Will Going Green Help Save Our Planet

Will Going Green Help Save Our Planet? SOC 207: Dependence of Man on the Environment Dr. Jeff Kingsbury August 23, 2010 Will Going Green Help Save Our Planet? Global warming is one of the most widely debated issues in our world today. There has been a large amount of research conducted to support both sides of the issue. Regardless of the opposing viewpoints, it cannot be denied that the earth is, in fact, warming up.

Some people say that global warming has caused the temperatures on Earth to increase. Sea levels are at all time highs and causing beaches to erode. Some skeptics believe this is just a ploy by the government to make us believe in something that does not exist. There are two sides to every story which makes this debate so interesting. The implications of global warming are becoming more and more evident every day.

Some of the evidence includes increasing temperatures, Arctic sea ice is thinning, ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula are breaking up and disappearing rapidly, sea levels are rising, frequency of droughts, animals breeding earlier or extending their range into new territory, disappearance of amphibians, and storms becoming stronger and more damaging (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2009). The fear is that the earth’s temperature will continue to increase. Scientists have already noticed a 40 percent reduction in thickness of Arctic Ice due to global warming and climate change (Bird, 2008).

If ice continues to melt within these regions the sea level will rise and wipe out various islands and coastal cities. The threat of sea level rise spans an enormous range of possible impacts from the relatively small and manageable to the catastrophic. The idea that serious disasters like these could happen from global warming is cause for alarm. It is even believed that Hurricane Katrina was “enhanced by global warming” (Dye, 2005). Many lives will be affected by global warming if something is not done to reverse or prevent its progression.

According to scientists “global warming” often refers to the warming that can occur as a result of increased emissions of greenhouse gasses from human activities. Since global warming appeared during the last decade as a serious environmental issue, it has been the subject of a lot of debate. “There’s no question that the Earth is getting hotter – and fast. The real questions are: How much of the warming is our fault, and are we willing to slow down the meltdown by curbing our insatiable appetite for fossil fuels? ” (Appenzeller & Dimick, 2004).

Since the Industrial revolution in the mid 1700’s, there has been a significant increase in the production of greenhouse gasses. Greenhouse gasses, such as water vapor and methane, occur naturally in the environment. Other greenhouse gasses, like hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride are created as a result of the industrial process which is used by humans (West, 2009). Greenhouse gasses are the main contributing factor to global warming and climate change. These gasses allow the Sun’s radiation to heat the earth, much like the glass panes in a greenhouse.

These gasses also prevent the escape of infrared energy that is radiated from the Earth, which ideally would escape into space (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2009). Greenhouse gasses have been pinpointed as the main cause of this increase in temperature. The burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas, can be blamed on a sudden and steadily growing increase in the greenhouse effect. Over the past two-hundred years, atmospheric carbon-dioxide concentrations have increased about thirty percent (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2009). If this trend continues, it could mean an increase in global temperatures.

If this increase in the greenhouse effect turns out to be harmful, it will be a matter of too much of a good thing, because the greenhouse effect is a live-giving process. Without the greenhouse effect, our planet would be uninhabitable. Apart from greenhouse gasses, deforestation has also been recognized as a major contributing factor in global warming. Deforestation is a negative impact on the environment caused specifically by humans. Large numbers of plants and trees are cut down every year to make way for farming and building. Plants and trees naturally absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen into the atmosphere.

As mentioned before, carbon dioxide is one of the most potent greenhouse gasses. “Scientists say one days deforestation is equivalent to the carbon footprint of eight million people flying to New York. If we lose forests, we lose the fight against climate change” (Howden, 2007). Deforestation is specified as the second main contributor to global warming. Clearly, humans play a vital role in the causes of global warming. There are many critical areas of society that can be affected by global warming. Human health, weather patterns, and the world economy are all likely to be heavily impacted by the current warming trend.

Scientists are also beginning to see impacts on wildlife, plant life and sea levels. Doctors and scientists around the world are becoming increasingly alarmed over the impact that global warming is having on human health. The health effects of climate change are likely to be severe, and many, many people across the world will die as a result. Abnormal and extreme weather, which scientists have long predicted would be an early effect of global warming, have claimed hundreds of lives across the United States in recent years. Diseases carried by water, such as cholera and hepatitis, are also predicted.

These potentially fatal diseases, which are carried by sewage and floodwaters, are likely to spread if precipitation brought on by warmer temperatures become as frequent and severe as some climate scientists predict. More frequent and more severe heat waves will be another lethal effect of global warming. Deadly stretches of hot days, where nighttime temperatures remain high, will become more common. Regional climate stress on agriculture may mean up to 300 million additional victims of malnutrition world-wide each year (Health Effects of Global Warming, 2005).

Extreme floods and droughts are projected to become more severe as global warming worsens. These extremes may threaten the availability and supply of safe drinking water. Diseases associated with flooding, such as cryptosporidiosis, could affect millions more people every year. Our warming climate is also creating the ideal conditions for the spread of infectious disease carried by insects, such as malaria, encephalitis, dengue, and yellow fever and is putting millions of people at risk (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2009).

Even a slight rise in global temperature could trigger explosions of Earth’s insect populations. The insect species most likely to multiply is the mosquito which spreads dengue fever and yellow fever. Along with the many other changes caused by global warming, the rising global temperature has caused the seasons to change. Spring warmth is arriving earlier in the Northern Hemisphere and the summer heat is lasting longer. The total difference is about 12 days with the time evenly split. This change is good for agriculture as farmers now have a longer growing season for their crops.

This seasonal change is having effects on wildlife forcing some species to change their habits. Birds are altering their migration patterns. Certain species of butterflies are relocating to higher elevations where temperatures are cooler. However, some species of wildlife are less successful at adapting to new climates than birds and butterflies. Climate changes are throwing some animals’ worlds out of whack. One case in point is the marmot, a thick bodied rodent that resembles a squirrel. Marmots live at high altitudes and hibernate for up to eight months of the year.

Their response to the warming of the climate has been to emerge from hibernation up to a month earlier than they had in previous years (Kaplan, 2010). Since the weather is warmer sooner, the marmots have an extra month to eat and get fatter before their next hibernation. Like all wildlife species, marmots depend on the ecosystem for survival. If they change their habits due to climate change before other parts of the ecosystem change, they may find themselves in a world that does not work for them anymore. Our world economy is also affected by global warming.

Global warming has become a huge business. Some economists argue that a warmer climate could benefit certain crops and the farming communities; however, property insurers are predicting that worsening storms caused by global warming could eventually bankrupt the insurance industry (Effects of Global Warming, 2006). Insurance companies are now attempting to form strategic alliances, and pool resources which could cover severe economic loss from climatic changes. In addition, the costs to implement a worldwide plan to cut the roduction of carbon-dioxide and other gasses which contribute to global warming would cost approximately three percent of the World’s total GDP (Effects of Global Warming, 2006). However, there is a dispute whether the industrialized world should be responsible for the main economic contributions to clean up this planet. Exxon Mobile Company contributes to the emission of harmful chemicals into our atmosphere everyday, which is said to be the scientific cause of global warming, yet they find many ways to mislead the public to believe against any idea of global warming.

They have “underwritten the most sophisticated and most successful disinformation campaign since the tobacco industry misled the public about the scientific evidence linking smoking to lung cancer and heart disease” (Schulman, 2008). UCS accuses ExxonMobil of funding “front groups” opposed to the climate-alarmist agenda of groups such as UCS and of former Vice President Al Gore. The company, said the UCS report, had distributed $16 million to 43 advocacy groups from 1998 to 2005 “to confuse the public on global-warming science” (Osorio, Murray, ; Ebell, 2009). It is not only the scientific community that is taking notice of our warming climate, but the public as well. Global warming, even most skeptics have concluded, is the real deal, and human activity has been causing it” (Kluger, 2006). Global warming awareness is slowly gaining momentum within society. Many people have begun making changes within their own home in order to reduce their contribution to global warming and climate change. The growing movement towards “green” products and services is rapidly becoming a key element of the building industry.

With global awareness improving through political support, media coverage, and overall education, the rising popularity of environmentally safe products and materials have gained popularity. Reusable grocery bags, environmentally friendly cleaning products, and recycled paper goods are just a few products that are being sold in stores around the world. Even with all of this data to support global warming, there are critics who claim that the current warming trend is merely a natural cycle of climate change. “If global warming were to occur, it would not be the disaster that many doomsayers have predicted.

Instead, most people would actually benefit from the slightly higher temperatures it would produce” (Moore, 2000). There are a growing number of climate experts who think that global warming is not a serious problem. They believe that the threat of global warming is nothing but an illusion, but an illusion may be a threat in itself. Fear of catastrophic consequences may push governments to pass laws needlessly ordering us to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Reducing emissions would mean converting factories, automobiles, and home-heating systems to the use of cleaner and more expensive forms of energy.

This would impact the lives of just about everyone in the nation in some way and critics are using this as a stance to say that the federal government should stay out of the way and let the business community take care of the problem. Environmental groups, business coalitions, energy experts, and climate experts have been designing strategies for cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions. These strategies are designed to be as cost-effective as possible and to do the greatest good for the largest number of people. There are some simple strategies for cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions.

The most immediate strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions is one of the most simple and obvious, and that is to use less energy. By using less energy we burn less coal, oil and gas. Using more energy-efficient heating and water systems are ways that can save money and help the environment. Switching to natural gas is another alternative. While natural gas is a fossil fuel, it is cleaner burning than coal or oil. This means that natural gas emits less carbon dioxide than coal and oil. There are more and more vehicles powered by natural gas in operation around the world each day.

The practice of sustainable forestry is another necessity due to the large number of trees that are being cut down each year. The more trees that are cut down without being replaced, the fewer trees remain to absorb and store carbon dioxide through photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is nature’s process of absorbing carbon dioxide and breaking it down into carbon and oxygen. The carbon then recombines with other chemicals inside the plants to form the sugars and starches that plants use to live and grow. Timber companies should practice sustainable forestry, planting many more new trees than they cut down.

Methane gas is a potent greenhouse gas that rises from rotting waste in landfills to become part of the atmosphere. Recycling waste instead of dumping it in landfills reduces atmospheric methane. Scientists are trying to develop new technologies for collecting methane gas at landfill sites so that it can then be used for inexpensive energy production. Renewable energy solutions such as wind, water and solar power are currently being researched. Of these three alternatives, solar power has the most potential. Solar power is energy collected from the Sun by solar panels, which convert this collected energy into electricity.

Solar power is already being used in developing countries where electric power from conventional sources cannot reach the majority of the population. Ultimately, saving our planet is up to us. Our world leaders have tried repeatedly to propose treaties and offer energy alternatives that would help to improve the condition of our environment but to no avail. There are always numerous factors that are taken into consideration, and it seems that the financial cost of being environmentally responsible outweighs the preservation of our planet.

Unfortunately, if the current state of environmental pollution continues, there may not be a world in which to spend all the money that they are saving. To be successful in reducing and preventing the adverse affects of global warming it will take effort from all aspects of society. Government officials, communities, and businesses across the world should work together to convey the importance of facing global warming head on as an international crisis. Education and knowledge are the two keys to understanding and preventing global warming.