Ecology Essay on Causes and Effect of Global Warming

For the past two centuries, scientists have noted the gradual increase in the earths temperatures. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, temperatures have risen by approximately 1.5 degrees in the past century. The gradual increase of temperatures over the earths surface, atmosphere, and oceans is referred to as global warming. It comes about with the formation of a blanket like layer over the earths surface, trapping heat and causing a warming effect on the earth. According to NASA, the gradual increase in temperatures is not a natural phenomena, but a result of man made activities (World Health Organization 2014). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change strongly attribute the rise in temperatures to human activities with over 98% of the climate scientists agreeing that the trend is set to get worse of the next couple of years. EPA approximates that temperatures are set to rise further by 2.1 to 12.1 degrees over the next century (World Health Organization 2014). Global warming is evident in the melting of the glaciers, rising sea levels, death of cloud forests, and scrambling wildlife to keep with the sudden changes. The figure below shows the continued rise in temperatures since 1880 up until 2014.

Causes of Global Warming

The continued rise of temperatures over the earths surface and atmosphere is gradually setting in changes that is both long term and short term, varying from one place to another. With the constant spinning of the earth on its axis, temperatures swirl, moving moisture from one location to another. The pattern sets in a new rhythm over the earths surface, atmosphere and water bodies. According to NASA, the major cause of global warming is emissions of gas from the Greenhouse (World Health Organization 2014). With the increased emissions of water vapor into the atmosphere, the level of carbon dioxide increases thus increasing atmospheric temperatures.

Increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere cause a substantial imbalance in the system. Additionally, poor waste management procedures, agricultural practices intensify the situation by adding other dangerous gases into the atmosphere such as nitrous oxide and methane (Peters et al., 2013). On the other hand, Wallace et al., (2014), argue that burning of fossil fuels, oil, coal, and natural gases aggravate the problem further by releasing additional global warming gases into the atmosphere Man made activities such as cutting down trees, burning forests to give room to pastures increase carbon accumulation in the atmosphere (Wallace et al., 2014). Carbon has the unique characteristic of surviving for long in the atmosphere, making the situation worse for coming generations (Crutzen et al., 2016) The figure below shows the annual greenhouse emission by sector in most industrial countries.

Source: http://globalwarming-facts.info/causes-global-warming-human/

Effects

The gradual increase in atmospheric temperatures has caused a challenge to many living things as they cannot adapt to the rapid change. According to Crutzen et al., (2016), Global warming has slowly introduced hot days, a situation that has seen wild animals migrating to warm or better regions (Trenberth et al., 2014). Since the year 1880, the nights have slowly become warm with the highest record noted between the year 2001 and 2010. Additionally, the trend has seen a change in rainfall pattern, snow, increased storms, increased droughts, thin lake ice, changed animal and plant cover, and continued melting glaciers (Wallace et al., 2014). Over the past century, countries have noted a significant reduction in water supplies in addition to death of plant species.

With increased levels of mercury in the atmosphere, the natural ecosystem continuously struggles to survive and adapt to the extreme weather pattern. The pattern has further seen humans and animals struggle to get food and means of survival. It thus poses exceptional challenges to human and plant survival predicting difficult times ahead for future generations.

References

Crutzen, P. J., Mosier, A. R., Smith, K. A., & Winiwarter, W. (2016). N2O release from agro-biofuel production negates global warming reduction by replacing fossil fuels. In Paul J. Crutzen: A Pioneer on Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate Change in the Anthropocene (pp. 227-238). Springer International Publishing.

Peters, G. P., Andrew, R. M., Boden, T., Canadell, J. G., Ciais, P., Le Quere, C., ... & Wilson, C. (2013). The challenge to keep global warming below 2 C. Nature Climate Change, 3(1), 4-6.

Trenberth, K. E., Dai, A., Van Der Schrier, G., Jones, P. D., Barichivich, J., Briffa, K. R., & Sheffield, J. (2014). Global warming and changes in drought. Nature Climate Change, 4(1), 17-22.

Wallace, J. M., Held, I. M., Thompson, D. W., Trenberth, K. E., & Walsh, J. E. (2014). Global warming and winter weather. Science, 343(6172), 729-730.

World Health Organization. (2014). Quantitative risk assessment of the effects of climate change on selected causes of death, 2030s and 2050s. World Health Organization.