Research Essay

Global Warming

(Thomas Colton)

(The Name of Your School)

 

(Name of Course)

(Your Name) 

(Date) 

Global Warming

Introduction

Although climate change is still not accepted by everyone, most knowledgeable sources believe that there is sufficient evidence to conclude that the earth is getting warmer, and that we are already feeling the effects of climate change. For example, an article in the authoritative British Economist magazine mentioned nearly 20 years ago that all the evidence on climate change points toward global warming as the cause, and the source of that global warming is human activity ("What to do," 2000). Knowledgeable sources, such as those who write for the Economist, have come to embrace the concept of global warming due to an overwhelming amount of supporting evidence such as that given in a series of reports by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). One of these IPCC reports (made on the eve of the December 2000 climate change conference at the Hague) forecasted that temperatures on earth could rise by an alarming "10 degrees F" in the 21st century (as cited in MacLeod, 2009, p. 6).

Other organizations engaged in climate study have even gone as far as to predict specific climate changes for different parts of the world. One of them, the US Global Change Research Program , has forecasted that Southern California's winter rains will show a very significant increase, and the amount of winter snow accumulating in the Rocky Mountain Range will show a decrease of similar proportions, "...if temperatures rise by 5 to 10 degrees [due to global warming]...." (as cited in Spotts, 2013, para. 9). In like fashion 30 leading climate scientists, in an important report to the European Union, made the astonishing claim that over the next twenty years or so, summer temperatures in the Greek Islands will become too hot for tourism, the South of Spain will literally dry up, Atlantic Salmon will no longer be found in the River Loire, and Britain and Scandinavia will suffer heavy rainfall and major flooding (as cited in MacLeod, 2009). What is most significant about the EU report for Pacific Islanders was its forecast for sea levels to rise by "8 to 12 inches" and flood many low-lying areas (as cited in MacLeod, 2009, p. 6).

If the earth's climate is indeed getting warmer then Pacific Islanders must be concerned with international efforts to reverse the effects. Global warming is occurring in all corners of the earth and it is largely due to human activity. Scientists and others who are concerned with global warming must campaign to persuade governments, industry, and individuals that global warming is really happening.

Three Examples of Global Warming

Global warming is a popular topic in the media today. An examination of what scientists and government officials are saying in the media shows that global warming is clearly a serious concern with impact in locations as far away as the Arctic circle or as near as our own backyards.

As the earth's Polar Regions are especially sensitive to any increase in temperature, there are many examples of what rising temperatures are doing to our coldest climate zones. For instance, the author of an article published by ABC News Online reported on a study by a US-led team of geologists linking the melting of Antarctic ice shelves to man-made global warming. The study argued that a dramatic increase in air temperatures over the past few decades was enough to trigger the collapse of the huge Larsen B ice shelf. The study supported this claim by pointing out that since the 1950s temperatures have risen approximately 2 degrees Celsius, vast areas of the ice shelves have melted, and 87% of the glaciers associated with the ice shelves have receded (Antarctic ice shelf, 2005). Reese, Albrecht, Mengel, Asay-Davis, & Winkelmann (2018) pointed out that wide-spread ice shelf thinning reduces their restraining force resulting in “accelerate[d] upstream glacier flow” (page, 1969). Scambos et al. (2017) used a several different sources of evidence to conclude that accelerated glacier flow will speed up Antarctica’s present rate of ice loss over the next one to two centuries. The authors posited that this increased rate of ice melt could raise sea levels by as much as three meters (flooding most low-lying coastal areas) over the next few centuries (2017).

Global warming is also being felt in the more populated areas of the world. Scientists in the US are linking several instances of severe weather, most notably Hurricane Katrina, to global warming. Climatologist Kerry Emanuel of Massachusetts Institute of Technology has offered evidence that Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005, was brought on by global warming. Emmanuel linked Hurricane Katrina with a predicted increase in severe hurricanes due to a rapid rise in atmospheric and oceanic temperatures in recent decades (as cited in Kluger, 2006). Global warming is also being felt in Europe. In the UK, Dr. Harry Bryden of the National Oceanography Center has observed global warming induced rising temperatures in North Atlantic currents and predicted that these warmer currents could “mean a cooler future for north-west Europe--possibly a lot cooler. And that future would be close; the change could happen over the course of two or three decades.” (as cited in “The Sound of Distant Howling,” 2005).

Even closer to home the effects of global warming are beginning to be felt in the Pacific region. These climate changes should be of the utmost concern to anyone living on one of the numerous small islands of the western Pacific. For example, scientists are already observing a significant sea level rise in the Pacific Ocean. This rise is causing the small Pacific island of Tuvalu to gradually sink into the water (Sheehan, 2000).

The examples of climate change being observed in the world do not appear to be coincidental or attributable to natural climate variation. The facts are undeniable. The world is experiencing serious climate change and that change is due primarily to global warming that is driven by human activity.

Convincing Our Leaders That Global Warming Is a Reality

In spite of the abundant evidence of global warming being collected by scientists and others, conservative lawmakers in Congress have yet to come to grips with the problem. Conservative lawmakers need to be made aware that global warming is actually happening and serious action needs to be taken.

Convincing conservative lawmakers in Congress that the world has a serious global warming problem should begin by ensuring that the most influential conservative members of Congress are aware of what global warming is already doing to the world. Ordinary citizens can bring the effects of global warming to the attention of these lawmakers by sending letters or emails to them. There are many examples of what global warming is doing in our coldest regions which can be used for this task. For instance, since the early 1990s there has been a rapid meltdown of several large ice shelves on the continent of Antarctica that many scientists believe is at least partly linked to man-made greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (Perkins, 2001). Newsweek reporter Sharon Begley noted that some of these Antarctic ice shelves are only 50% as large as they were before the meltdown began. Also, in the Arctic, scientific data have shown that the polar ice cap is only 60% as thick as it was just a half century ago (Bessieres, 2001). The seriousness of these effects in our polar regions will be difficult to dispute, even for anti-global warming conservative lawmakers in Congress

In addition, conservative lawmakers in Congress ought to be inundated with expert opinion on the seriousness of global warming. Leading scientists have the prestige and expertise needed to convince even the most die-hard doubters that action against global warming needs to be taken now, before it is too late. For example, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists posted a graph on their Website showing that the sea level near Guam has been trending upward since approximately 1993 (Figure 1). If this recent trend continues, many low-lying Pacific islands might disappear below the ocean.

Figure 1. Mean Sea Level Trend for Guam and the Marianas Islands from 1900-2010. Reprinted from Tides and Currents (2008) by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The stated position of many conservative lawmakers in Congress is that large mandated cuts in greenhouse gas emissions will harm the economy. It needs to be pointed out to these lawmakers that this is not necessarily true. For example, there are many long-term economic benefits of using cleaner fuels. Marianne Lavelle (2001), an environmental reporter for US News and World Report, noted that a wide range of companies (outside oil) already understand the benefits of such regulation. They understand that stricter regulation will boost the demand for fossil-fuel substitutes and thus create new markets for oil substitutes, and environmentally friendly products.

Confronting conservative lawmakers in Congress with evidence and expert opinion that the world is already experiencing the harmful effects of global warming can spur them to action. Only then can we seriously begin the fight against global warming.

Conclusion

The examples of climate change being observed in the world are largely due to manmade global warming. Reducing the effects of global warming needs to be given serious attention by the US Government (the world’s leading producer of greenhouse gases). However, the blindness of conservative lawmakers on this issue must be overcome before any meaningful action can be taken against global warming.

References

Antarctic ice shelf collapse linked to global warming. (2005, August 04). Retrieved from www.abc.net.au/news/2005-08-04/antarctic-ice-shelf-collapse-linked-to-global/2073266

Begley, S. (2000). The Mercury's Rising. Newsweek, 136(23), 52. Retrieved from https://www.newsweek.com/us

Bessieres, M. (2001). Global warming: ignorance is not bliss. UNESCO Courier, 54(6), 10. Retrieved from https://en.unesco.org/courier

Kluger, J. (2006). The man who saw Katrina coming. Time, 167(19), 84. http://time.com/

MacLeod, A. (2000, November 6). Europe: global warming preview. Christian Science Monitor, 6. Retrieved from https://www.csmonitor.com

Perkins, S. (2001). Antarctic sediments muddy climate debate. Science News, 160(10), 150. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.2307/4012648

Reese, R., Albrecht, T., Mengel, M., Asay-Davis, X., & Winkelmann, R. (2018). Antarctic sub-shelf melt rates via PICO. Cryosphere, 12(6), 1969–1985. https://doi-org.ezproxy.umuc.edu/10.5194/tc-12-1969-2018

Scambos, T. A., Bell, R. E., Alley, R. B., Anandakrishnan, S., Bromwich, D. H., Brunt, K., … Steig, E. J. (2017). How much, how fast?: A science review and outlook for research on the instability of Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier in the 21st century. Global & Planetary Change, 153, p. 16–34. https://doi-org.ezproxy.umuc.edu/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2017.04.008

Sheehan, G. (2002). Tuvalu little, Tuvalu late. Harvard International Review, 24(1), 11. Retrieved from http://hir.harvard.edu/

The sound of distant howling. (2005). Economist, 377(8455), 11. Retrieved from https://www.economist.com/

Spotts, P. (2013, December 26). How is global warming affecting precipitation? New satellite to help explain. Christian Science Monitor, 12. Retrieved from https://www.csmonitor.com

Tides and currents. (2008, September 9) Retrieved from

https://www.weather.gov /climate/local_data.php?wfo=guam

What to do about global warming. (2000). Economist, (357)8197, 22. Retrieved from https://www.economist.com/