Environmental Issues, Annotated Bibliography Example

DiMento, JFC, Doughman, PM. (2007). Climate Change: What It Means for Us, Our Children, and Our Grandchildren. The MIT Press, p. 3. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=PXJIqCkb7YIC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

One of the major reasons that the world has yet to make progress towards slowing down and reversing human effects on the earth is due to social reasons. Many politicians argue that enacting climate change policy is too expensive and not worthwhile. In the United States, the division between the political opinions of Democrats and Republicans is a major contributing factor to this situation. Typically, Republicans claim that global warming is a hoax while Democrats actively advocate for environmental policies.

Knight J, KenneyJJ, Folland C, Harris G, Jones GS, Palmer M, Parker D, Scaife A. (2009). Do Global Temperature Trends Over the Last Decade Falsify Climate Predictions? Bull.Amer.Meteor.Soc,. 90 (8): S75–S79. Retrieved from http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/media/pdf/j/j/global_temperatures_09.pdf

Global warming is typically thought of a process that involves the constant warming the earth’s surface. This study shows that global temperature change has slowed down within the last decade. Despite this, there is clear evidence that there has been climate change over a long time period and this is especially apparent when we graph temperature changes over each year.

NOAA. (2007). Patterns of greenhouse warming. GFDL Climate Modeling Research Highlights. Retrieved from http://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/cms-filesystem-action/user_files/kd/pdf/gfdlhighlight_vol1n6.pdf

This pamphlet summarizes the findings of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. These studies traced the patterns of greenhouse warming and concluded that summer warming over continents may be accompanied by drier soils, the most warming is expected to occur during the winter in North America and north-central Asia, warming in this century will occur more over land than oceans, and the increase of surface air temperatures in response to increasing greenhouse gas levels will not be geographically uniform.

Raupach R, Marland G, Ciais P, Le Quéré C, Canadell G, Klepper G, Field B. (2007). Global and regional drivers of accelerating CO2 emissions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104 (24): 10288–10293. Retrieved from http://www.pnas.org/content/104/24/10288

Carbon dioxide emissions are responsible for trapping heat in the atmosphere which is directly responsible for causing the Greenhouse Effect. These emissions have been increasing over the years as a result of several factors including more frequent use of fossil fuels and industrial processes. The article discusses the distribution of carbon dioxide emissions across the world, reasons for its release, and provides information on the growth of this practice.

Wentz FJ, Ricciardulli L, Hilburn K, Mears C. (2007). How Much More Rain Will Global Warming Bring? Science, 317 (5835): 233–5. Retrieved from http://www.sciencemag.org/content/317/5835/233.abstract

This article discusses the relationship between global warming and rain. It has been determined using climate models and scientific observation that the amount of water stored in the atmosphere will increase as the surface of the earth becomes warmer. While former studies indicate that precipitation will be released at only a portion of this rate, the group discovered that precipitation and surface warming have a direct relationship and an increase in one will lead to a proportional increase in the other. Therefore, global warming will cause a greater extent of precipitation.