Helen Rogers
February 27, 2008
Global Warming
Some people believe that temperature change is a natural fluctuation in the earth’s climate, due to the face that the earth’s weather changes constantly (G.W., Environmental Defense). Scientists believe that the earth has gone through natural warming and cooling periods, and global warming is actually just a pattern in the earth’s climate (Urbain). However, it is scientifically proven that global warming is being caused or being accelerated by human activity (G.W., Environmental Defense). Throughout the last few decades’ scientists have done numerous studies to prove that the earth is indeed getting warmer due to an increased output of fossil fuels (Shaw 48). According to James W. Hurrell, climate analyst for the National Center for Atmospheric Research, “It is true that regions go through long periods of dry and wet years. True, but to be in the warmest period of the past millennium is a distinction that should give us a pause,” (G.W. Environmental Defense). According to a study produced by the lead scientists of The International Panel of Climate Change, a leading organization in accessing the scientific relevance of global warming (G.W. NOAA), “We can with 99% confidence conclude that current temperatures represent a real warming trend rather than a chance fluctuation over the 30-year period (G.W. Environmental Defense)”. Carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning and land clearing has been accumulating in the atmosphere, where it acts like a blanket keeping Earth warm and heating up the surface, ocean, and atmosphere (Global Warming Basics). As a result, current levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are higher than at any time during the last 650,000 years (Global Warming Basics). Furthermore, since the human production of greenhouse gases, temperatures have increased by an average of 1.1 degrees Fahrenheit (Shaw 6). Already scientists are suspecting that human emissions of greenhouse gases can already...