Table of Contents

1. Titles

2. Topics

3. Outline

4. Abstract

5. Introduction

6. Thesis Statement

7. Body of Essay

8. Conclusion

9. Works Cited

Titles

Feeling the Heat:  Global Warming and Climate Change

What Can be Done to Reverse Climate Change?

The Arguments For and Against the Anthropogenic Causes of Global Warming

Meltdown:  Why Global Warming is Going to Become Even Worse in the Future

Recommended Topics

International Strategies for Addressing Global Warming

Global Warming and Policy Development in the United States

The Effects of Global Warming on the Earth’s Oceans

Science or Myth?  The Truth about Global Warming

Outline

I.  Introduction

II.  Review and Analysis

A.  Arguments implicating anthropogenic sources as the cause of global warming

B.  Arguments against anthropogenic sources as the cause of global warming

C.  Discussion and Analysis

III.  Conclusion

Abstract

Although there is a growing consensus among the scientific community that global warming is a reality based on temperature readings over the past century and more, there remains less agreement concerning the precise causes of recent climate changes. Moreover, there is even disagreement about the scientific evidence that is used to support the notion that global warming is even taking place, with some scientists arguing that the methods used to collect this data have been inconsistent while others charge that threats of global warming are being used to extort more money from fearful American taxpayers. In addition, there is an especially fierce debate over the precise causes of global warming, with one camp charging that anthropogenic activities are primarily responsible while another camp cites a wide array of other potential causes. To determine the facts about the causes of global warming, this essay examines the arguments for and against anthropogenic sources as the cause of global warming, followed by a discussion and critical analysis of these issues. Finally, a summary of the research and important findings concerning the causes of global warming are presented in the paper’s conclusion.

Introduction

The average temperatures on earth have increased faster than at any point in recorded history and 15 of the 16 hottest years on record have occurred since 2000 (MacMillan, 2017). Faced with these hard facts, there is widespread agreement that the earth’s climate has become warmer in the recent past and will probably continue to do so in the future (Rowland, 2010). Despite a general consensus concerning the reality of global warming, there remains serious disagreement among policymakers and even scientists concerning the causes of global warming, most especially the effects of human activities such as consuming fossil fuels on climate change (Rowland, 2010). These are important issues because there are plans underway to significantly reduce carbon emissions in the U.S. by 2030, and these plans will have an enormous adverse impact on the economy.

Thesis Statement

This essay reviews the relevant literature to identify the arguments for and against anthropogenic sources as the primary cause of global warming, a discussion and critical analysis of these arguments and a summary of the research and important findings concerning the causes of global warming in the conclusion.

Arguments implicating anthropogenic sources as the cause of global warming

The straightforward definition of global warming provided by the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) states that, “Over the past 50 years, the average global temperature has increased at the fastest rate in recorded history [and] the trend is accelerating: All but one of the 16 hottest years in NASA’s 134-year record have occurred since 2000” (MacMillan, 2017, para. 2). Data collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) confirms that the overall global annual temperature has increased at an average rate of 0.13°F per decade since 1880 and at an average rate of 0.31°F per decade since 1970 (Global analysis, 2016).

According to the NRDC, the overarching cause of this change in the earth’s climate is anthropogenic, or manmade activities, including most especially the consumption of fossil fuels which adds millions of tons of carbon dioxide to the earth’s atmosphere each year, trapping so-called “greenhouse gases” and creating a “greenhouse effect” that is heating the earth to unprecedented levels in recorded history. In this regard, the NRDC unequivocally asserts that the cause of global warming is “a thickening layer of carbon dioxide pollution,...
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22).  In support of these assertions, scientists cite the evidence from satellite imagery over the past 30 years that confirm glaciers and ice shelves are melting results (Singer, 2013).
A number of other prominent governmental and nongovernmental organizations agree with these assertions, including Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, National Geographic, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Congressional House leadership (Frank, 2008). For instance, Greenpeace’s website flatly states that, “Fossil fuels — coal, oil and, natural gas — are major contributors to climate change, accounting for the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions” (Fighting global warming, 2017, para. 2). The policy positions taken by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also specifically implicate anthropogenic sources as the primary cause of global warming. For instance, Gillis (2015) reports that, “NOAA is one of four agencies around the world that attempts to produce a complete record of global temperatures dating to 1880. They all get similar results, showing a long-term warming of the planet that scientists have linked primarily to the burning of fossil fuels and the destruction of forests” (para. 4).

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) also concurs with the anthropogenic causes of global warming. In fact, since its 1995 Second Assessment Report, the IPCC has been making increasingly assured statements that human-produced carbon dioxide is influencing the climate, and is the chief cause of the global warming trend in evidence since about 1900 (Frank, 2008). For example, in its report, “Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis,” the IPCC firmly states that:  “Human activities are continuing to affect the Earth’s energy budget by changing the emissions and resulting atmospheric concentrations of radiatively important gases and aerosols and by changing land surface properties” (Cubash, 2013, p. 121). The IPCC also argues that there are several sources of scientific evidence that reinforce the assertions concerning the link between anthropogenic activities and global warming, again in unequivocal terms. In this regard, Cubash (2013) adds that, “Unequivocal evidence from in situ observations and ice core records shows that the atmospheric concentrations of important greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) have increased over the last few centuries” (p. 122).

Other proponents of the anthropogenic causes of global warming cite the several streams of separate scientific evidence that is incontrovertible, including:

Land surface air temperature as measured by weather stations;
Sea surface temperature that date back to 1850 showing that 2000 through 2010 was the warmest decade in recorded history;
Lower troposphere temperature as measured by satellites for a half century that confirm the 2000s as the warmest decade as well as confirming that each of the previous 3 decades has been increasingly warmer than the preceding decade;
Ocean heat content data that extends to the 1950s that show 90% of the extra heat from global warming is going into the oceans which contribute to rapidly rising sea levels as demonstrated by tide gauge records that date to 1870;
Specific humidity has increased along with temperatures;
Melting glaciers with 2009 being the 19th consecutive year that experienced a net loss of ice from glaciers on a global basis;
Northern Hemisphere snow cover has diminished in recent decades; and,
Melting Arctic sea ice based on satellite data that date to 1979 as well as nearly 65 years worth of reliable shipping records that show the extent of sea ice has decreased by more than one-third (35%) since 1979 (Wight, 2017).

Armed with this growing body of scientific evidence, the main arguments that are typically used to implicate human activities as the cause of global warming include the following:

Global temperature over the past century has risen;
Temperature will continue to rise over the next century and impact climate; and,
The main cause of this continuing temperature rise is the emission of carbon dioxide due to consumption of fossil fuels (Payne, 2014).

The first two of the foregoing arguments are clearly supported by the scientific evidence as depicted in Figure 1-A below.



Figure 1-A. Average global temperatures:  1880-2020 (projected)

As shown in Figure 1 above, the 10 warmest years over this 136-year range took place since 2000, and the warmest year on record was 2016 (Global climate change facts, 2017). Indeed, if current projections are accurate, the long-term effects of global warming will be catastrophic, including an increase of between 3 and 9 degrees in average temperatures in the United States by 2100, rising sea levels and more intense heat waves, wildfires and droughts. In addition, disease-carrying vectors such as mosquitoes will become more widespread and the human species may even be threatened with extinctions (Frank, 2008). Nevertheless, critics charge that not only is the scientific evidence less compelling than global warming alarmists claim, it may be…