Dire Predictions: Global Warming

geography November 29, 2010 Dire Predictions Student Edition Chapter integrity of Dire Predictions Understanding b any-shaped thawing does exactly standardized the title says, it gives the commemorateer the essential rudiments of experienceing the Global Warming issue. Chapter angiotensin converting enzyme gives essential information coer song a wide range of things including the natural and gay impacts on climate, definition of a glasshouse gas and how it adjoins temperature, positive and negative feedback loops, threatening human byproducts that have-to doe with the ozone, ways scientists study ancient climates, and it gives possible future background out obtains due to valet(prenominal) warming.It is a re eachy loaded chapter I know, nonwithstanding this information proves to be very valuable when learning about orbiculate warming. In fact, the information is so valuable that it foundationt be covered by just stating a quick overview of the chapter, but need fully a to a greater extent detailed summary. Some natural variables that potentially affect the solid grounds climate include the sun, vol usher outic eruptions, and human beingss orbit. But how exactly does something like a volcanic eruption force climate?This is because Explosive volcanic eruptions modify the composition of the atmosphere by injecting small particles called aerosols into the atmosphere layer. These released aerosols block the solar radiation that would have reached Earths surface and consequently, it has cooling effect on Earths surface. The more(prenominal) talked about topic in chapter one however is the non-natural, or human induced impacts ca use spheric warming. Humans burning of fossil fuels and release of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are both examples of human variables that affect global warming.CFCs are a kind of gas that is released by cooling mechanism such as the refrigerator. These gasses have been proven to destroy the ozone. Furthermore, the give-and-take goes on to prove that the study impacts causing global warming are not natural but mostly human made. It states that the hole in the ozone is not mostly caused by a natural increase in carbon dioxide gasses but the release of CFC-11 and CFC-12 gasses by humans into the environment. As proof of the gasses affect on the ozone it states that the average temperature of the globe has gone up from 13. degrees Celsius to 14. 5 degrees Celsius. It come outs like a small amount of temperature increase but even one degree average increase can have a major influence on global warming. Finally, chapter one goes on to describe what happens if these patterns persist. So what pass on happen if these patterns persist, and what effects get out it have on floriculture and man? To better understand what will happen to us, we have to understand what the ozone layer does. The ozone layer protects us from harmful ultraviolet radiation.If these patterns persist the ozone will protect little and little ultraviolet radiation from entering Earths atmosphere. If this happens then the ice caps will melt which will be catastrophic to man and agriculture. According to http//www. tropical-rainforest-animals. com/Global-Warming-Effects. html some effects of global warming will be Floods Droughts, Heat waves, Extreme winter acold and snow fall, Tornadoes, Extreme storms, Tropical cyclones, hurricanes, and typhoons. You dont have to be a geography major to know that these types of effects will get across a devastating blow to people and plants.Precipitation patterns will also miscellanea eitherwhere, messing up normal agricultural growth. Some more effects global warming will have on agriculture and animals is it will bugger off trees produce leaves earlier, it will cause earlier greening on vegetation, it causes re-distributions of alga that will kill animals that eat it to survive, and the ultraviolet radiation will in the tenacious run poison humans and animal s and destroy plants everywhere. If we have no ozone life will be unsustainable on Earth. But wait, all these horrible things dont have to happen we can do things to prevent global warming.We can start to economic aid this not to happen by burning up less fossil fuels, thus reducing emissions into the ozone. Scientists and mechanics have latterly been working in concert to make cars that produce less waste and are better for the environment. We can process by buying these kinds of cars and investing in this type of research. An new(prenominal) way to help is if we as a sphere unite and we set goals and laws that require fewer emissions from each coun raise. in any case, it may seem small but a way we can all help is by recycling things which cuts down the waste it takes to make whole impertinent things.More ways you can help are by using less air conditioning and heat, changing light bulbs to more energy efficacious ones, buying energy efficient products, driving less or car pooling, using less hot water, and finally planting a tree. Although planting a tree or changing a light bulb may seem like a small way to help, if everyone in the world followed these suggestions emissions would be greatly reduced which could save the Earth. Scientists have worked together to try to understand the problem.By constantly recording new data and looking at old data they have come to a better accord of what we use that causes these emissions and the way it affects us and our planet. A way scientists have canvas the ancient atmosphere is by drilling into the ice caps and examining the trapped air. Also scientists are constantly observing the ozone layer to see any changes that cleverness come. Scientists also look at what kind of molecules the ozone is made of and gasses that could destroy it. education about the problem is half the battle so we are on our way to a brighter tomorrow.I think the information given in the book was good information based on scientific tr uths. The information in this book was very easy to follow as almost every page had a corresponding graph or picture to help you understand the information given. However one of the problems I had with the information in this book is I felt that it was really quick to discredit the different side of the argument with not much detail. When faced with an opposing agitate the author just basically says that all another(prenominal) views are vilify and moves on.Also, the information in this book jumped to something completely different every other page. But that being said I did learn a quid from reading this book. The thing I found most interesting in the book were some of the statistics given throughout the chapter. For example thought how long the gasses CFC-11 and CFC-12 last and how much more potent it is that carbon dioxide. Even later on five hundred years after CFC-12 is released, it is still 5,200 clock more potent than carbon dioxide. And five hundred years after CFC-1 1 is released, it is 1,620 times more potent that the carbon dioxide (Dire Predictions, p. 9). With CFC gasses and other harmful gasses enduring this long it is important to stop the release of these harmful gasses as shortly as we can. Another thing I found interesting in the book was the change in Mount Kilimanjaro snow coverage over time. First, it shows Mount Kilimanjaro during the year 1912 and it is covered in snow. That picture is followed by a picture of Mount Kilimanjaro during the year 2007, and the snow cover has almost all disappeared. Another statistic I found very interesting in chapter one is the graphs on page thirty-three.These graphs show the amount of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere before and up to 2005. The graphs show that the levels of these greenhouse gasses are middling constant until it reaches the year 2005 When the graph line representing the gasses reaches to just before the year 2005, levels of all three of these gasses s kyrocket. (Dire Predictions, pg. 33) Reading this book made me realize how flagitious the global warming issue is and how it is already affecting the world today. referable to global warming life as we know it could possibly come to an end.But dont start putting your bucket list together just yet. If we start doing things everyday to help reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses we can make sure that tomorrow is a brighter day, figuratively that is. The things utter earlier (using less air conditioning and heat, changing light bulbs to more energy efficient ones, buying energy efficient products, driving less or carpooling, using less hot water, planting trees) are all examples of everyday things we can do to help the environment and stop global warming.Another thing that people can do to help this problem is by educating themselves about global warming. By educating yourself about global warming you can solve the problem easier because you know the causes. Also you can educate o ther people about the importance of taking global warming into consideration. If everyone just about the world pitches in to try to help, maybe the next book we read will be Optimistic Predictions.Works Cited Banerjee, Subhankar. Global Warming. New York Times. 6 Oct. 2010. Mann, Michael E. , and lee side R. Kump. Dire Predictions Understanding Global Warming. New York, NY DK Pub. , 2009. Print. May, Elizabeth, and Zoe? Caron. Global warming for dummies . Mississauga, ON J. Wiley & Sons Canada, 2009. Print. Nodvin, Stephen C. Global Warming. encyclopedia of earth. 9 May. 2010. 29 Nov. 2010. . Yeatman, William. Global Warming Solutions/ be/Science GlobalWarming. orgArchiveGlobal Warming 101 . Global Warming . N. p. , 9 Feb. 2009. Web. 29 Nov. 2010. .