Tuesday, October 30, 2007

What Is Global Warming?

Global warming has become a severe environmental and economic issue in the 21st century. It has been known and heard of before, yet not with such importance. It is sad to say that global warming has become a threat to the entire planet. Unfortunately, the Earth is warming and consequences can or will be devastating for the future generations. The National Resources Defense Council reported,

"Although local temperatures fluctuate naturally, over the past 50 years the average global temperature has increased at the fastest rate in recorded history. And experts think the trend is accelerating: the 10 hottest years on record have all occurred since 1990. Scientists say that unless we curb global warming emissions, average U.S. temperatures could be 3 to 9 degrees higher by the end of the century."

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, “A warming trend has been recorded since the late 19th century, with the most rapid warming occurring over the past two decades.”

As Albert Gore said, “Global warming will be the greatest environmental challenge in the 21st century.” During the past few years, the concern about global warming has increased tremendously. All of a sudden, global warming has become a popular topic that it is talked about all over the world. Why? Well, the signs of global warming are all around us, from melting glaciers to stifling heat waves. But, what exactly is global warming?

Global warming, also known as global climate change, refers to an average increase in the Earth's temperature, which in turn causes changes in climate." To simplify this definition, it basically means that the the earth is becoming hotter day by day. This happens when greenhouse gases trap heat and light from the sun in the earth’s atmosphere, which increases the temperature. This probably sounds like a lot of information to absorb at one time, so to better define the term “global warming,” one must first understand the process of “The Greenhouse effect.” Now, what is the greenhouse effect and what does it have to do with global warming?

“The "greenhouse effect" refers to the natural phenomenon that keeps the Earth in a temperature range that allows life to flourish. The sun's enormous energy warms the Earth's surface and its atmosphere. As this energy radiates back toward space as heat, a portion is absorbed by a delicate balance of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere among them carbon dioxide and methane—which creates an insulating layer. With the temperature control of the greenhouse effect, the Earth has an average surface temperature of 59°F (15°C). Without it, the average surface temperature would be 0°F (-18°C), a temperature solow that the Earth would be frozen and could not sustain life.”

The greenhouse effect and global warming are closely related. It is said that:

“Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere act like a mirror and reflect back to the Earth a part of the heat radiation, which would otherwise be lost to space. The higher the concentration of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the more heat energy is being reflected back to the Earth.”

2 comments:

bryon said...

I am also doing my blog on global warming. Before this class started I really didn't have a good understanding of what it truly is. After researching the topic it is actually scary because everything does point to the earth becoming warmer. This could have disastrous effects on the future generations. Hopefully we can use technology to find better resources to use instead of the relentless burning of fossil fuels. Also each person can do their small part to help save our planet.

Anyway the blog looks really good and the research you have put in is very impressive. Fortunately for us, finding global warming research is really easy since there are probably a thousand different sites with information.

Keep up the good work.
Bryon

Julie P.Q. said...

You have a lot of great information here, and you nicely quote and use hyperlinks. My only suggestion would be for us to see more of your writing! These quotes, as effective as they are, are long, so I'd like to see the balance with either another entry or more evaluation/discussion from you in this definitional entry.