Katlynne Blanton
APLAC
Ms. Galligan
15 April 2013

Global Warming

To blame humans or not to blame humans for global warming, that is the question. Reports have noted that eleven out of the last twelve years have ranked among the warmest on record. CNN has stated that temperature changes have been noticed over the last 50 years, due to human activities. Yes, humans are to blame for global warming because of population growth, deforestation, and the use of non-environmentally safe products. This world wide issue must be addressed! The increase in population has had a major affect of global warming. With more population comes the use of more cars, boats, planes, and other motorized vehicles. These powered engines cause more carbon dioxide to enter the air. Many people are acknowledging that we need to make a change in our way of living, but more vehicles are releasing enormous amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. “Most global increases are rare due to increases in carbon dioxide from fossil fuels,” says CNN. Did you know that aviation causes 3.5 percent of global warming? This seems like a little amount but, if you think of all the times planes depart and land per day it really adds up. Then, when there is traffic on the ground and vehicles are at a stand-still, they can use up to six hundred million gallons of gas, while just sitting in traffic. This is common in many cities, worldwide. The amount of fossil fuels that are burned during traffic translates to 7.5 million tons of carbon dioxide. Vehicles with poor gas mileage contribute to that number even more than regular cars. Imagine that all the transportation that occurs throughout the day keeps increasing as the population increases. There will be so much emission of carbon dioxide that temperatures will increase dramatically. We need to lower the transportation rates in order for our economy to avoid suffering. So many people are in the world and the number is increasing daily; 9,538,988,263 is a large number of people with many already driving. Deforestation has had and still continues to be a driving force on global warming. Too many trees are being cut down. In the Amazon Rainforest, within twenty-six years it went from a dense thick layer of green forest, to an empty looking wasteland. When trees are cut down, the process of photosynthesis can’t take place, therefore; large amounts of carbon dioxide are left in the air, and there is less oxygen. These CO2 bonds interfere with the CO3 ones in the ozone. Global warming is greatly affected by deforestation due to the increase in green house gasses it causes. Millions of acres are being cut down each day. In fact, some of these acres happen to be the size of Italy. When the trees have fallen or have been burned, carbon dioxide enters the air. With our actions we are losing temperate forests. Temperate forest are good to keep around because the serve a major role in reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. These forests absorb two billion tons of carbon dioxide on their own. Deforestation is the second major principle that causes global warming. Humans further global warming by also using non-environmentally safe products. We use things such as hairsprays and candles which are aerosols. Aerosols have been forming holes in the ozone layer for years. “We need to use more environmentally friendly technologies,” acknowledged former President Bush. For instance, a hybrid car mainly runs on sunlight, not oil. This way it is not burning fossil fuels. Aerosols that are