Writing 122
Future Fuels
One of the biggest threats to our planet today is global warming. And it so happens that the United States accounts is the biggest contributor to this environmental problem. Scientist have said and proven that the cause of global warming is the carbon emissions from the combustion (burning) of fossil fuels. In reasons years scientists have made major improvements on electric cars and motorcycles, and also found several alternative fuels that are eco-friendly. Many politicians such as, Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hilary Clinton have stressed the importance of funding research projects that would help improve existing alternative-fuel solutions and/or create new solutions that would certainly benefit the U.S economy.
“Global warming refers to climate change that causes an increase in the average temperature of the lower atmosphere.”(…) Such sinificant climate change can occur naturaly over a comparatively greatler period of time, but in our case it is mostly because of human influence on the environment. When fossile fuels such as petroleum (that we use for our cars) are burnted, they emmitt Greenhouse gases like: CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) and CH4 (Methane). When expelled into the atmosphere, Greenhouse gases have the tendency of trapping heat energy that was supposed to have reflected of the surface of the Earth and back into space. As the heat builds up in the atmosphere, we will begin to see abnormal changes in our climate. Some indications are: the intense increase in the number of huricanes per hurican season, sea-level increases, tsunamis’ (massive tides mostly caused by underwater earthquakes record breaking cold temperatures in the winter and record breaking high temperatures in the summer.
Some argue that we have already begun to witness some of these abnormal weather patterns. One specific and recent event I remember vividly was Huricane Katrina which stuck New Orleans on august 26, 2005. At the time I wasn’t even in...