Dire Predictions: Global Warming

Geography November 29, 2010 Dire Predictions Student Edition Chapter one of Dire Predictions Understanding Global warming does just now like the title of respect says, it gives the reader the essential basics of understanding the Global Warming issue. Chapter one gives essential culture covering a wide range of things including the natural and adult male impacts on climate, definition of a greenhouse gas and how it preserves temperature, positive and negative feedback loops, threatening human byproducts that affect the ozone, modes scientists study ancient climates, and it gives possible forthcoming Earth outcomes due to world(a) change.It is a really loaded chapter I know, but this information proves to be very valuable when learning about global warming. In fact, the information is so valuable that it screwt be covered by just stating a quick overview of the chapter, but needs a more detailed summary. Some natural variables that potentially affect the Earths climate inc lude the sun, volcanic eruptions, and Earths orbit. scarcely how exactly does something like a volcanic eruption effect climate?This is because Explosive volcanic eruptions modify the composition of the atmosphere by injecting small particles called aerosols into the atmosphere layer. These released aerosols engorge the solar radiation that would have reached Earths surface and consequently, it has cooling effect on Earths surface. The more talked about topic in chapter one however is the non-natural, or human induced impacts causing global warming. Humans burning of fossil fuels and release of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are both examples of human variables that affect global warming.CFCs are a kind of gas that is released by cooling apparatus such as the refrigerator. These gasses have been proven to destroy the ozone. Furthermore, the mass goes on to prove that the major impacts causing global warming are non natural but closelyly human do. It states that the hole in the oz one is non mostly caused by a natural increase in CO2 gasses but the release of CFC-11 and CFC-12 gasses by humans into the environment. As proof of the gasses affect on the ozone it states that the middling temperature of the globe has gone up from 13. degrees Celsius to 14. 5 degrees Celsius. It seems like a small amount of temperature increase but even one degree average increase can have a major influence on global warming. Finally, chapter one goes on to describe what go bys if these patterns persist. So what will happen if these patterns persist, and what effects will it have on agriculture and man? To better understand what will happen to us, we have to understand what the ozone layer does. The ozone layer protects us from prejudicious ultraviolet radiation.If these patterns persist the ozone will protect little and less ultraviolet radiation from entering Earths atmosphere. If this happens then the ice caps will blend which will be catastrophic to man and agriculture. According to http//www. tropical-rainforest-animals. com/Global-Warming-Effects. html some effects of global warming will be Floods Droughts, Heat waves, Extreme winter cold and snow fall, Tornadoes, Extreme storms, Tropical cyclones, hurricanes, and typhoons. You dont have to be a geography major to know that these types of effects will shoot a devastating blow to people and plants.Precipitation patterns will also change everywhere, messing up normal agricultural growth. Some more effects global warming will have on agriculture and animals is it will make trees produce leaves earlier, it will cause earlier greening on vegetation, it causes re-distributions of algae that will violent death animals that eat it to survive, and the ultraviolet radiation will ultimately poison humans and animals and destroy plants everywhere. If we have no ozone life will be unsustainable on Earth. But wait, all these horrible things dont have to happen we can do things to prevent global warming.We c an start to cooperate this not to happen by burning up less fossil fuels, thus reducing emissions into the ozone. Scientists and mechanics have recently been working together to make cars that produce less waste and are better for the environment. We can help by buying these kinds of cars and investing in this type of research. Another way to help is if we as a world unite and we set goals and laws that require fewer emissions from each country. Also, it may seem small but a way we can all help is by recycling things which cuts down the waste it takes to make whole impudently things.More ways you can help are by using less argumentation conditioning and heat, changing light bulbs to more naught efficient ones, buying energy efficient products, driving less or carpooling, using less racy water, and finally planting a tree. Although planting a tree or changing a light bulb may seem like a small way to help, if everyone in the world followed these suggestions emissions would be gr eatly reduced which could save the Earth. Scientists have worked together to try to understand the problem.By constantly recording new data and looking at old data they have come to a better understanding of what we use that causes these emissions and the way it affects us and our planet. A way scientists have studied the ancient atmosphere is by drilling into the ice caps and examining the trapped air. Also scientists are constantly observing the ozone layer to see every changes that might come. Scientists also look at what kind of molecules the ozone is made of and gasses that could destroy it. Learning about the problem is half the battle so we are on our way to a brighter tomorrow.I think the information given in the volume was good information based on scientific truths. The information in this book was very easy to follow as almost every page had a corresponding graph or picture to help you understand the information given. However one of the problems I had with the informati on in this book is I felt that it was really quick to discredit the other side of the argument with not much detail. When faced with an opposing point the author just basically says that all other views are wrong and moves on.Also, the information in this book jumped to something whole different every other page. But that being said I did learn a lot from reading this book. The thing I order most interesting in the book were some of the statistics given throughout the chapter. For example thought how long the gasses CFC-11 and CFC-12 last and how much more potent it is that carbon dioxide. withal after five hundred classs after CFC-12 is released, it is still 5,200 clock more potent than carbon dioxide. And five hundred years after CFC-11 is released, it is 1,620 times more potent that the carbon dioxide (Dire Predictions, p. 9). With CFC gasses and other harmful gasses lasting this long it is important to stop the release of these harmful gasses as soon as we can. Another thin g I found interesting in the book was the change in Mount Kilimanjaro snow coverage over time. First, it commemorates Mount Kilimanjaro during the year 1912 and it is covered in snow. That picture is followed by a picture of Mount Kilimanjaro during the year 2007, and the snow cover has almost all disappeared. Another statistic I found very interesting in chapter one is the graphs on page thirty-three.These graphs show the amount of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere before and up to 2005. The graphs show that the levels of these greenhouse gasses are pretty constant until it reaches the year 2005 When the graph line representing the gasses reaches to just before the year 2005, levels of all three of these gasses skyrocket. (Dire Predictions, pg. 33) Reading this book made me realize how serious the global warming issue is and how it is already affecting the world today. Due to global warming life as we know it could maybe come to an end.But dont start pu tting your bucket list together just yet. If we start doing things everyday to help reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses we can make sure that tomorrow is a brighter day, figuratively that is. The things stated earlier (using less air conditioning and heat, changing light bulbs to more energy efficient ones, buying energy efficient products, driving less or carpooling, using less hot water, planting trees) are all examples of everyday things we can do to help the environment and stop global warming.Another thing that people can do to help this problem is by educating themselves about global warming. By educating yourself about global warming you can solve the problem easier because you know the causes. Also you can educate other people about the importance of taking global warming into consideration. If everyone around the world pitches in to try to help, maybe the next book we read will be Optimistic Predictions.Works Cited Banerjee, Subhankar. Global Warming. spick-and-span York Times. 6 Oct. 2010. Mann, Michael E. , and Lee R. Kump. Dire Predictions Understanding Global Warming. New York, NY DK Pub. , 2009. Print. May, Elizabeth, and Zoe? Caron. Global warming for dummies . Mississauga, ON J. Wiley & Sons Canada, 2009. Print. Nodvin, Stephen C. Global Warming. encyclopedia of earth. 9 May. 2010. 29 Nov. 2010. . Yeatman, William. Global Warming Solutions/Cost/Science GlobalWarming. orgArchiveGlobal Warming 101 . Global Warming . N. p. , 9 Feb. 2009. Web. 29 Nov. 2010. .