To have a stabilized greenhouse gas concentration in the earth’s atmosphere, there needs to be a reduction in the amount of CO2 usage. With the increasing amounts of CO2 being released into our air and a constantly decreasing number of trees so suck it up, earth’s atmosphere is starting to stay extra warm. This scenario, also known as climate change, is causing glaciers to melt and sea levels to rise.
Carbon Dioxide, a heavy odorless gas formed during respiration and by the decomposition of organic substances, is absorbed from the air by plants and trees during a process called photosynthesis. Having too much CO2 in our atmosphere is causing climate change. America currently emits 19% of the worlds CO2 gases. The more CO2 that’s emitted into the atmosphere the warmer earth gets.
Increased downpours are said to be an early sign of climate change. A recent study done by MIT and Caltech conclude that global climate change is affecting precipitation patterns. “Precipitation in extreme events will go up by about 6 percent for every one degree Celsius increase in temperature.” With these increased downpours it creates more flood warnings through out city’s and towns.
Another affect of climate change that we have seen is an increase in diseases. Warmer lands breed incredible amounts of insects, which then causes an increase in mosquito-borne diseases, such as malaria, dengue fever, and West Nile virus. Also an increase in summer’s temperature can cause more extreme heat waves.
Many animals are at danger now due to the affects of climate change. Polar Bears are finding it harder to survive, with ice melting fast and nowhere to rest, they are drowning. “A 2007 report from the U.S. Geological Service estimated that as a result of sea-ice decline, today’s population of about 22,000 polar bears would decrease by two-thirds by the year 2050.”
The keeling curve is a graph that measured the rise of CO2 levels in our atmosphere from the years1958-2000. Dr. Charles David Keeling, a professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, completed this study. Once a year that graph would seem to fluctuate. This was because during summer trees and plants would bloom, so this allowed them to intake more CO2, causing the CO2 levels in the atmosphere to decrease. He kept track of the measures by ppmv, Part Per Million Volume, which is the concentration of CO2 molecules mixed with the air molecules. During 1958 the levels were at 315 ppmv when the study ended in 2000 it was 367ppmv, showing a 52 increase in just 50 years.
Although CO2 is a necessity on earth, action needs to be taken to help balance it out. If we keep increasing our amount of carbon emissions we release we will soon destroy our earth. Many scientist say that if the earths temperature keeps rising it will soon make it warm enough to melt glaciers, causing the sea levels to rise and parts of earths land to be submerged underwater.
Sources
• House, Jo, and Victor Brovkin. "Climate & Air Quality ." *Millennium
Assessment*. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2010. <
www.millenniumassessment.org/documents/document.282.aspx.pdf
• "Freedom Socialist Newspaper --- Too much carbon dioxide and too few trees." Freedom Socialist Party - socialism.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2010. http://www.socialism.com/fsarticles/vol26no6/carbondioxide.html
• "Keeling Curve." Earthguide: Educational Resources in Earth, Marine, Environmental and Planetary Sciences. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2010.
Footnotes
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090817190638.htm
http://www.neaq.org/conservation_and_research/climate_change/effects_on_ocean_animals.php
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