Global Warming

GLOBAL WARMING
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(26th April, 2012)
Global Warming
The Earth is warming up faster than eve and there is little or no doubt that our activities (human activities) are to blame. Warming has occurred due to the increase in greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide which we put into the atmosphere at a massive rate. Burning of fossil fuels has already increased the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide to their highest for the last 20 million years (Casper, 31).
Many environmental researchers are of the belief that the Earth has been warming up at an alarming trend for the last two hundred years. They say that our activities are responsible for this warming. It started with the industrial revolution, about 1750. At that time, people began to use machines in more areas of life, from heating, to transportation, to building and manufacturing. The machines, powered by burning fuels such as, oil, coal, natural gas and wood, emit carbon dioxide and other wastes. These chemicals then rise to the atmosphere (The protective layer that covers our planet) (Amthor, & Pritchard, 52).
Certain other gases and especially carbon dioxide, when released into the atmosphere, act like an insulating blanket. They trap heat and hold it close to the Earth`s surface. Scientists call this the greenhouse effect. (The gases work in more or less the same way as the windows on a greenhouse structure).
For life to exist on the planet, we need heat as much as possible among several other natural conditions. The atmosphere comes in handy at this point by helping to trap heat from the sun. To see the difference the atmosphere makes, take a look at the sun and the moon. Both are the same distance from the sun and thus receive the same amount of energy (Amthor, & Pritchard, 56). The moon however, does not have an atmosphere; therefore, its average surface temperature is -18 degrees centigrade while the Earth`s is 15 degrees centigrade. At the lunar surface, life as we know it on earth would not stand a chance.
Normally carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere in small amounts. This is just enough to keep temperatures on Earth comfortable for our planet`s living things. The burning of fuels however, has been increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Similar to putting an extra blanket on your bed, the extra carbon dioxide blanket has been making the planet warmer. Warmer temperatures could be music to many; however, it could lead to serious negative effects to our planet.
So far, global warming has not been very substantial. The average temperature of the earth has increased by little more than 0.6 degrees centigrade in the last 100 years (LeRoux, 79). This change is so small that some scientists argue that it is just a natural fluctuation and not a trend. Other scientists say that there is a great deal of evidence to support global warming: summers are getting hotter and winters are getting milder. Glaciers ar...