During these contemporary times and through the increase in public awareness of global warming, one can determine that through information such as An Inconvenient Truth and newspaper articles society shows an increased need to protect the environment and reduce the amounts of greenhouse gasses in th
e environment. The increased awareness can be seen in the polls as well; the topic of interest for all politicians is global warming.
The priority within national, United States Politics, is that of global warming. The candidates from both parties know that with the upcoming election in 2008 there will need to be plans to outline and help ease some of the energy usage by Americans. American is the number one producer of green house gases; slowly people are seeing the importance on a reduction of these gases. The public, however, is reflecting traditional party views. The democrats are more in favor of change than the republicans. Former President Al Gore, while doing a show on public radio, announced that the primary issue come November 2008 will be global warming, and the next administration must be greener than any other (Agence France-Presse).
What exactly is climate change and global warming? During the past 100 years the earth has raised one-degree. Within the science community there is some disagreement as the whether or not the change is caused by humans, accelerated by humans, or if this is simply a natural cycle of the earth. The school of thought is the greenhouse effect. Emissions and other gases rise to the higher atmosphere, these gases are known as greenhouse gases, which then hold in energy. This energy then makes the earth warmer. The increased temperature contributes to climate change, which is the long term weather patterns and temperatures of the earth (Climate Change).
It is important to remember that the greenhouse effect is not a bad thing. The effect is used to keep the earth warm enough to survive and sustain life. The main problem is the rapid acceleration of the greenhouse effect through the increased amounts of the greenhouse gases. Global warming must b
e a significant change in temperature in a short period of geologic time (Grabinowski).
There have been many observations made about the current climate situation, from 1906 to 2006 and they include (Grabinowski):
• Of the last 12 years, 11 have ranked among the warmest years since 1850.
• The ocean's temperature has increased at lest to depths of 3,000 meters; the ocean absorbs more than 80 percent of all head added to the climate system.
• Westerly winds are growing stronger.
• Droughts are more intense, have lasted longer and covered larger areas than in the past.
• There have been changes in extreme temperatures - hot days and heat waves have become more frequent, yet cool days and nights have become less frequent.
• In increase in Atlantic tropical storm intensity directly correlating to the ocean's surface temperature.
Why is global warming such a big problem, and why is more not being done? People fear things when the scientific community speaks. The motives for not going green are purely economic. The fear of a loss of jobs since there would not be as much of a need. The other thing is that there would be less revenue for the government and large industry, seeing as how gasoline has become just like the cash crops were during colonial times. Global warming cannot be stopped, yet we can reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (Grabianowski).
How can you make a difference within the global community to help stop global warming? The main thing that people can do is to reduce the overall emissions within the global, national, and local comm unities. People are able to commute in groups, car pools. Car pools can take four cars off the road. If you pick up three people in a car pool you take those three cars off the road. Less cars means less congestion, less congestion means less traffic, and less traffic means less time idling and still releasing emissions. We are also able to help by recycling and reducing the amount of landfill pollutants. If items are recycled they are reused and not turned into waste, which produces greenhouse gases we protect the atmosphere even more. Even simple things like turning the lights out will help reduce overall admissions by ensuring there is less power being produced, and less gases from the factory being pumped into the air. Everyone is capable of solving global warming, thorough simple behavior changes and simple conservation ("We Can Make A Difference!").
In reality the solution is not to stop global warming, it is to get the natural system back in balance. We as a society must maintain the global scale, which is balanced. The greenhouse gases are necessary, and produced naturally, in order to keep the earth at a proper temperature. Ultimately, we can make minor changes. These changes help to influence the global politics. Though there is a minor threat to the economy, we must take into consideration the future of the humanity. Temperature changes can cause drastic changes and wipe out human existence, the goal is to protect us. Some people may lose their jobs, yet in the end the green market will open up for new jobs.
Works Cited
Agence France-Presse. "Global Warming Heats up White House Race." Seed 31 May 2007
"Climate Change: What it is..." United States Environmental Protection Agency. 23 Oct. 2006. United States Environmental Protection Agency. 31 May 2007.
Grabianowski, Ed, and Jonathan Strickland. "How Global Warming Works." How Stuff Works. How Stuff Works. 31 May 2007.
"We Can Make a Difference!" United States Environmental Protection Agency. 23 Oct. 2006. United States Environmental Protection Agency. 31 May 2007.
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