Global Warming

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Global Warming – A Social Problem for the Industrial Age |

Social Problems Section 01 |

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Barbra Mabe |

10/25/2011 |

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Global warming has been researched to uncover the cause for many years. Scientists have studied the natural cycles and events that impact the climate. But these cycles and events do not explain the amounts and the patterns of warming. The only way to explain the pattern is to include the effect of greenhouse gases that humans emit.

Global warming refers to the trend of the average world temperatures rising over a set amount of years. This rise in the temperature is due, in part, to the increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, mostly from factories and automobiles. A major reference to global warming is given in the term "greenhouse effect" which describes the way carbon dioxide builds up in the atmosphere and creates a roof through which light may pass in, but not out.

One of the first things scientists learned is that there are several greenhouse gases responsible for warming, and humans emit them in a variety of ways. Most come from the combustion of fossil fuels in cars, factories and electricity production. The gas responsible for the most warming is carbon dioxide, also called CO2. Other contributors include methane released from landfills and agriculture (especially from the digestive systems of grazing animals), nitrous oxide from fertilizers, gases used for refrigeration and industrial processes, and the loss of forests that would otherwise store CO2(National Geographic, 10/25/2011).

So what are some of the problems when dealing with the greenhouse effect and global warming? Ecologically speaking, the world will be changed in unexpected ways. A warming trend such as the one predicted (around 5 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century) would melt vast portions of polar ice caps, raising the sea level and flooding many low-lying regions in the world and weather patterns would be changed. For...