It seems like every night in the news for the past several years a similar story is being reported. All these stories, of course, have something to do with the issue of global warming. Global warming is a potentially dangerous problem for all people of the Earth, but is it real? Al Gore in his popular, two-time Academy Award winning documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” clearly believes global warming exists, is a very large problem for the Earth's environment, mainly caused by carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere. I believe Al Gore's beliefs in global warming are true; however, I believe that many other factors can be attributed to the problem.
What is global warming? The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) defines global warming as “the hypothesis that Earth's atmosphere is warming because of the release of ‘greenhouse gases,' such as carbon dioxide. These gases are released into the air from burning gas, oil, coal, wood and other resources which then holds heat in an action similar to the walls of a greenhouse” (American Policy Roundtable, 2007).
[...] Not all scientists agree with global warming based on the evidence found, because the way of collecting the evidence does not agree. The most accurate form of detecting temperatures of the Earth, using satellite readings of the lower troposphere, which is the area scientists predicted to be the area most directly affected by global warming, does not show an overall warming trend. The only method of detecting global changes in temperature increases comes from land-based stations, which can easily be affected by heat give off by urban areas and calculation and human error. [...]
[...] The idea of whole nations being literally consumed by the sea is a devastating issue that needs to be examined on a global level. If global warming is real, and it takes time for changes to be implemented, then many other nations may be swallowed up by the sea before the problem is resolved. Another serious impact of global warming would be a change dealing with animals. There are many different animal species affected by global warming. Some of the animals most affected by the overall increase in global temperature include the Adelie penguins, coral reefs, and caribou. [...]
[...] Benefits to global warming include warmer winters, which would increase tourism to areas of the world that are extremely cold during the winter. It would also possible open up a northerly sea route for cargo ships to travel through. This would shorten the trip of shipping from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Temperatures have been much higher previously in history than even now. During these periods in history, man has performed some of its greatest achievements. During the Medieval Warm Period (800 to 1200 Vikings were capable of settling in Greenland, which would have previously been an inhospitable barren wasteland of ice. [...]
[...] The concern of global warming is that some of these greenhouse gases are becoming too abundant in the atmosphere, especially carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is naturally released as a byproduct of cellular respiration in all living things, which is a large source of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. However, the largest contributor is the use by man to turn fossil fuels into energy, which releases carbon dioxide as a byproduct. Warming temperatures do not seem like a terrible problem, until the consequences of global temperature increases are examined in depth. [...]
[...] From the different evidence, I do believe global warming is real and could potentially be a very serious problem and I believe greenhouse gases are the largest part of the problem. If the evidence in favor of greenhouse gases and global warming trends are truly accurate, then the evidence is undeniable. All data should be taken with a grain of salt, but even with a mild variation in results, the graphs still show an upward trend in both carbon dioxide and planet temperatures. [...]
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