The Human Factor of Global Warming
The Human Factor of Global Warming
The Human Factor of Global Warming
Global warming has been a growing concern for many over the last several decades. The effects of global warming are evident and broad, with historical research dating the first global warming crisis back 56 million years ago, better known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, or PETM (Jardine, 2011). Research from the composition of sediments of fossils shells of marine organisms conclude that carbon dioxide trapped within our atmosphere, increased global temperatures by more than 5 degrees in just a few thousand years (Jardine, 2011). While global warming may not be in question, many scientists have questioned the actual global warming effect theory due to many uncertainties. Whether or not humans are inherently responsible is debatable and subject to skepticism along with whether or not the human race can influence the outcome of such. * The first theory on global warming dates back to 1886. A Swedish chemist by the name of Svante Arrhenius had a theory that a rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions as a result from combusting fossil fuels could enhance the average surface temperature of the earth (Maslin, 2004). While close to half the solar radiation reaching the earth’s surface is reflected back into space, the remainder is absorbed by land masses and oceans, warming the earth’s surface and atmosphere. This warming process radiates energy, most of which passes through the atmosphere and back into space. However, small concentrations of greenhouse gases like water vapor and carbon dioxide convert some of this energy to heat and either absorb it or reflect it back to the earth’s surface (Christianson, 1999). It is this foundation that fuels ours cognitive notion of global warming and the concatenation of events that result in a global rise in temperature.
* Global warming is a well known fact; however, there are many different speculations as to the causes.
The Human Factor of Global Warming
Global warming has been a growing concern for many over the last several decades. The effects of global warming are evident and broad, with historical research dating the first global warming crisis back 56 million years ago, better known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, or PETM (Jardine, 2011). Research from the composition of sediments of fossils shells of marine organisms conclude that carbon dioxide trapped within our atmosphere, increased global temperatures by more than 5 degrees in just a few thousand years (Jardine, 2011). While global warming may not be in question, many scientists have questioned the actual global warming effect theory due to many uncertainties. Whether or not humans are inherently responsible is debatable and subject to skepticism along with whether or not the human race can influence the outcome of such. * The first theory on global warming dates back to 1886. A Swedish chemist by the name of Svante Arrhenius had a theory that a rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions as a result from combusting fossil fuels could enhance the average surface temperature of the earth (Maslin, 2004). While close to half the solar radiation reaching the earth’s surface is reflected back into space, the remainder is absorbed by land masses and oceans, warming the earth’s surface and atmosphere. This warming process radiates energy, most of which passes through the atmosphere and back into space. However, small concentrations of greenhouse gases like water vapor and carbon dioxide convert some of this energy to heat and either absorb it or reflect it back to the earth’s surface (Christianson, 1999). It is this foundation that fuels ours cognitive notion of global warming and the concatenation of events that result in a global rise in temperature.
* Global warming is a well known fact; however, there are many different speculations as to the causes.
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