Mr Essays (1595 words) - Climate Change, Greenhouse Gases

Global Warming A: What is causing Global Warming and what can we do about it? The basic scientific belief for Global Warming is the increased amount of fossil fuels being burned resulting in an increase of greenhouse gases into the earth?s atmosphere. We can do a lot of things to help decrease the effect of global warming. One easy and simple way is to reduce drafts in your home. Make sure all your windows and doors in your house are free from drafts. This will mean all the overused energy that is used to heat and cool the home will be balanced out. Another thing we can do is decrease the amount of electricity we use. Some electrical appliances use electricity after they are done being used, and this is due to a phantom load. To eliminate phantom loads plug all your electrical stuff into a multi plug surge to guarantee that no extra electricity is being wasted. An additional way to reduce global warming is to use a more efficient light bulb. If every American household replaced a glowing light bulb with a compact florescent, then just about ninety billon pounds of CO2 won?t enter the atmosphere. B: What is Global Warming/ How Does the Green House Effect Work? Global Warming is an increase in the Earth?s average surface temperature. The green house effect is the natural process of the earth trapping some of the suns energy in the atmosphere to keep the planet warm enough to uphold life. Most typical scientists believe that the increase of greenhouse gases emitted by human is only increasing the effect unnaturally. The process gets its name from the greenhouses that are made to trap heat and grow plants in. Most everyone has experienced the greenhouse effect, like when you park your car in the sun and you come back and the inside is much hotter than outside. The suns energy shines through the car windows and some is absorbed by the interior. The heat the interior lets out does not all escape the car, so gradually the car is heated up. When the suns rays hit earth 70 percent is absorbed by plants, oceans and other things. The other 30 percent is reflected back into space. If there was no greenhouse effect on earth, it would probably be a lot like mars. The greenhouse effect is actually a good thing, but it has fallen out of steadiness since humans are creating so many greenhouse gases. Now we are trapping to much heat in the atmosphere. C: What are the Proposed Causes of Global Warming Human activities are considered one of the main causes of Global Warming, and a number of activities release certain greenhouse gases into the earth?s atmosphere. When humans burn fossil fuels like coal, oil, wood, and solid waste they discharge carbon dioxide in the air. The percentage of carbon dioxide emitted has increased 31% since 1750, and about ? of the increase is cause from the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. Deforestation is also another cause of Global Warming. Forests are filled with trees and trees are the largest method for removing carbon dioxide from the air. The more deforestation that occurs the less carbon dioxide is able to be removed from the air. Deforestation is just creating more heat in the atmosphere. About 33 percent of carbon dioxide in the US is from the burning of gasoline in cars. The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that the 3.5 percent of carbon dioxide is from aviation, and that number could rise to 15 percent by 2050. Methane is another important greenhouse gas, and is 20 times more effective than CO2 at trapping heat in the atmosphere. The atmosphere level of Methane increased 145 percent in the last 100 years. Deforestation is the second main cause of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere. Deforestation is responsible for 20 to 25 percent of CO2 in the atmosphere, by burning and cutting down 34 million acres of trees each year. The destroying of these forests is releasing hundreds of millions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year. Also building structures with machinery is responsible for 12 percent of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere. D: