Preview

Are Humans the Cause of Global Warming

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
666 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Are Humans the Cause of Global Warming
Are Humans the cause of Global Warming? How do we know global warming is caused by humans? Can global warming just be a natural cycle for earth? Global warming is a major problem in the world today. Having a hole in the ozone layer isn’t quite beneficial for humans no matter what the cause. Global warming is an increase in the earth's average atmospheric temperature that causes corresponding changes in climate and that may be resulted from the greenhouse effect. The global average surface temperature has increased by 0.23% per decade for the last fifty years. People tend to have a different opinion on the cause of global warming. Some believe humans are the cause of global warming and others believe its causes by earth’s natural cycle. Today about 13,000 scientists believe that humans are the cause of global warming and 0.17% believe due to natural environmental changes global warming is occurring. Humans are the cause of global warming and they are speeding up the process as we know it. The problem of global warming is primarily caused by humans and it began during the Industrial Revolution. Throughout the Industrial Revolution the production of burning fossil fuels increased drastically. The burnt fossil fuels began releasing large amounts of carbon dioxide, and artificial chemicals called halocarbons harming the environment. Scientists have concluded that most of the observed warming is very likely due to the burning of coal, oil, and gas. This conclusion is based on a detailed understanding of the atmospheric greenhouse effect and how human activities have been alternating it. The atmospheric greenhouse effect naturally keeps our planet warm enough to be livable. Sunlight passes through the atmosphere. Light-colored surfaces, such as clouds or ice caps, radiate some heat back into space. But most of the incoming heat warms the planet's surface. The Earth then radiates some heat back into the atmosphere. Some of that heat is trapped by greenhouse gases in
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Lower Division Capstone
    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Lower Division Capstone

    The second cause of global warming is attributed to man. Human activities such as burning fossil fuels have contributed greatly to global warming. When these fuels are being burned, toxic gases are being released into the atmosphere such as carbon dioxide. When these gases are released, the solar energy is trapped which automatically causes the temperature to increase.…

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Globalwarming, Ice Core Samples, Dendrochronology and Peat Bogs
    • 1413 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Globalwarming, Ice Core Samples, Dendrochronology and Peat Bogs

    Glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising, forests are drying and wildlife is suffering, these are all results of the apparent rise in global temperatures and it has become more obvious that humans over centuries are releasing harmful heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere known as greenhouse gases. The greenhouse effect causes the increase in global temperature as the gases which are released into the atmosphere allow light to be entered, but prevents heat from escaping.…

    • 1413 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    “Up and Down, Up and Down – That Is How Temperature and Climate Have Always Gone in the Past and There Is No Proof They Are Not Still Doing Exactly the Same Now. in Other Words, Climate Change Is an Entirely Natural
    • 1465 Words
    • 4 Pages

    “Up and Down, Up and Down – That Is How Temperature and Climate Have Always Gone in the Past and There Is No Proof They Are Not Still Doing Exactly the Same Now. in Other Words, Climate Change Is an Entirely Natural

    Over the last century global temperatures have increased rapidly, and this period has been called global warming. However many have disputed how this rapid increase in the change in the temperature have been brought about. There is a general agreement among scientists that the changes in the climate over the last century are as a result of human activities. They have reached this consensus as they have been able to link the sudden change in rate of the temperature increase to the development of industrial activities beginning with the industrial revolution. The industrial activities that our modern civilisation depends upon have raised atmospheric carbon dioxide levels causing a rise in the amount of greenhouse gases that insulate the Earth. These extra emissions of greenhouse gases have led to a thicker layer of greenhouse gases present in the Earth’s atmosphere. The main causes of this rise in greenhouse gas emission are fossil fuels. The burning of these fossil fuels has allowed us to develop, both economically and technologically, which in turn has enabled us to advance as a civilisation. However the use of these fossil fuels has…

    • 1465 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Cap and Trade Paper 1

    • 3704 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Cap and Trade Paper 1

    Since the time of the Industrial Revolution, human activities have polluted the air with large amounts of greenhouses gasses. These gasses are thick covering the Earth in the atmosphere creating and trapping more heat on Earth’s surface; this is known as the greenhouse effect. While the greenhouse effect is needed to support life on Earth, a continuous buildup of these gasses becomes harmful. Greenhouses gasses come from burning fossil fuels, deforestation, industrial processes, and some agriculture practices. When the carbon dioxide is released by these activities it is trapped in the lower part of the troposphere heating the surface of the Earth thus creating global warming. The most significant greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide; it can cause the most substantial increase in temperature.…

    • 3704 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Critically evaluate the possible effects of the phenomenon known as global warming and suggest possible responses to them
    • 1687 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Critically evaluate the possible effects of the phenomenon known as global warming and suggest possible responses to them

    Global warming is the gradual increase in the temperature of the earth's atmosphere and oceans, mostly caused by the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is where incoming short-wave solar radiation from the sun can pass through the earth’s atmosphere to reach the surface; some of this radiation is then reflected back into space at a longer wavelength. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere absorb some of this long wave radiation and re-radiate it back to the earth’s surface, trapping heat in our atmosphere. There have always been natural fluctuations in the earth’s temperature, for the last 2.5 million years earth has shifted between cold glacial periods, and warmer interglacial periods. We are currently in an interglacial period, where the temperatures have been warm, with very small fluctuations for the last 10,000 years. Over the last century global temperatures have increased rapidly, there was a sharp rise in temperature between 1900 and 2000 of 0.7oC. Most scientists agree that this sharp increase was caused by human activities (anthropogenic). This continued increase in temperatures could have many major impacts worldwide, both positively and negatively.…

    • 1687 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Jetplane
    • 1414 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Jetplane

    There are many possible causes of global warming. However, for the past several years, NASA noted “that most of the causes of global warming are man-made activities.” The “burning of fossil fuel is the top list of man made activities that largely contribute to global warming and this occurs in automobiles, in factories, and in electric power plants that provide energy for houses and office buildings” (Global Warming NASA). The burning of fossil fuels produces carbon dioxide , a chemical element that “slows the escape of heat into space” (Global Warming Nasa). “According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 's) report, CO2…

    • 1414 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Arctic Tundra Essay
    • 1560 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Arctic Tundra Essay

    Global warming refers to an increase in global temperatures that happens at a gradual scale and has been attributed to the greenhouse gasses produced by industries through the release of chlorofluorocarbons, carbon dioxide and many other air pollutants (Haldar). The gasses trap heat energy from the sun causing the gradual increase in temperatures. Global warming has had negative impacts on many ecosystems around the world among them droughts, unpredictable weather patterns, sea level rises and retreating of the major ice sheets due to melting. Global warming has had an effect even on the arctic tundra. Most researchers agree that human activity is the most responsible for causing global warming.…

    • 1560 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Research Project Climate Change
    • 971 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Research Project Climate Change

    There are many questions about global warming, from its causes to its effects, and many people even question whether or not it even exists. Global warming is described as the increase of the average temperature of the Earth caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases produced by human activities, such as deforestation, use of fertilizers, fossil fuel combustion and cement production. According to the global warming theory, the intensification of industrial activities during the twentieth century (based on the fossil fuel combustion such as petrol and coal) increased the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere.…

    • 971 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    chemistry- are humans responsible for grobal warming
    • 324 Words
    • 2 Pages

    chemistry- are humans responsible for grobal warming

    Gather recent media articles which show scientific evidence to support your key question ‘Is human activity responsible for global warming?’ A great place to start is google news.…

    • 324 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Human Activities Are Likely Responsible For Global Warming
    • 4517 Words
    • 19 Pages

    Human Activities Are Likely Responsible For Global Warming

    The view that human activities are likely responsible for most of the observed increase in global mean temperature ("global warming") since the mid-20th century is an accurate reflection of current scientific thinking. Human-induced warming of the climate is expected to continue throughout the 21st century and beyond.…

    • 4517 Words
    • 19 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    World War Iii, Global Warming
    • 1309 Words
    • 6 Pages

    World War Iii, Global Warming

    The basic physics of global warming are pretty straightforward. Carbon dioxide reflects energy in the infrared region, rather than letting it pass through, leading to greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect heats the Earth because greenhouse gases absorb outgoing radiative energy and re-emit some of it back towards earth. This was first discovered by Svante Arrhenius back in 1896. Burning coal and oil releases carbon dioxide (CO2), these two resources are what we use most to live the way we do today. We have direct measurements of CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere going back more than fifty years, and these measurements confirm that concentrations are rising rapidly. Though natural amounts of CO2 have varied from 180 to 300 parts per million (ppm), today 's CO2 levels are around 390 ppm, that 's 30% more than the highest natural levels. Scientists have confirmed with this information that the unnatural levels of CO2 are indeed manmade (How we know human activity is causing warming).…

    • 1309 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Argumentative Essay: The Cause Of Climate Change
    • 772 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Argumentative Essay: The Cause Of Climate Change

    Another way that humans cause global warming is by deforestation, which lowers the amount of oxygen being produced and carbon dioxide being consumed because there are less plants to facilitate these processes. This increases carbon dioxide emissions and this release of carbon dioxide heats the atmosphere. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, when carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere, it absorbs infrared photons rising from the surface and re-emits them back towards the surface. This creates a constant heat loop which essentially heats the Earth because heat can not escape the atmosphere.…

    • 772 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    The Earth Has A Fever
    • 2981 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The Earth Has A Fever

    There is a scientific consensus that the recent rise in global temperature (global warming) is caused by human enhancement of the greenhouse effect, where greenhouse gases absorb outgoing long-wave radiation, so less is reflected back to space and is essential for keeping the planet warm. However, too much greenhouse gas in the atmosphere means too much energy is trapped and the planet warms up. One of the key findings in the IPCC report is the attribution of more than half the increase in global surface temperatures from 1951-2010 to human activities, underlining the dominant role of fossil fuel burning as a…

    • 2981 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Global Warming: Natural or Manmade?
    • 1926 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Global Warming: Natural or Manmade?

    Global Warming has been an intriguing and worrisome subject amongst environmentalists, scientists and society alike, especially in the last few decades, but is global warming a topic to raise concern or just a normal phase in the nature climate cycles of Earth. In order to determine who or what is to blame for the recent change in the Earth’s climate, we must first review the findings of both sides. We must take into account the normal cycles of climate change that our planet cyclically goes through as well as the abnormal changes that have taken place since the industrial period when the impact on the climate could be attributed to humans.…

    • 1926 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Global Warming- Persuasion
    • 1259 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Global Warming- Persuasion

    According to the article Global Warming on NASA’s website, published by Holly Riebeek on June 3, 2010, between 1906 and 2005 the Earth’s average surface temperature rose between 1.1 to 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit. This is not the first time the Earth’s climate has changed. The climate has experienced changes since the beginning of time. Small differences that occur in the Earth’s orbit cause a somewhat different temperature. The sun is the main ingredient when it comes to temperature. In the past, the Earth’s orbit has changed, causing a slight change in temperature (Riebeek 1). This is not what the controversy sweeping the world. The problem is the more drastic change recently because of humans. The Earth has a natural heating mechanism called the Greenhouse Effect. The Greenhouse Effect is a necessary part of human existence. However, the problem is humans are increasing these greenhouse gasses by burning fossil fuels, such as oil, and burning down forests, increasing the carbon dioxide level (2). Without all this, humans would face an inevitable downfall.…

    • 1259 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics