For the last century, scientists have been debating vigorously over on whether the issue of climate change has anything to do with global warming or if it’s about the solar cycles and unusual weather behavior. Scientists are trying to prove that global warming exists yet there are those who are debating that global warming is a “false” alarm and it has nothing to do with the climate. My question is, are they right? In my opinion I believe global warming is indeed real and it is not a myth. Why? Well, there are many factors on how the planet is warming up. The main contributing factor is CO2 (Carbon Dioxide). As most scientists say CO2 is released in to the air creating a cloud that absorbs the sun’s heat which results in global warming. Is there enough evidence to prove the link between CO2 to global warming?

Most scientists believe that the greenhouse effect is causing global warming. This effect is when certain gases enter the Earth’s atmosphere and trap the heat. They let in light but they keep heat from escaping; called “greenhouse”. When sunlight shines in to the Earth’s surface it is absorbed and reflected back in to the atmosphere as heat. But the greenhouse gases trap most of the heat while some escape into space. (Internet #2) One of the first things scientists learned is that there are several greenhouse gases responsible for warming, and humans emit them in a variety of ways. Most come from fossil fuels in cars, factories, and electricity production. CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) is the reason for most of the global warming situation. Other parts include methane released from landfills, nitrous oxide from fertilizers and the loss of forests that are all responsible for the outcome of global warming. CO2 is not the only powerful gas that traps heat. In fact a molecule of methane produces more than 20 times the warming of a molecule of CO2. Nitrous oxide is 300 times more powerful than CO2. Other gases have the potential of more than thousands of times greater than CO2. Yet since they are not produced as much as CO2; none of these gases adds much warmth to the atmosphere. (Internet #3)

Many scientists say that we man-kind created global warming and that we must fix it. In fact about 86% of the Americans think that global warming is true. Yet there are a small number of scientists that say that global warming is a hoax or that it has nothing to do with the climate change. They say that climate can change with or without man and climate is probably changing because of changes in the sun, or the ocean currents, and maybe changes in cloud cover. They also say that El Nino is why Earth is warming up but El Nino has been on Earth for millions of years. Other information they point out is that when you blast CO2 into the atmosphere over top of the Arctic, what happens is it absorbs sunlight, warms the stratosphere, which depresses the troposphere underneath and cools the troposphere. (Internet #1, 3&5)

Scientists have been studying the ancient ice cores from Antarctica by drilling. They would look at each layer of the ice to see how much CO2 was in the ice; since the ice has been absorbing the CO2 from many years. By finding the amounts of CO2 in each layer they can find out the concentration of CO2 during the past 400 years. Scientists dated the amount of CO2 occurring in the ice and would compare the temperature of the ice and the concentration of CO2 in the ice. Other evidences of global warming are the temperatures during the past years. During the last couple of years as CO2 has been increasing, global average temperatures have also been increasing. In other words the Earth is warming. The 1990s is considered as the warmest decade and 1998 the warmest year according to their instrument records. Another global warming situation is the glaciers. Worldwide glaciers and ice fields have been melting and shrinking for at least the last century. If they continue to melt sea levels will increase and in fact lands such as Florida or San Francisco Bay may be flooded. The Northern Arctic area seems more vulnerable than the Antarctic. The Arctic changes include decreases in sea ice, increasing precipitation and river discharge, thawing of glaciers and permafrost, and changes in plant and animal abundances and distributions. (Internet #6)
Global warming is real; not a fable or a fantasy. It’s actually out there and we have scientists trying to come up some ways to decrease the CO2. You have to believe it, especially with the evidence we have so far. Ice is melting faster than before. Greenhouse gases are escalating. CO2 is increasing and trapping the heat. Ocean levels are starting to rise slowly. The Earth is getting warmer degree by degree and it is only going to get worse if we do not put our heads together to come up with a solution. The only way out is to accept the facts about global warming and instead of being delusional, think of alternatives to curb it.





Bibliography
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