Can planting a tree stop the sea level from rising, the ice caps from melting and hurricanes from intensifying?
A new study says that it depends on where the trees are planted. It cautions that new forests in mid- to high-latitude locations could actually create a net warming. It also confirms the notion that planting more trees in tropical rainforests could help slow global warming worldwide.
According to the latest United Nations scientific report, leading scientists around the world agree that man-made greenhouse gases from fossil fuels are causing global warming. Effects are already being seen worldwide. And long-term consequences are devastating, pointing to a darker future each day we fail to act.
Earth Under Fire: This Book shows how the earth is being changed right now.
“Earth under Fire: How Global Warming is Changing the World is an important work documenting climate change. With an accessible text and startling photographs, it takes the reader on a world tour of the human effect on our climate.” –Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Solutions
Many possible solutions have been proposed to stave off global warming, should it actually be occurring. Some are very practical, while others are grandiose, to say the least. What is certain is that as the world’s population continues to grow and developing nations develop, the world’s need for space and energy will continue to grow. The need for space will accelerate deforestation. The need for energy will almost certainly increase the rate of fossil fuel burning. Listed below are a number of proposed “solutions” to combat global warming.
What is global warming? This is a fair question, as much written and said about “global warming”. The term is often misused and people tend ask questions like, ‘do you believe in global warming?’ This is a bit like someone asking an economist, whether they believe in inflation. It is difficult to know where to start when answering, What is Global Warming? This is because there are other hidden questions buried in the original one. Many people when asking the first question, are often also wanting to know if the warming is attributed to human activity ( anthropogenic); are greenhouse gases building up in the atmosphere?; and is the warming something they should be concerned about? The short answer to all those questions is YES!
Scientists use “global warming” in a precise way, to mean “a tendency for the globe to warm over a given period”. There is a great deal of scientific study focused on climate change, and the majority of scientists agree that the average global temperature is increasing. Check out some definitions of global warming here.
When
Have you ever read anything good about global warming? Why is all the news always bad?
Objectively speaking, any environmental change should have both positive benefits and negative effects. For example, theory predicts and observations confirm that human-induced warming takes place primarily in winter, lengthening the growing season. Satellite measurements now show that the planet is greener than it was before it warmed. There are literally thousands of experiments reported in the scientific literature demonstrating that higher atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations — cause by human activity — dramatically increase food production. So why do we only hear one side about global warming?
Climate change is any substantial change in Earth’s climate that lasts for an extended period of time. Global warming refers to climate change that causes an increase in the average temperature of the lower atmosphere. Global warming can have many different causes, but it is most commonly associated with human interference, specifically the release of excessive amounts of greenhouse gases. (EPA, 2006)
The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, a law in California, was signed by Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger on September 27, 2006. It sets up the first enforceable state-wide program in the U.S. to cap all greenhouse gas emissions from major industries that includes penalties for non-compliance. In signing the bill into law, Schwarzenegger declared, “We simply must do everything we can in our power to slow down global warming before it is too late… The science is clear. The global warming debate is over.”
Global warming is caused by an increase in the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is not a bad thing by itself — it’s what allows Earth to stay warm enough for life to survive.Although it’s not a perfect analogy, you can think of the Earth sort of like your car sitting out in a parking lot on a sunny day. You’ve probably noticed that your car is always much hotter inside than the outside temperature if it’s been sitting there for a while. The sun’s rays enter through your car’s windows. Some of the heat from the sun is absorbed by the seats, the dashboard and the carpeting and floor mats. When those objects release this heat, it doesn’t all get out through the windows. Some is reflected back in. The heat radiated by the seats is a different wavelength than the light of the sun that made it through the windows in the first place. So a certain amount of energy is going in, and less energy is going out. The result is a gradual increase in the temperature inside your car.
Global warming was once an uncommon term used by a few scientists who were growing concerned over the effects of decades of pollution on long-term weather patterns. Today, the idea of global warming is well known, if not well understood. It is not unusual to hear someone complaining about a hot day or a freak storm and remark, “It’s global warming.”
Well, is it? In this article, we’ll learn what global warming is, what causes it, what its current effects are and what the future effects could be. Although there has been a scientific consensus on global warming, some aren’t sure it’s something we need to worry about. We’ll examine some proposed changes in the United States’ national policies related to curbing global warming and the criticisms and concerns surrounding them.
Global warming is a significant increase in the Earth’s climatic temperature over a relatively short period of time as a result of the activities of humans.
In specific terms, an increase of 1 or more degrees Celsius in a period of one hundred to two hundred years would be considered global warming. Over the course of a single century, an increase of even 0.4 degrees Celsius would be significant.