Bakheet Amrri

AES 220-01

Nov/10/06

Final Draft

Global Warming

We all live on the planet we call earth. It has been more than 4.6 billions years, and the earth has been through extraordinary changes in its climate, and the species that live on it. The earth has been transformed many times by nature, but now it’s facing a new transformation, not by natural events, but mankind. Are raising seas, unpredictable weather, and warmness of the global related to global warming? The whole world is facing a serious problem global warming, and we need to pay more attention to it before it’s too late.

However, some people don’t think so because they claim there is no evidence. In fact, there have been proven, such as the ice in the Arctic has been melting, oceans are rising, and unpredictable weather. These are just some of many proofs that almost all the scientists worldwide agree with. For just one reason, it’s so obvious to see the connections among the evidence and what have been happening around the earth.

One main cause for global warming is carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a gas that comes from objects such as coal and oil. When these objects burn, Carbon Dioxide CO2 goes up to mix with the air in the atmosphere which cause a layer that gets thicker and thicker every day. CO2 makes it hard for solar radiation to escape the atmosphere. Solar radiation is reflected by the earth and the atmosphere, but when there is too much CO2, solar radiation is absorbed and reemitted in all directions. In other words, too much CO2 traps the heat inside the planet and the outcome is the warming the surface of the earth and the lower atmosphere. While some CO2 is good, too much is very dangerous for the earth.

Rising oceans are just one of many noticeable results of global warming. Many floods have happened recently because the ice in the Arctic and on Greenland is melting too fast. Also, the ice on top of mountains is melting. Melting ice has no other place to go to but ocean. Slowly but surely, the sea level rises everyday. There are very many examples that have proved this. For example, Korea has seen a tragic flood in May of 2006. This is just one of many examples. Many people were killed or lost everything. In addition, some areas have already faced the reality of the global warming. Tofalu, a town in the Pacific Islands, in the Pacific Ocean, has been facing the rising Pacific Ocean since the last few years, and every time the tide of the water rises more and more.

Another visible result of global warming is unpredictable weather around the world. Hurricane Katrina, for example, came all of a sudden, and it destroyed New Orleans. The more the globe gets warmer, the more unpredictable weather we will face. There is a connection between the global warming and hurricanes. Global warming is increasing strength and powers the hurricanes. Hurricanes start first in hot places and the more the place is hot, the easier to become more powerful.

Therefore, since global warming is a fact and it’s going to be hard to defeat if no action has taken, there are many things that can be done now. There is Kyoto Protocol that is an amendment about reducing the use of coal and oil around the world. Almost all the countries agreed to sign the agreement expect the U.S. and the Australia. For some unknown reasons these two countries don’t want to sign the agreement.

The U.S. government doesn’t want to agree even though almost all the states have proposed many times. Still, Bush doesn’t want to sign the agreement with the other countries because he thinks if he signed the agreement, the economic would be affected. Also, there are other reasons, but there is an interesting part about the U.S. that is the U.S. government has already reduced its use of coal and oil. Also, produce more environmental friendly cars besides other things.

Finally, global warming seems to be a very bad matter that we can do something about before it’s too late. Unpredictable weather and rising oceans are really just some of global warming’s results. The first time I heard about global warming, I wasn’t sure about it, but after I read more I realized that we’re facing a big problem. It’s hard to not believe in global warming after hearing all the evidence.