Global Warming

Environmental Issue Project

Final Project

Global Warming

Global warming has become perhaps one of the most complicated and daunting issues currently facing the world. As the warnings from our scientific community become louder, leaders around the world are beginning to make preparations to keep the detrimental effects of climate change at bay. While some people in our society would label global warming as merely a theory, others would identity it as a proven set of facts and an issue that must be addressed. Opinions on the issue vary from one end of the spectrum to the other. “Let us consider global warming to be both a premise that the environment of the world as we know it is slowly, but very surely increasing in overall air and water temperature, and a promise that if whatever is causing this trend is not interrupted or challenged life on earth will dynamically be affected” (Global Warming, 2010).

“Global warming is an overall state of existence that is the cumulative effect of hundreds of environmental factors” (Global Warming, 2010). It refers to the average temperature rise of our Earth’s atmosphere and oceans and the major changes seen in the levels of precipitation and wind patterns lasting for decades or longer as well as and its future projected continuation. The term Global warming is often used interchangeably in the scientific world with the name climate change.

There are many causes for these measurable changes seen in our environment. These causes are due to both human-made and natural factors. “Human causes include burning fossil fuels, cutting down forests, and developing land for farms, cities, and roads. These activities all release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Natural causes include changes in the Earth’s orbit, the sun’s intensity, the circulation of the ocean and the atmosphere, and volcanic activity” (United States Environmental, 2010). However, it’s the increasing human population and activities are that are significantly...