Global Warming
...the health of people, wildlife, and economics around the world. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the problem is mainly carbon dioxide and other fossil fuels. These fuels, like water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone, are then collected like a blanket in the atmosphere. Energy from the sun is supposed to drive earth's weather and climate and heat the earth's surface, and in turn the earth radiates energy back into space. When the atmospheric greenhouse gases trap some of the outgoing energy, the heat is retained somewhat like the glass panels of a greenhouse. As a result, the planet becomes warmer. In fact, 2002 was the second warmest year on record, right behind 1998, and just ahead of 2001 (EPA). Although earth temperatures fluctuate naturally, warming over the past fifty years is the fastest in history and experts believe that the trend is accelerating. Scientists are working day and night to come up with ways and means to diffuse this problem, and many of them have been successful. The problem is that people do not seem to be interested in solving the problem. The knowledge of how to fix the problem is available, but the will to solve it is not.
It had previously been thought that global warming was a problem that started during the 20th century, but new research has led to new conclusions. Ruddiman (2005) reported that recent experiments had shown that concentrations of carbon dioxide began rising about 8,000 years ago. Around 3,000 years later, methane levels also began climbing. Both carbon dioxide and methane are heat trapping gases that contribute to the global warming problem. It is thought that human activity related to farming, primarily agricultural deforestation and crop irrigation, could have helped spike the methane and carbon dioxide levels in the earth.
Based on new studies by the Environmental...
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