Man-made global warming has a short history and a long future. We put out lot of carbon dioxide every year, and it ruins our ozone. In fact, we pump 11 billion tons of man-made carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year. The last three decades have seen the levels of greenhouse gases increase dramatically. Also, we use things like areosol cans and other things that contain CFC's (short for clorofluoro carbon), which increase the size of the ozone. Why is this whole bad? well, it is bad because it lets in sun rays, that really change the environment. they fry crops and the dirt, give people sunburn and skin cancer, and dry up all the water. In fact, some scientists say that in billions upon billions of years from now, the sun will suck up all the water in the ocean, get really big, then shrink and become a black hole. But don't worry, that won't happen anytime soon. |
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 This is a picture of our ozone layer, the whole we have made into it (click on it to go to a special global warming site) Quotes about global warming: "Stopping global warming is not just about saving the environment for hunters, fishermen, hikers, and other outdoor enthusiasts of today and tomorrow. Global warming is a matter of national security. Will we have to fight our neighbors for fresh water and food?" -General Wesley Clark "Our generation has inherited an incredibly beatufil world from our parents... we must not be the generation responsible for irreversibly damaging the environment." -Richard Branson, Global Initaitive Summit in New York September 2006 "The climate crisis may at times appear to be happening slowly but in fact it is a true Planetary Emergency. The voluminous evidence suggests strongly that, unless we act boldly and quickly to deal with he causes of global warming, our world will likely experience a string of catastrophes icluding deadlier Hurricane Katrina's, in both the Atlantic and the Pacific" -Al Gore in "The moment of truth" Vanity fair, April 17, 2006 "As for my country, The Maldives, a mean sea-level rise of 2 meters could virtually submerge the entire country of 1,190 small islands, most of which barely rise over 2 meters above mean sea level. That would be the death of the nation" -Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, President of the Republic of the Maldives "One person flying in an airplane for one hour is responsible for the same green house gas emissions as a typical Bangladeshi in a whole year" -Beatrice Schell, European Federation for Transport and Environment, november 2001 "Its not something we can adapt to... we can't let it go another ten years like this" - Jim Hansen, NASA "America is still in denial about the energy problem and a few politicians are prepared to accept painful solutions. We have a peculiar situation in companies like General Electric and BP are more progressive on energy policy than the administration and congress" -James Cooper, Permorcratic Congress man for Tennessee. July 26, 2005 "The weight of the evidence for climate change is very strong indeed and it had gotten stronger over the years since i began chairing the meetings of the climate scientists in 1988. The rate of warming is now greater than it had been for 10,000 years; that means the rate of climate change is greater than it has been for 10,000 years" - Sir John Houghton, the first chairman of the UN's intergovernmental panel on climate change, 2006 |
Global warming must be stopped, it doesn't do any thing to help the earth at all, and the worst part is that it is man-made. Also, climate change had speeded up considerably, and its economical disadvantages have become clearer and closer. This has much more of an effect than it looks, unlike visible ones such as the re-adaptation of animals, and melting ice. Like in Siberia, the so-called permanent layer of permafrost, a type of frozen soil, which has had existed since the last ice age, is actually melting, So now, areas of Siberia have been turned into mini lakes which could release up to 70 billion tons of methane into the atmosphere. But another bad thing it is causing that you might not realize is that the extra carbon dioxide in the air is making the sea more acidic. So now, when fishermen pull up their nets, instead of the fish they have found for centuries, have either died out or migrated to cooler waters. Rising sea temperatures and changes in the chemistry of the ocean have caused lots of coral bleaching or disease in the great barrier reef. Experts believe that there will be no living coral in the great barrier reef by 2050. Also, many people fear that the ocean currents could change, or cut off altogether. Also, global warming is causing weather problems too. There are droughts, floods, and lots of hurricanes because of the rising sea temperatures. Recently the united states was hit by hurricane Katrina in New Orleands. It killed more than 1,300 people. this was all because New Orleans was below sea level, prone to hurricanes, and aware of its vulnerability, yet it did nothing to prepare for this storm. Also, despite what happened, the U.S government was ready to spend billions of dollars to re-construct to city. Scientists say that we have less than ten years to prevent the earth from permanent damage (which there already is) and the politicians continue to ignore the growing issue. Life definitely won't be the same in 50 years. Climate change also makes a huge difference in the food supply, and farmers are having to adapt to new temperatures, and new rain patterns, so they end up choosing new crops to grow because those crops fit the weather and climate. Also, in Australia there was a drought in the region that provided 40% of the countries crops. Global warming kills about 315,000 people a year through hunger, sickness, and weather disasters. There was a 30% increase in hospital admissions because of smog. There are also warnings in some places that children should be kept inside for their own safety, normally from smog. Run away climate change is also a big problem, even though most people don't believe in it. Run away climate change is when we cannot control global warming any more, it is the theory that how something might go wrong for the planet if a fairly small warming of the earth upsets the checks and balances of our planet. As the earth heats up, more green house gases are released from the soil and seas. Also, plants and trees that take the carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, start to die as the planet gets hotter and hotter. Run away climate change has happened to Venus, where the atmosphere is untenable for life as we know it on earth THE STERN REVIEW on october 30, 2006, Sir Nicholas Stern, former chief economist at the world bank, wrote a 700-paged report to the british government in which he said the world economy would shrink by 20% unless climate change was tackled urgently. Just as important, he said that solving the crisis would only cost 1% of the world's income if the leaders acted now. He said if actions were not taken in the next 50 years, floods from rising sea levels would displace up to 100 million people, melting glaciers would cause water shortage for 1 in 6 people of the worlds population, and up to 40% of the world's wild species would become extinct. To see some of his report... click here (don't worry, it isn't long) To see his presetation... click here (it isn't very long, so if it helps you can print it) |
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