Global Warming

The steady increase in earth’s average temperature also known as global warming is mostly a result of the burning of fossil fuels as energy by humans. Research has shown that environmental changes on a global scale throughout the history of mankind as it has been documented, includes the melting of the polar ice caps, increased desertification, increased sea levels, and extinction of species on a massive scale. Global Warming now more evident than ever before presents a catastrophic threat to the future of our planet and life as we know it. Even more recent this can be seen in the increasing number, strength, of weather patterns and tornados in the last couple of years. The focus of this paper is the ramifications of human interaction, the attempts by society to combat the ever increasing threats of global warming, and what we as a society need to do in order to protect future generations. (Turk, J., Bensel, T., 2011)

The trapping of heat radiated from the Planet’s surface after it has absorbed energy from the sun is known as greenhouse gasses. In 1896 a Swedish Scientist named Svante Arrhenius presented evidence that doubling the carbon dioxide levels in the air would gradually raise global temperatures by five to six degrees Celsius that was evident in data yet ignored by other scientists that were fixated on explaining the ice ages. Arrhenius was able to understand the effects on the earth’s climate because of the heating process known as the greenhouse effect.

With almost half of the solar radiation reaching the surface of the earth being reflected back into space, and the other amount being saturated in to land masses, water masses, which warms the surface of the planet along with the atmosphere. This warming radiates energy, that transitions through the atmosphere returning to space. Because of small concentrations of greenhouse gases in the form of water vapor and carbon dioxide which converts some of the energy to heat that either absorbs or...