Global Warming - 5 Facts

Global warming is happening and some people still think it's not happening which is just fine, but even they have to admit the climate is changing. The planet constantly altering, we have to decide what we will do to adapt. Animals and plants are already changing the way they act by blooming and migrating sooner. With technology constantly changing, new variables are added to this equation of global warming that pessimistic scientists must take into consideration before they doom the planet. Now, for all those skeptics who think global warming doesn't exist, here are 5 facts about global warming.

1. The Planets Temperature Has Increased And Average of 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.6 of a degree Celsius) in the last 100 years. With the increase in green house gasses, the suns rays stay trapped and increase the world's temperature. It is predicted that the temperature will increase in coming years because more and more of the suns heat remains trapped here on earth.

2 The cause of the increase of climate change is Human activity producing pollution and green house gasses according to many scientists.

Heavy industry vigorously emits carbon dioxide, Nitrous Oxide, Ozone, and other gasses. With an increase in competition to create the most products of the best quality comes an increase in the production of green house gasses, but with new laws and filters, the amount of these gasses being emitted into the air has decreased.

3. If the temperature of the planet increases to a certain point, methane from the ocean can be released into the air and drastically increase the temperature of the earth to dangerous levels. This is not to scare anyone and may not even have to do with global warming or human green house gas production, however scientists believe methane released from the ocean ended the Permian era, killed off countless land and sea creatures, and raised the temperature of the planet considerably.

4.

People say that deforestation is a contributor to global warming right? According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), deforestation occurs at a rate of 53,000 square miles per year. This can negatively affect the atmosphere since trees are 50% carbon as well as cause environmental problems for the land which is used to having large forests on it.

5. There are more than 50 things you can do to stop or slow global warming including, lowering your thermostat, choosing energy efficient appliances and, taking showers instead of baths. Every little thing you can do to prevent energy from being wasted can help decrease the effect of human interaction with the earth's climate. Global warming or not, preventing the waste of energy doesn't hurt anyone.

Weather you believe humans are causing global warming or it is a natural occurrence that will pass, you still have to be aware of its effect on the world. Do some homework and learn about both sides of the debate. Now is the time when this topic is at its peak so it will help you to know a few facts.

Global Warming-The Facts

Temperature change is a normal occurrence on the changing earth that we live on. If we look back over the past 400,000 years, we see that the average temperature as determined by Antarctic ice-core records, show an 8-deg C change. The earth is normally about -4 to -5 deg C below the current temperature. This was during the four ice ages that occurred during this period.

The warm periods between the ice ages are relative short compared to the length of the ice ages which last about 100,000 years. Our current warm period has lasted longer than normal, about 6,000 years. About the same length of time that we have a recorded record of man on earth.

Carbon Dioxide levels have in the past followed along with the major changes in temperature. However in the past 200 years, this level has jumped and may have even prevented a return to another ice age.

The previous warm period was warmer that our current warm period and lasted almost as long as our current warm period followed by a 100,000 year ice age.

This may have been the time of the heavy forest growth and many fires, as the Carbon Dioxide levels also remained high. The Carbon Dioxide levels peaked at the same time that the warming levels peaked, but lasted much longer after the temperatures started to cool. This leads me to believe that the high Carbon Dioxide levels may have brought on the warm periods. As the Carbon Dioxide levels fell the temperature also fell.

If we look at the last 1,100 years, we see only about a one deg C change with the current temperature about equal to what it was about 1,000 years ago. During the last few years the temperatures have leveled off and may be cooling back down again.

With so many factors affecting our global temperatures, I would expect more drastic changes in the future and if history repeats itself, we could be in for another ice age.

If in fact anything man is currently doing is affecting the temperature by keeping the earth warmer, it would be a positive thing.

See: (http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/pastcc.html#ref) for more information.

In my life time I have seen large orange groves once common in north central Florida wiped out by colder weather and the land owners giving up and moved to more southern areas. I know that the reverse may have been true in other parts of the country and is only evidence that change is normal. There is an old saying, If you don't like the weather, just wait, it will change.

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