Global Warming Summary, Essay Example

Almost all influential national science academies have called for urgent action on global warming issue and most authoritative scientific bodies suggest cutting level of global emissions by at least fifty percent by mid twenty-first century. The physical impact of global warming is apparent everywhere around the world from declining ice depth in the Arctic Ocean and higher discharge rates of glaciers to rise in occurrences of natural disasters and disappearing natural habitats. The impact is relatively more severe on developing countries as compared to developed countries due to poor infrastructure and low economic resources. The researchers also warn of the potential rise in diseases such as asthma and heart problems. The international community has tried to address the threat posed by global warming and the most high-profile collaboration to-date has been the Kyoto Protocol. But the treaty has failed to meet its objectives because it called for voluntary compliance and also exposed the ideological differences between the developed and the developing countries. U.S. argues that compliance will result in huge economic costs as well as put it at a competitive disadvantage against emerging economies who are being given a free hand. Emerging economies argue that they deserve an opportunity to grow without unfair burden just as developed countries did and moreover, developed countries contribute more towards global warming and as such, accept responsibility, too. But like any other global issue, global warming also has its fair number of skeptics who give various reasons such as flawed studies’ designs, cooling lower troposphere, and natural climate cycles. In addition, corporations with huge economic stakes such as oil corporations have also sponsored studies to cast doubt on the theory of global warming.