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The Facts of Global Warming
Global warming is happening worldwide whether people want to believe it or not.
Due to global warming, the world is experiencing many changes and something’s that are
not good for the environment. One of the many negative changes is that the polar ice
caps are melting with raises the seas and causes a lot of consequents. In this paper we will
explain my position and how we feel on the topic of the melting polar ice caps due to
global warming. In the rest of the paper we will give some stats and facts showing how
bad global warming can actually be.
What is global warming? “…the build-up in the atmosphere of carbon dioxide –
and a grocery list of other gasses, including methane, chlorofluorocarbons, nitrous oxide,
ozone and others – is causing it [the earth] to warm (Steger and Bowermaster, pg. 3).”
Many scientists and people that explore the topic feel this way, but some scientists do not
believe that the earth is experiencing global warming as stated above. According to the
video, “Global Warming – The Signs and The Science”, for the last century and a half, the
earth’s temperature has dramatically risen (PBS Home video).
The main controversy is that there are three groups of people in the picture. You
have the people that feel extremely strong on the existence and relevance of the issue.
Another group of people that are in the picture are the people that don’t care, and then we
have the people that don’t think that anything is happening and make up excuses for the
things that are happening.
The controversy that we get out of this is that people on one side could say that
some of the money spent on research for global warming could be spent better elsewhere.
The people that don’t care obviously do not support the issue and can be hard to continue
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on something that other people don’t support. The combination of people being all about
the prevention on the topic of global warming and the people that don’t care/don’t believe
just causes controversy. We don’t really understand why some people do not think that
global warming is significant or ever happening. So the three main groups, we agree with
the people that want to take immediate action on the topic of global warming and the
melting polar ice caps. To be honest this is something that we really don’t want to mess
with. For example, a lot of people feel that the “global warming” is all a part of the
natural cycle (Global warming skeptics).
For many millions of years the earth has gone through heating and cooling cycles.
The present warming cycle was first noticed in 1880. Over the course of several years,
the warming peaked in 1940, then gradually declined for several years and lasted for
about 30 years. After that the warming trend accelerated and presently the world is
experiencing global warming which is causing record temperatures to be recorded
(Christianson, p. 159).
As a result of global warming, the polar ice caps are melting in the Arctic and
Antarctic. The scientists who study global warming are watching the polar ice caps
because they are “a highly sensitive region and it is being profoundly affected by the
changing climate (Natural Resources Defense Council).” The average temperatures in
the Polar Regions are rising more quickly than any other region in the world. Because of
that, the ice shelves, glaciers, and sheets are melting at a very fast pace. The melting of
the ice is a major cause of adverse effects on the earth’s total environment. The melting
of the ice also increases global warming.
The reason that the melting polar ice caps contribute to global warming as well as
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being the result of global warming is very complex. When ice is present, much of the
heat from the sun is reflected back into space. This process keeps the earth from getting
too warm. Possibly because of the greenhouse effect, the polar ice is melting. Since there
is less ice at the polar caps now, the water and land is absorbing much of the warmth and
raising the earth’s temperature (Kluger, pg. 5).
Quite a few scientists around the globe have studied parts of the ecosystem and
have found there are negative effects happening every day. One of the logical negative
effects is rising sea and ocean levels. “…rising sea levels threaten low-lying areas around
the globe with beach erosion, coastal flooding, and contamination of fresh water supplies
(Natural Resources Defense Council, pg. 2).” The flooding in the seas and oceans is
