The NOAA produced a graph which shows the atmospheric samples contained in ice cones and more recent direct measurements that provides evidence that atmospheric CO2 has increased since the Industrial Revolution in the 1800’s .The IPCC have also detected decreases in snow and ice cover that are consistent with the warming of the atmosphere, they also state that using satellite data Artic sea ice has minimised every decade since 1978.

In 1997 the Kyoto Protocol emerged from the UN framework convention on climate change. This agreement was the first legally binding framework on the environment. Its main purpose was for every country that had signed up to reduce their emissions of man-made greenhouse gases. These countries were given a limit of the amount of greenhouse gases they could produce.
The question surrounding this agreement was will it work? (Brown, 2005) said ‘The fact is that, even if all the planned reductions are achieved, the amount that CO2 emissions will be reduced will be tiny compared with that needed’ According to the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency ‘…the United States and China- churned out more than enough extra greenhouse gas to erase all the reductions made by other countries during the Kyoto period. Worldwide, emissions soared by nearly 40% from 1990-2009’.
Due to the above opinions I am also of the view that this agreement does not work, more needs to be done to reach the levels of reduction apparently needed!

Many people and researching scientists do not believe that the manmade gasses are the cause of global warming, this has lead of confusion, this and its predicted impacts on countries worldwide by the opposition have led global warming to be a very hot topic! Some scientists feel we do not have enough long-term climate data and what we do have is not clear enough to come to any conclusions. Another argument according to The BBC is ‘Since 1988-almost a decade-the record, as determined by observations from satellites and balloon radiosondes, shows no warming’. The majority of long-term data comes from weather stations in urban areas, sceptics believe these stations see temperature raises due to the ‘urban heat island effect’. The Earth has been warmer in past history and has always cooled again so sceptics ask why this can’t be the case again? Computer models that predict Earth’s future are said to be unreliable. Evidence also shows the Northern Hemisphere is warming and the Southern Hemisphere has cooled down. Sceptics argue this is a hemispheric change and not a global one. A petition was signed by many scientists and members of the public to reject the Kyoto Protocol. Frederick Seitz wrote a cover letter endorsing the petition signed by over 31,000 people, he wrote ‘Research data on climate change do not show that human use of hydrocarbons is harmful. To the contrary, there is good evidence that increased atmospheric carbon dioxide is environmentally helpful’.

We know that global warming occurs naturally and is very real however, the debate between scientists is if man-made emissions are the cause. From research I agree with the majority and feel that we are the cause and this is why the Kyoto Protocol was set up. The scientists that disagree have played a huge part in damaging the actions countries were taking to reduce their greenhouse emissions. With the evidence produced by the IPCC and NASA on the rise in CO2 and Earth’s temperature the Kyoto Protocol has not done enough and countries worldwide need to take serious actions to reduce their emissions before it is too late.

References

About.com. US Liberal Politics, [online] Available at: http://usliberals.about.com/od/environmentalconcerns/a/GlobalWarm1.htm [Accessed 23rd August 2012].

National Geographic ,[online] Available at: http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/gw-overview/ [Accessed 23rd August 2012].

Climate change: Our priority, [online] (updated May 3rd 2012) Available at: http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/gw-overview/ [Accessed August 24th2012].

NASA, Global Climate Change, [online] Available at: http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence [Accessed 24TH August 2012]

IPPC. Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report ,[online] Available at: http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/syr/en/spms1.html [Accessed 24th August]

The Guardian, [online] (last updated 11.18 GMT, 16th February 2009) Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2005/feb/03/research.highereducation1 [Accessed 22nd August 2012]

The Guardian, [online] (last updated 10.45 GMT, 11th March 2011) Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/mar/11/kyoto-protocol [Accessed 23rd August 2012]

BBC News, [online] (last updated 20.31 GMT, 13th December 2009) Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8376286.stm [Accessed 27th August 2012]

Global Warming Petition Project, [online] Available at: www.petitionproject.org/seitz_letter.php [Accessed 27th August 2012]

Appendix

http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/

Observed changes in (a) global average surface temperature; (b) global average sea level from tide gauge (blue) and satellite (red) data and (c) Northern Hemisphere snow cover for March-April. All differences are relative to corresponding averages for the period 1961-1990. Smoothed curves represent decadal averaged values while circles show yearly values. The shaded areas are the uncertainty intervals estimated from a comprehensive analysis of known uncertainties (a and b) and from the time series (c).

http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/syr/en/spms1.html

References: Climate change: Our priority, [online] (updated May 3rd 2012) Available at: http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/gw-overview/ The Guardian, [online] (last updated 11.18 GMT, 16th February 2009) Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2005/feb/03/research.highereducation1 [Accessed 22nd August 2012] The Guardian, [online] (last updated 10.45 GMT, 11th March 2011) Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/mar/11/kyoto-protocol [Accessed 23rd August 2012] BBC News, [online] (last updated 20.31 GMT, 13th December 2009) Available at: