Global warming causes and climate impacts

Global Warming

The issue of global warming, and more generally the issue of global atmospheric change, is one of the most hotly debated environmental issue in today's society. There are generally two extreme scientific opinions on the subject, one seated in the idea that global warming is a direct result of human environmental impact (mainly from carbon dioxide emissions and deforestation, as plant matter is the filter of the atmosphere, (Veizer 57)) and the other who contends that the issue of global warming is one of cyclical and natural changes that have occurred and will continue to occur on a global scale into eternity.

Parsons x) "As is usually the case with contentious matters, the reality is likely in between, and the polarization arises mostly from two issues:" (Veizer 57) These two schools of thought, vary on the degree to which they believe that global warming, and atmospheric change will impact the environment and in turn the people who live on the planet, yet most agree that there will be some impact, and many think the impact will be catastrophic.

This writer's interest in the subject lies in the nature of the debate itself, as the global scientific community cannot seem to come to terms with how much global warming will effect civilization and what civilization can or cannot do to alter those effects, either through combating what is causing the situation, or taking precautionary measures to combat the effects of the inevitable. The foundation of the debate lies heavily in each side claiming the other's data as conjecture, through scientific theory and in claiming the other is inherently wrong based on assumptions of the unknown. A greater understanding of both the subject and the debate would seem a personal necessity, regardless of an individual's leanings, as global atmospheric changes, regardless of their cause are a known impetus of climate change which creates changes, often bad for humans and other living things on the planet, the planet that is the only human habitable planet in the known universe. This work will not take a side, and argue that side with conflicting evidence, it will simply serve to help the reader better understand the debate over the issue of global warming, and in turn will help the individual begin to understand, what is known, and what is not known about the issue. "With climate change at the top of the international environmental agenda, it is vital that every citizen learn to distinguish reality from hype. This volume fills the need for a balanced presentation of the science and the policy implications of the greenhouse warming issue."

Parsons vii)

Review of Literature:

According to a leading researcher and writer, in Global Warming The Truth behind the Myth on the subject of global warming, though record temperatures may have been set in the last twenty years the long-term averages, models have not proven that this is any more than a regional and localized trend, that will likely reverse itself. Secondly the author points out that based on solid historical evidence there is every reason to believe that a modest global increase in temperature may actually be beneficial to humankind, based on the agricultural model which believes that plant growth will be speeded up, but that the real potenail fear should be of the next ice age, which in geological terms is overdue. Lastly the author points out that even if greenhouse warming where actually present today, most of the human population lives in developing countries where they seek economic gains such as owning refrigerators, air conditioners and cars is seen as a good thing, and denial of such things on a global scale is likely futile. The author also points out that we continue to discount the use of nuclear energy, regardless of the fact that it has been proven to release no carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. "And what about other greenhouse gases, like methane from rice growing and cattle raising? Stabilization of the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide requires more than the stabilization of emissions: it requires that emissions be cut by 60 to 80% -- worldwide!"

Parsons viii)

Parsons contends that the evidence for mindless and far reaching change in environmental policies that might seriously impact progress without first stressing the need for doing so. The author is largely determined to teach the population of the world a better sense of conservation that includes small everyday utilization of cleaner technology and does not negatively impact the human experience of development. In the sense of this work, this cry to create cleaner lifestyles coupled with continued research is a middle ground policy that does demand address, as social and civic responsibility should include environmental responsibility, but not sweeping and dangerous change that could make the situation worse.

In an apposing work, with equal representation of scientific data, allbeit from different sources, The Global Warming Desk Reference argues the opposite stance. The work quotes the fact that recording breaking temperatures have been increasing in numbers of the last two decades and need to be taken seriously.

Global temperatures spiked in the late 1980s and 1990s, repeatedly breaking records set only a year or two earlier. The warmest year in recorded history was 1998, breaking the record set in 1996, which exceeded 1995's new benchmark. According to NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, the ten warmest years since reliable records have been kept on a global scale (roughly 1890) occurred after 1980.

Johansen xiii)

Johansen contends that these changes, though they obviously cannot record a geological long-term, as would seem appropriate, are the result of carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse gasses" like methane, nitrous oxides and chlorofluorocarbons have the property of heat retention in the atmosphere, creating record temperature increases.

The proportion of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen from 280 parts per million (p.p.m.) to roughly 365 p.p.m. As the new millennium dawned on the Christian calendar. Other greenhouse gases also have risen in similar proportion.

Johansen xiii)

According to Johansen the impact of global warming will be directly felt by the individual, in a collective sense of allegorical frog in the beaker over heat.

Given the advent of global warming, coming generations may be subjected to something resembling an experiment in junior high school biology: put a frog in a beaker full of water and raise the temperature slowly. The frog's nervous system will not tell it the water is too hot until it is too late. Humankind's collective nervous system seems to be serving us no better.

Johansen xiii)

Lastly Johansen makes the final leap to express the rampant fear that has spread across the globe, but that seems to be having little real effect on localized environmental impact. Johansen stresses that the world has been undergoing change since the impact of the industrial age began to be seen and that this is accelerating a natural phenomena of global temperature change, making it far more dangerous than other types of atmospheric change.

A most natural climate changes occur over long periods of time, by human standards. Global warming which is due at least partially to rising levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases is taking place on a much shorter time scale, one which human beings can recognize, in some cases, within a lifetime. Since the beginning of the industrial age three centuries ago, humankind has been altering the composition of the atmosphere.

Johansen xiii)

For the purpose of this work the indication here is that the previous work, Parsons, demonstrates one side of the debate while the second, Johansen represents the opposition, which here is seen to be filled with both data and also emotionalized analogous material.

This next work, The Economics of Global Warming discusses the issue of the economic causative factors that are potentially contributing to global warming and other environmental issues. The work discusses that technological advances, have long been associated with environmental impact, and that policy changes are needed to create a better world, including limiting emissions, limiting deforestation and reducing cfcs emissions to reduce the expected rate of temperature increase, assumed by the author through his evidence.

The eventual consequence of this effect is believed to be a warmer world, with major implications for world ecology as well as a wide range of economic effects. As represented by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (ipcc), the majority scientific view is that the greenhouse effect will cause significant global warming by the middle of the next century in the absence of policy intervention (chapter 1). Most European countries, Japan, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have set targets for reducing emissions of carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas. U.S. policymakers have refused to do so, on the grounds of scientific uncertainty (chapter 8).

Cline 3)

The global response to global warming has been the need to create a cleaner living situation, for all, and Cline is largely commenting on the fact that keeping economic progress on such a high priority list will eventually, if not now reduce the quality of life in the world. This is true regardless of your belief on this particular issue.