Global Warming: Global Concern, Research Paper Example

Introduction

The concept of global warming is relatively new, having only attracted any significant attention since the end of the 20^th century. It has, however, commanded the interest of the world in that time and is an increasing source of debate, particularly in recent political arenas. This is not unexpected; if global warming is in fact an actual process, and one which humanity is speeding along, the consequences for all life on earth are as immense as can be imagined.

Simply put, global warming is exactly what most people believe it is. It refers to a rise in the average temperature of the planet’s surface, as well as that of the oceans, and it specifically refers to an increase that is not attributed to more gradual, natural geological or atmospheric conditions. The Earth has had ice ages and periods of extended, severely warm conditions many times in its history; currently, in fact, a mild ice age is still with us, as it it unusual in the planet’s life to have two polar ice caps. “This current ice age has persisted for the past 2.5 million years. All human civilizations have occurred within one geologically brief interglacial period, and there is no indication when this ice age will come to an end” (120).

That notwithstanding, recorded and consistent increases in global temperatures, combined with a greatly increased awareness of fuel consumption’s impact on all environments, have given rise to a worldwide concern. It is largely believed that human activity has accelerated natural forces in changing the climate of the Earth to an unnatural degree, and that this may well have dire consequences on the suitability of Earth to support life in the future.

Causes and Speculations

Global warming, as popularly understood, means that there is an imbalance in how the energy of the sun is taken in, then released back into space. Certain atmospheric gases, or “greenhouse gases”, are vital to this process; they trap sufficient warmth and elements to keep the planet equipped for life. Moreover, they are largely natural emissions from tectonic and other surface activity, and they are desperately needed: “Without the greenhouse gases, Earth’s average temperature would be about -4 degrees Fahrenheit…” (Maslin 10).

An excess of such gases, however, translates to too much warmth and radiation unable to leave the atmosphere, and here is where the great controversies come in. There is endless debate as to how much human activity is responsible for the increase in collected greenhouse gases, specifically since the Industrial Revolution of the the early 20^th century, when the burning of fossil fuels took on unprecedented proportions. Whether or not this activity is ultimately responsible for the global temperature trends, the fact remains that, in a remarkably brief period of time by any geophysical standard, mankind contributed an enormous influence to atmospheric conditions.

Experts from opposing sides weigh in with scientific data to support their views, and a substantial faction asserts that there is no actual global warming occurring, save that of a temporary process undertaken by the planet without human assistance. Those who refute that anthropogenic, or human-caused, activity has created a dangerous potential for global warning typically refer to the fact that climate itself, as opposed to weather, is an inexact and massive study in itself. It is one thing to have evidence of severe and extended periods of heat and cold in the Earth’s history, as we do; it is another to predict with any reasonable degree of accuracy how such periods, which have never come in any ordered sequence, will again appear.  Data here is lacking because, even with physical evidence to support it, the time frames and unpredictability factors are both too vast for actual theories to be established. “Only a few scattered geological refereed papers and fewer books have addressed the history and natural causes of climate change over time” (Sorokhtin et al xi). The subject is literally one of the history of the planet, and the variables are staggering.

For instance, it is documented that tectonic activity, especially that of volcanoes and earthquakes, releases very high levels of warming gases into the atmosphere. This is, in fact, thought to be the reason the Earth has broken free of past ice ages in which the entire surface of the planet was literally frozen. There is no other known accounting for such a phenomenon; by all rights, a frozen surface would perpetually reflect heat back to the sun and remain frozen forever. Something had to disrupt the cooling, and on such a scale that the world’s climate would warm enough to encourage life, and volcanic activity is the most likely source of such a potent influence. There is certainly evidence that such activity, even from an isolated occasion, could influence planetary climate for years; the 1815 explosion of the mountain of Tambora in Indonesia was so devastating that crops failed, illness broke out worldwide, and the atmosphere was darkened for years.

Moreover, other natural factors come into play, in regard to shaping and shifting the Earth’s climate. Solar flares of especially intense power and range disrupt the planet’s protective magnetic field and “punch holes” through the relatively delicate layers of the upper atmosphere. Then, tectonic plate movement must inevitably translate into atmospheric, and therefore temperature-related, effects. It gives rise to the volcanoes, as it also reestablishes ocean levels, and these levels also dramatically affect climate as ocean currents literally convey surface temperatures around the world.

In a very real sense, the climate is a symptom of everything occurring on and below the earth’s surface, as well as being subject to impacts from beyond the atmosphere. These things known, it becomes increasingly difficult to properly determine, not only how much influence mankind actually has on global temperature, but even if that influence is strong enough to trigger on a global warming. “Even though we know that anthropogenic (human-induced) climate change has been imposed over natural climate variability, we are often not able to clearly distinguish between them to isolate the climate change signal” (Goldstein vi).

Conclusion

All debate aside, mankind has been emitting unprecedented levels of gases into the atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels, and for over a century. While this time span is extremely minute in geophysical terms, it is the actual output that is the chief variable in the equation. The planet may naturally release a revolutionary amount of warming gases into the air, or it may not. What the planet cannot accommodate, however, is what mankind does by itself in this regard. That is to say, no natural geophysical response to a man-made influx of environmental change can be expected; what humans do here is, in every sense, a planetary wild card.

Strikingly, those who argue that no man-made global warming is occurring disregard this most crucial factor. It is fine to assert that the increasing changes in temperature consistency being recorded are not the result of human activity, but of natural processes. This does not address, however, that such processes, natural as they may be, could have disastrous consequences for life on Earth; the planet’s history is replete with epochs wherein the climate was completely uninhabitable because life, as such, is not a concern of the planet itself. Placing blame on natural processes does not in any way lessen the threat to life.

Moreover, whether mankind’s activity has already had a pronounced effect on climate does not remove the fact that it can have no good effect. The best case scenario as held by those who dismiss global warming is that humans have virtually no impact. Logically, however, impact must be felt when a practice clearly influential to the environment and the atmosphere is allowed to continue unchecked. If global warming is not a direct threat now, mankind’s fossil fuel burning activity can be counted on to do, then, one thing only: expedite its coming.

Works Cited

Goldstein, N. Global Warming. New York, NY: Infobase Publishing, 2009. Print.

Maslin, M. Global Warming: Causes, Effects, and The Future. St. Paul, MN: MBI Publishing Company, 2007. Print.

National Research Council Committee on Status and Research Objectives in the Solid-Earth Sciences. Solid-Earth Sciences and Society: A Critical Assessment. Washington, D.C.: National  Academies Press, 1993. Print.

Sorokhtin, O. G., Chilingar, G. V., and Khilyuk, L. F.  Global Warming and Global Cooling: Evolution of Climate on Earth. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Elsevier, 2007. Print.