A Terrifying Thought

Have you ever wondered what harm you are causing the environment when you turn on lights, watch TV, ride in a vehicle, and listen to a stereo? Chances are you have dismissed these thoughts and even if you are aware of the greenhouse effect and global warming, you selfishly believe that the terrifying possibility of another ice age on earth will not affect your life. Shockingly, scientists believe shifts in ocean currents and dramatic changes in temperature could come within as little as twenty years. A warmer Earth could possibly lead to changes in precipitation patterns, a dramatic rise in sea level, and a broad range of impacts on humans, plants, and wildlife. Scientists and supports of saving the present day Earth are wondering why we humans aren’t scrambling to prevent these horrific changes to our planet. What evidence do they need to convince them of the severity of our Earth’s future?
Over the past few decades scientists have been aggressively searching for the cause and effects of global warming and have become concerned about global warming caused by human activities. The EPA advocates in their article “Climate Change” that computer programs tell them that the Earth’s temperature will continue to rise as long as we continue increasing the amount of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. The Earth has warmed about 1 degree Fahrenheit in the last century, and the four warmest years of the 20th century all happened in the 1990s. Patrick Barry and NASA have done their own studies that they expose in their article “A Chilling Possibility” supporting the EPA’s predictions of dramatic climate changes. Barry insists that the thawing of ice covering the Atlantic could interrupt or even halt large currents in the ocean. The ocean’s currents create vast amounts of heat, “comparable to the power generation of a million nuclear power plants” (Barry, 1). Without that heat Europe’s average temperature would likely drop 5 to 10 degrees Celsius, paralleling the global average temperature toward the end of the last ice age. Anne Waple argues in her “National Oceanic and Atmospheric administration Global Warming” article that although the global surface temperatures have increased, it has been an increase of .6 degrees Celsius, a smaller amount of increase than the other authors warned. In collaboration, every article did not deny the fact that the Earth’s temperatures are changing dramatically and the temperature patterns are starting to resemble the patterns before the last ice age nearly 20,000 years ago.
Is these scientists’ proposal realistic? What are the chances that even if they are realistic that are world would unite together to prevent the ongoing global warming problems? Although many citizens across the United States have heard about the terrifying chance that our whole world could be altered because of our inability to take care of the atmosphere, some of them still dispute the predictions and disagree with the scientists’ claim. Weathermen predict the weather, but are the always right? Similarly many people feel that we are stressing out over a theory that has no evidence. Barry, Waple, the EPA, and Peter Vitousek the author of “Beyond Global Warming: Ecology and Global Change” all hold an abundance of evidence that shows the changes on the Earth that support the possibility of a potential future problem caused by global warming. Some people question if the rapid climate change is déjà vu. Barry points out that “as the world warmed at the end of the last ice age about 13,000 years ago, melting ice sheets appear to have triggered a sudden halt in the Conveyor, throwing the world back into a 1,000 year period of ice-age-like conditions” (Barry, 3).
A multitude of factors have been found supporting the fact that the Earth around us is changing more rapidly than in the past. Besides the climate changes as previously discussed, Barry reminds us that “ice is key” (Barry, 1) and that the view from orbit clearly shows a long-term decline in the Arctic sea ice. The ice has been retreating since the beginning of the satellite record in 1978 at an average rate of 9% per decade. The EPA observes that the mass amounts of glaciers melting have consequently caused the sea level to rise over the last 100 years about 6-8 inches worldwide. Hence, the melting of ice is evidence that recently the temperature of the earth has been rising overall.
Some entering in the world discussion of global warming may say that some changes that may occur because of the climate change will be positive. People who live in a cold environment might find it pleasant to have warmer temperatures. In additions, they may be able to grow different and better crops that they could before. But these few positive outcomes are highly outweighed by the multitude of the negative changes around the world. Waple points out that while some people might be able to grow better crops, others might have a drought and not be able to grow the food that they need. The EPA stresses that climate increases could also cause serious heat stress and increase other heat related health problem. It would also dramatically alter food and water supplies, and coastal flooding could cause health problems and could leave structures more vulnerable to storm waves. Waple and the EPA agree that the changes in precipitation could upset the balance of the ecosystem and could seriously endanger many living things
Another factor that both Waple and Vitousek stress as a major change in the environment ever since the Industrial Revolution is the increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The most common concentration increase has been carbon dioxide from the combustion of coal, oil and gas. Waple reports that pre-industrial levels of carbon dioxide were about 280 parts per million by volume and current levels are about 370 parts per million by volume. He stresses that “the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today, has not been exceeded in the last 420,000 years, and likely not in the last 20 million years” (Waple, 3). According to the IPCC Special Report on Emission Scenarios, y the end of the 21st century, we could expect to see carbon dioxide concentrations increase to 75-350% above the pre-industrial concentration. Vitousek emphasizes that the effects of elevated carbon dioxide are not likely to be confined to plant growth, community compositions, or terrestrial ecosystems. Vitousek gives a specific example that, “the increase in the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in seawater will reduce the degree of chemicals needed to create coral reefs” (Vitousek, 4) which in turn could potentially hurt the ecosystem.
So what exactly are we suppose to do about this problem? After all, Vitousek states that the environmental changes are “driven by the rapidly growing human population and our high rates of resource consumption” (Vitousek, 2). Is it not than our job to accordingly take responsibility for our actions and reverse our habits and lives to stop the coming of a terrifying change? The EPA points out that every time we use electricity we are helping send greenhouse gas into the air, as we are when we are driving are manufacturing items. To sum up Viousek, Waple, Barry, and the EPAs’ points we must realize that although all of their predictions for the Earth’s futures differ they all have the same basic evidence that proves that something will happen and something needs to be done to prevent a terrifying change.

Sources
Vitousek, Peter M. “Beyond Global Warming: Ecology and Global Change.” JSTOR archive. Ecological Society of America. Oct. 1994.
Retrieved 10 Oct. 2007. http://www.jstor.org/view/00129658/di960362/96p0003z/0 .

Climate Change. Last Updated 23 Oct. 2006. United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Retrieved 10 Oct. 2007. http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/kids/gw.html

Anne Waple. “National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Global Warming.” NOAA Satellite and Information Service. National Climatic Data Center. 29 March 2007.
Retrieved 10 Oct. 2007. http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/globalwarming.html

Patrick L. Barry. “A Chilling Possibility.” Science @ NASA. 5 March 2004.
Retrieved 10 Oct. 2007. http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/05mar_arctic.htm