Global Crisis or Non Issue? Essay

Submitted By ajc39k
Words: 1766
Pages: 8

Global Warming: A Global Crisis or Non Issue? Global Warming is an increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere, which causes the earth to warm up in an abnormal fashion. Environmental Protection Agency did a study showing that global temperatures increased about one degree over the past hundred years. Scientists believe and fear that if the earth continues to rise in temperature, the earth will face dangerous and fatal consequences like more earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and tsunamis. They also believe that global warming is caused by humans because of the use of fossil fuels, destroyed natural forest habitats, and CO2 gasses being released to the atmosphere. But others believe that these claims are over exaggerated and unfound in science and history; and they argue that global warming is caused by Mother Nature and not humans. The terms that need to be understood and known are: greenhouse effect, CO2 gasses, and ozone layer. Greenhouse effect is a process where the atmosphere absorbs the thermal or heat radiation from the sun. Carbon Dioxide gasses are a slightly toxic, odorless, colorless gas that is essential for most plants which remove these gasses by using photosynthesis. The history of this issue started in the early 1980s in that they started to notice a slight change in temperature from the data collected over a series of time and still continues today. The issue of global warming is a controversial issue because proponents argue that evidence from studies on the affects of global warming in cold weather countries and ocean water levels shows that it’s a real issue and future crisis if people don’t take action; but those who oppose this view argue that there have been numerous historical evidence that global warming has happened in human history and people shouldn’t blame themselves for it’s really nature causing it. Proponents of this issue argue that the Greenhouse Effect is causing the Earth’s atmosphere to heat up from recent satellite data. The main expert on the proponent arguments is Al Gore, who is a successful author and writer, which gives specific examples and science on this topic. One of Gore’s main argument was that “gasses in our atmosphere that hold on heat” which is specifically the ozone layer that “holds over 90% of the high ultra- violet lights” affected by greenhouse gasses (CO2) that “usually gets top billing because it accounts for 80% of total greenhouse gases emission” such as burning fossil fuels (Gore 16). He argues that humans are over using CO2 gasses such as fossil fuels plus the destruction of forest areas creates a major issue the earth’s ability to keep the planet from over heating from the sun’s rays. He wants to let readers know that human activities such as the use of fossil fuels, industrial exhaust gasses, and trees cut down are causing the temperature to go up rapidly for the past 10 years. Another piece of evidence to support the argument is that “the Himalayas that contain one hundred times as much ice as the Alps and provide more than half of the drinking water for 40 percent of the world’s population” is now in danger of drying up and that “if these glaciers disappear, 2.6 billion of the world’s people may face a very serious drinking shortage” (Gore 28). This a good evidence to support his previous argument because he persuades the reader’s emotion by thinking of world crisis and possible situations if such things happen in the world. By giving a specific example, the reader is forced to think that the world is in big trouble and there’s no end of the heating up of the earth. Proponents argue that global warming is mainly cause by humans and it’s causing our major resources such as water from the mountains to decrease rapidly which is essential to all life. Opponents argue that the Earth is in a cycle from global warming and cooling and it’s really not a so called “crisis” but its nature changing and might even benefit the earth with more