Global Warming Fact or Fiction

Written By Admin
Dated: June 11, 2007

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Global Warming: Fact or Fiction?

Global warming has been a buzz-word for environmentalist groups for many years now, making it almost as meaningless and overstated for some people as the words “weapons of mass destruction”. The truth about global warming is that the Earth is indeed getting warmer, however it is also true that we do not know exactly what is causing it. This is the source of the debate that rages in the political and environmental arenas.

Global warming is defined as the rise of the average temperature of the Earth’s near-surface layer of air as well as the oceans, and extends to the projected continuation of that rise. The concern is that global temperatures, as they rise, will change ecosystems planet wide, wreaking havoc upon many species who cannot adapt quickly enough, and damaging the environment, possibly beyond repair. The melting of the polar ice caps that could occur with global warming could change the landscape of our world, flooding many regions and causing damage to people and property as well.

From the point of view of those who blame our society for the increase in global temperatures, global warming can be traced back to the release of green-house gases into the environment. Without any green-house gases in our atmosphere, the Earth would be an average of 54 degrees Fahrenheit, making the planet uninhabitable for our kind of life.

The problem, according to those who are blaming people for global warming, is that we have released more green-house gases into the atmosphere than would normally, naturally have been released. This increases the green-house effect, trapping more heat close to the surface of the Earth and causing the planetary temperature rise that we are seeing.

These green-house gases are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and ozone, primarily, and are released by many of our daily activities such as driving our cars, raising herds of cattle and farming acres of rice paddies to feed our growing populations, and by burning coal for energy, among other things. The effects are made worse by the fact that we are cutting down trees at an alarming rate and not reforesting many used up areas, leading to fewer trees to absorb and process the carbon dioxide in the air.

Another concern is that the green-house gases cause what is known as a feedback effect, in which the warming of the surface temperatures lead to a worsening of the conditions. The climate change of the Earth from Co2 emissions, for example, leads to the evaporation of water, which accumulates in the atmosphere and causes further warming.

Many of the unfortunate events of recent years are being attributed to global warming, including heat waves and unusual temperature rises, the warming of the ocean and related consequences, the melting of the glacial ice, and the warming of the poles. Some people go even further, blaming early springs, the spread of disease, plant and animal population changes, the bleaching of coral reefs, downpours and flooding, and droughts and fires on the increase of the global temperature.

If these environmental groups are correct, then it would take an immediate cessation of the use of green-house gases for an effect to be felt a hundred years from now. The changes to our society would have to be extensive and complete, with the complete replacement of our use of fossil fuels for energy and a total reevaluation of our daily lifestyles. Plastics would likely have to be eliminated because they are a petroleum product.

There are groups who see this as a waste of our resources, however, and would point out that global warming is not the problem that many groups and individuals make it out to be. While it is not generally considered a good thing to release emissions from our cars and burn coal for energy, it is also not the detrimental problem that it has been made out to be.

These groups feel that global warming is a natural phenomena, representing a cycle of rising and falling temperatures and climate changes that occurs regularly in the Earth’s history. They cite the former ice ages and the creep and decline of the glaciers as a normal process of the Earth’s cycles long before humans ever became responsible for increased carbon emissions and green-house gases.

According to these groups, the levels of carbon dioxide and other green-house gases that we emit are not enough to have a significant impact on the Earth’s temperatures. Instead, they blame a solar cycle for the increase in temperatures on Earth. Their argument is that the sun, like our planet, follows a natural cycle, and that at some times the emissions of heat and radiation from the sun are greater than at others. The increase in green-house gases, has little to no impact on the Earth’s temperature, which is actually being altered by the sun’s current emission levels.

They also point out that even if we are causing the planet to warm, alarmists are spouting information about the numbers of heat related deaths and ignoring another important figure. The number of deaths prevented by global warming may be close to the same as the numbers caused by them as winters become slightly warmer and less likely to cause cold-related deaths.

Whichever group that you choose to listen to, it is always good to get the solid facts and information from both sides of the argument. There are many things that could contribute to global warming, and almost as many theories about it as there are scientists and environmentalists.