Global Warming: Causes, Effects, and Solutions (Term 2, 2014 Tuesday Thursday Class)

            Global warming is an increase in the Earth’s atmospheric and oceanic temperatures due to the increase of greenhouse gases resulting from pollution. In the last three decades, the temperature made a dramatic change and now global warming is becoming more and more serious because of various factors. The average world temperature is increasing gradually every year but many people still do not realize how serious the problem will be in the future. This essay will examine the causes, then the effects and the possible solutions for global warming.

EAP 6 Tue/Thu 17:30-20:00

Greenhouse Effect and Natural Causes of Global Warming

According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States, the average temperature around the world has increased by 0.8 degree Celsius since 1880. Recently, the global temperature has risen to the highest levels ever recorded (“Global Climate Change”). It is widely known that global warming is caused by the greenhouseeffect, but some natural causes such as solar variability and volcanic eruption also contribute to global warming. This essay will examine the solar radiation and the process of the greenhouse effect last but not least, the natural causes of global warming.

Before understanding the phenomenon of the greenhouse effect, one must know about solar radiation at the Earth’s surface. The sun gives off large amounts of energy into space, across a wide spectrum of wavelengths. There are two main parts of spectrum in solar energy: visible and near-visible spectrum. The wavelengths of visible light areapproximately 400 and 700 nanometers. It represents 43% of the total radiant energy emitted. The wavelengthsof near-visible light can be shorter or longer than those of visible light. Near-visible light whose wavelengths are shorter than the visible comprises7% to 8% in total. Short-wavelength near-visible light is very energetic because of their high energy per photon. For instance, theultraviolet light, in the range of 10 to 400 nanometers, can break apart stable biological molecules and cause sunburn and skin cancer. The remaining 49% to 50% of the total sun energy is the near-visible light with longer wavelengths than 700 nanometers. They are infrared radiation, micro-waves, and radio waves. However, these kinds of light cannot reach the Earth’s surface. They are absorbed by the atmosphere. The Earth’s atmosphere is mostly transparent to visible light (“The Greenhouse Effect”).

The greenhouse effect is a natural phenomenon in which the atmosphere traps the sun’s energy. The sun gives off radiation.As shown in the graph below, about 30% of the incoming solar radiation is reflected directly back into space and 19% is absorbed by the atmosphere and clouds. The rest of incoming radiation, mostly visible radiation, is absorbed by land, oceans, and vegetation at the surface, where it is radiated into heat.Unfortunately, the heat cannot freely leave the Earth because particular gases in the atmospherewhich works are similar to the glass of a greenhouse that prevents the heat from escaping. Water vapor is a natural gas that is the largest contributor to the greenhouse effect. Without this natural greenhouse effect, the Earth would be about 33 degrees Celsius cooler than it is now. This can freeze the Earth with the average temperature of -18 degrees Celsius. Nonetheless, the Earth is not becoming colder justbecause of the increasing of greenhouse gas concentrations. Some gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrogen oxide are released by human activities. Eventhough these gases are slightlyinsignificant compared to the other gases such as O2 and N2, they still play a very considerable role in the greenhouse effect (“The Greenhouse Effect”). This leads to global warming.

(“The Greenhouse Effect”)

Natural phenomenon such as solar variability also leads to global warming. The sun goes through a11-year cycleand other possiblesolar cycles which range up to few centuries longer. These cycles are from storminess, a violent activity on the sun’s surface, to quietness.

According to Thomas Woods, “The fluctuation in the solar cycles impacts the Earth’s global temperature by about 0.1 degree Celsius, slightly hotter during solar maximum and cooler during solar minimum” (Gran, 2008). Using a space-based tool called Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment, scientists found that about 1.361 watts per square meter of solar energy reaches the Earth during the sun’s quietest period. The solar energy that reaches the Earth increases by 1.3 watts per square meter when the sun is activateThis solar cycle increases the Earth’s average temperature by 0.5 degree Celsius over the past centuries. This amount is equal to 25% of the increased temperature (Gran, 2008). It can be seen that solar variability impacts global warming.

Volcanic eruption also impacts global warming. The eruption influences the ozone layer andthe greenhouse effectin various ways. Eruption from the volcano causes a massive reduction of ozone at high latitudes from15% to 20% and over 50% reduction at the Antarctic from the satellite data. During the eruption, volcano also generates chemical reactions particles or aerosols which interact with human-made CFCs, but these particles have an effect for only two or three years. Another negative consequence of the volcanic eruption is that it adds carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Furthermore, volcano eruption enhances the “haze effect”. This effect is the event when particles, such as dusts, smokes, and ashes, accumulate together and block out the sunlight. This decreases the solar radiation, reduces the temperature and cools down the Earth. For example, the Iceland Laki eruption in 1783 created the lowest-ever temperature. The cold condition resulted from dust, gases, ashes, which was caused by eruption. Clearly, volcano eruption ruins the pattern of climate and causes global warming.

To sum up, the major cause of global warming is the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse is related closely to solar energy which is concentrated in two parts of the spectrum: visible and near-visible light. Only visible radiation is absorbed by the Earth’s surface and near-visible radiation can be absorbed by the atmosphere or reflected back to space. After the sun’s energy is absorbed by the Earth’s surface, it is converted into heat that cannot escape from the Earth’s atmosphere because of the greenhouse gases. This phenomenon causes climate change. Beside the greenhouse effect, solar energy and volcanic eruption also impact global warming. It can be seen clearly that both human and nature are putting the Earth in danger.

Bibliography

Global Climate Change. (n.d.). Global Climate Change. Retrieved May 6, 2014, from http://climate.nasa.gov/

Gran, R. (2008, May 8). Solar Variability: Striking a Balance with Climate Change. NASA. Retrieved May 6, 2014, from http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/solar_variability.htm

The Greenhouse Effect. (n.d.). Greenhouse Effect: Background Material. Retrieved May 6, 2014, from http://www.ucar.edu/learn/1_3_1.htm

TOPIC: What role has human activity played in causing climate change?

           Climate change has become a very famous news headline in the last few decades. It is believed that the terms climate change or global warming are referred to increases in the average temperature of the Earth’s surface. Many people believe that the main cause of this problem is the greenhouse effect. According to Wikipedia, Greenhouse effect is the process by which absorption and emission of infrared radiation by gases in the Earth’s atmosphere warm its lower atmosphere and surface (Wikipedia, 2014). Most importantly, the main contributor to the greenhouse effect is the Carbon Dioxide. This Carbon Dioxide is the most common gas emission produced by both nature and human. According to a non-profit organization in Canada, people are emitting Carbon Dioxide through their daily activities like deforestation, industry and burning fossil fuel (whatsyourimpact, 2014). In addition, fuel is a type of hydro Carbon which is one the most flammable chemical substances scientists have ever found. So it is a wise choice to use fuel as a resource for burning and generating energy to supply the demand of the nation. The biggest contributor to Carbon Dioxide is burning fossil fuel, which has more than three quarters of the total of greenhouse gases. According to an Irish report, the amount of Carbon Dioxide has increased dramatically since the revolution of industry primarily due to burning fossil fuels (Irish’s Report, 2005). Every country is developing and new ideas are gathering to develop the old technologies and engineering that had emitted a lot of Carbon Dioxide in the past. For instance, an oil business at North Qatar which is known as one of the biggest oil exploration business in the world has seen to have emitted a lot of bad smoke to the atmosphere even though the new technologies and equipments have been used. According to Whatsyourimpact organization, burning fossil fuel alone caused about 30 billion tons of Carbon dioxide emission in 2011 (Whatsyourimpact, 2014).  Therefore, burning fossil fuel is responsible for 80% - 85% of the Carbon dioxide emission into the atmosphere (Slaght, Harben, Pallant, 2009, p40)     

Furthermore, most climatologists believe that deforestation is one of the main contributors to the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. ATree plays an important role in the Carbon Dioxide cycle; first they draw in and store CO₂ in their bodies and produce back O₂ to the atmosphere. Although, the common plants and crops are also ableto recycle CO₂into O₂they are not capable of absorbing Carbon Dioxide and producing Oxygen as much as a tree can. However, people are cutting down a massive amount of trees everyday and not many of them realize how much had they destroyed one of the most important resources of the planet. Hence, the more deforestation means more declination of Oxygen and Oxygen is among the most fundamental building block of every life on earth. Additionally, World Wild Life has reported, “Tropical forests hold more than 210 trillion tons of carbon and deforestation give around 15% of greenhouse gas emissions.”

          For the same reason, most of the electricity used to power homes or factories is usually generated by fossil fuel combustion. Creating Electricity also contributes to a massive amountof Carbon dioxide emissions. Accounting for approximately 38% of total U.S. Carbon Dioxide emissions and 32% of total U.S greenhouse gas emissions in 2012, generating electricity from combusting fossil fuel is the most common source of Energy in the nation(Carbon Dioxide Emissions, 2014). Moreover, transportation is one of the services that is extremely energy-consuming and also releases a great deal of Carbon dioxide. For Instance, land vehicles, airplanes, sea travel and trains. It is almost impossible to stop people from using all these type of transportations. Adding to that, out of the most of Carbon dioxide produced by vehicles in the U.S, 60% of the emissionsare from cars and trucks (Cars and Trucks and Global Warming, 2014).

 

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On the other hand, this also happen in our daily lives. When a bottle of water is sealed for a long enough time, gases will be released creating air bubbles that can be seen with naked eyes. Additionally, Carbon Dioxide is one among these gases in the air bubbles. Similar thing also happens to the ocean, but instead the cap of ocean is the atmosphere itself and the average pressure is about 100 Kilo Pascal at the surface of the ocean, therefore the air or Carbon dioxide will escape when the pressure is not strong enough to press it inside.

Last but not least, manufacturing cement is similar to burning coal. The process requires heating limestone and Calcium oxide to a significantly high temperature. When Carbon molecules inside the limestone are released, it will react with Oxygen in the atmosphere. Consequently, it repeats the same process as coal burning. Lastly,cementis used for every building construction along with steel, and steel production is another industrial process that also contributes to Carbon dioxide emissions. In order to produce steel, iron is melted and refined to lower its Carbon content. Finally, the amountCO₂ emitted to the atmosphere is as twice as the amount of the iron input before manufacturing (Whatsyourimpact, 2014).

In conclusion, Carbon Dioxide emissions mainly come from our daily activities but also from those disasters such as volcano eruptions and wildfire which also contribute a lot of Carbon Dioxide to the atmosphere. There were many news headlines about the seriousness of global warming and recently the cause of it broke the Antarctic glacier apart which increased the water level of the ocean by 3 centimeters worldwide.

Bibliography

Author unknown. (2014). Cars and Trucks and Global Warming

Available: http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/why-clean-cars/global-warming/cars-and-trucks-and-global.html

(Last accessed: 3^th May 2014)

Author unknown, (2014). Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Available: http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/gases/co2.html

(Last accessed: 18^th April 2014)

Aid,I., (2005). Climate Change and Poverty Reduction

Available: http://www.irishaid.gov.ie (Last Accessed: 27^th May 2011)

Author Unknown. (2010). Climate & Weather

Available: http://www.climateandweather.net/global_warming/deforestation.htm

(Last accessed: 24^th Apr 2014)

Author Unknown. (2014). Deforestation

Available: https://worldwildlife.org/threats/deforestation (Last accessed: 24^th Apr 2014)

Author Unknown. (2014) WHAT ARE THE MAIN SOURCES OF CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS?

Available: http://whatsyourimpact.org/co2-sources.php (Last accessed: 8^th May 2014)

Kolich, H., (2012). What human activities increase carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?

Available: http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/human-activities-increase-carbon-dioxide.htm

(Last accessed: 3^th May 2014)

Slaght, J., Harben, P. & Pallant, A., (2009) Reading and Writing. Garnet Education: UK

United Nations Environment Programme – World Meteorological Organization. (1997). Common Question about Climate Change (What Human Activities Contribute to Climate Change?)

Available: http://www.gcrio.org/ipcc/qa/04.html(Last accessed: 25^th Apr 2014)

Wikipedia. (2014) Global Warming
Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming#Greenhouse_gases (Last accessed:  
17^th June 2014)

Level: EAP 6

           Ozone is one of the most important topics related to climate change. Ozone exists in two layers in the Earth atmosphere which is in the troposphere and the stratosphere. Stratospheric ozone has a small cooling effect while tropospheric ozone contributes to global warming. Tropospheric ozone is formed of 3 oxygen atoms. It can be formed in two ways. The first way is that the heat of sunlight breaks oxygen atom apart from nitrogen oxide molecules apart, then the free oxygen atom (O) react with the oxygen molecule (O2) in the atmosphere and then the ozone molecule (O3) is formed. Another way that ozone is formed is that nitrogen oxides react with volatile organic compounds (VOC) under the heat of sunlight. Ergo, nitrogen oxides and VOC is the main chemical components that produce tropospheric ozone. Human activities such as using vehicles, industrial emissions, chemical solvents, and power plants produce nitrogen and VOC (AOS, 2013). However, scientists are still not sure how much human activities have contributes to the increase of the tropospheric ozone because it is also produced naturally and it does not last long (IPCC,). On the other hand, according to figure 1, the amount of tropospheric ozone has increased substantially in the last decade. Without human activities, it would be impossible for such an increase. Thus, this indicates that human activities have a big impact on the increase of tropospheric ozone.

Figure 1: the amount of increase of troposheric Ozone

Retrieved from: http://www.aos.wisc.edu/~meteor75/images/TOPart1AOS171.pdf

Figure 1: the amount of increase of troposheric Ozone

In addition, nitrogen is another important component in the air that contributes to climate change.  Nitrogen dioxide is one of the extremely reactive gases which is also known as oxide of nitrogen or nitrogen oxide.  It comes from many sources, such as the emission from cars, trucks, motorbikes, industries, et cetera. However, human activities are still the biggest contributor such as agriculture, burning fossil fuels and deforestation.

The release of nitrogen from agriculture has made a big change in the world temperature. By The Haber process (the reaction of nitrogen gases and hydrogen gases), which is usually used in industrial implementation, also it allowed inert N₂ gas to be made into ammonia without the use of slow nitrogen-fixing bacteria (Lucy Sandbach, 2007). Then, the production of ammonia is realized as a valuable method that could make cheap fertilizers. In addition, Nitrous oxide is emitted when people start using the synthetic fertilizers. According to the Inventory of U.S Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks, agricultural soil management provided the largest emission of nitrogen in The United States from 1990 to 2012 (Overview of Greenhouse Gases, 2014, internet).

(Overview of Greenhouse Gases, 2014, internet)

Moreover, the excretion of smog from burning fossil fuels, transportation, deforestation, industries and greenhouse gases contain high level of nitrogen which are really harmful to the atmosphere. Nitrogen is generally recognized as a kind of gas that catches the heat during the process of releasing smoke from factories, cars, et cetera. The emission of nitrogen is 300 times more effective than carbon dioxide, and it presents a long term warming effect because it has more than 100 years residence time in the atmosphere. The greater concentration of nitrogen emission makes the world temperature becomes hotter.

Methane (CH₄) is another type of chemical gas which is the second most essential contribution to the greenhouse gases after carbon dioxide emerging from human activities. According to a New Global Warming Strategy, Methane is 21 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than CO2_. It is responsible for around one-fifth of global warming from human activities (What’s Causing Climate Change, 2014, Internet). The majority of methane emissions are from human activities which are responsible for 64% of the total emissions (What are the Main Sources of Methane Emissions, 2014, Internet). Mostly, it is produced by livestock farming, rice cultivation, and the decayed material in landfills. In addition, whenever people use coal, petroleum or natural gas, they have created the methane emissions worldwide (What are the Main Sources of Methane Emissions, 2014, Internet). Furthermore, livestock farming also play an important part in methane emission too (What are the Main Sources of Methane Emissions, 2014, Internet).  As the world population keeps growing, the amount of food that is needed also increases. This leads to the amount of livestock expansion. Livestock such as sheep, cows, buffaloes, goats and other animals for food production creates a large amount of methane during their digestion process (What are the Main Sources of Methane Emissions, 2014, Internet). Another way of creating a methane emission with these livestock is the animal’s manure. Whenever it is kept in tanks for later use, it will create CH4 (Overview of Greenhouse Gases, 2014, Internet). Another cause of the emission is from the dumping areas or landfills. Those are places where we dispose of our trash. There are organic matters in our trash and as it decays, it will produce CH4 and release into the atmosphere (What are the Main Sources of Methane Emissions, 2014, Internet). Plus, another source of CH4 are biomass burning and biofuels. Biomass is material from living or dead organic matter. For example, as we burn those crop wastes for the agriculture use, it will produce a lot of CH4 in the atmosphere. Biomass burning creates 38 million tons of methane annually (What are the Main Sources of Methane Emissions, 2014, Internet).  However, Biofuels are biomass which was burned to use for home, industrial and transportation purpose. 

Figure1.  Percentage of CH4 emissions from human.

While 64% of methane emissions are from human activities, another 36% is from natural sources. The 3 main sources are wetlands, termites and oceans (What are the Main Sources of Methane Emissions, 2014, Internet). One of the sites stated that large amount of methane is stored in the Arctic. As the Earth is getting warmer, the permafrost at the Arctic melts and the soil will decompose and eventually release methane (Artic Methane Release and Global Warming, 2014, Internet).

Moving on to Chlorofluorocarbons, also known as CFCs, is also another major cause of the Global Warming. CFCs are chemical compounds, which are made by man, containing chlorine, fluorine and carbon. CFCs are not natural gases. CFCs were produced for the purpose of refrigeration in 1930s. Later on, they were used in air conditioners and also as solvents (Chlorofluorocarbons, 2014). As they are used in many products, CFCs are released in the air which causes them to be trapped in the atmosphere and there is no way to remove CFCs from the lowest part of the atmosphere, which is called the troposphere. Then, they are moved up between ten to fifty kilometers above the surface of the earth into the other part of the atmosphere, called the stratosphere, where the radiation from the Sun called ultraviolet (UV) breaks them into chlorine atoms. These chlorine atoms are the significant cause of ozone depletion. However, due to the international agreements in Montreal, Canada, 1987, the production of CFCs is being extinguished because of the depletion of stratospheric ozone layer (Steve, 2009). But, it takes a long time for CFCs to be broken down by the sunlight. Even though, there is only a small amount of CFCs in the atmosphere, they are still able to enhance the greenhouse effect significantly. CFCs’ molecules are thousands of times stronger than carbon dioxide as greenhouse gases. They are particularly good at trapping heat in the atmosphere. Consequently, they will continue to contribute the enhancement of the natural greenhouse effect in the twenty-first century (Chlorofluorocarbons, 2014).

Bibliography

·         Author unknown, Overview of Greenhouse Gases, 2014, internet

Available from: http://epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/gases/n2o.html

·         Author unknown, A New Global Warming Strategy, internet

Available from: http://www.earthsave.org/globalwarming.htm

·         Author unknown, What’s causing climate change?, 2014, internet

Available from: http://ec.europa.eu/clima/citizens/causes/index_en.htm

·         Author unknown, What are the main sources of Methane emissions?, 2014, internet

Available from: http://www.whatsyourimpact.org/methane-sources.php

·         Department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences. (2013). Tropospheric ozone.

 Retrieved 4 May, 2014 from  http://www.aos.wisc.edu/~meteor75/images/TOPart1AOS171.pdf

·         Hamburg, S. R. (2009). What Human Activities Contribute To Climate Change. Common Questions About Climate Change

• IPCC. (Unknown year). What human activities contribute to climate change.

·         Lucy Sandbach, 2007. Nitrogen- The Bad Guy of Global Warming

Available from: http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/articles/article/nitrogenthebadguyofglobalwarming1160583306/

·         Reay.D. (unknown year). Other greenhouse gases-Tropospheric ozone.

Retrieved 4 May, 2014 from http://www.aos.wisc.edu/~meteor75/images/TOPart1AOS171.pdf

·         Unknow author, (2014), Chlorofluorocarbons. (n.d.). .

Retrieved from: http://www.enviropedia.org.uk/Global_Warming/CFCs.php

Level: EAP 6

Class day & Time: Tue/Thurs 17:30-20:00

Title: Global Warming The Effects

Global warming alters humankind, animals and everything on the earth. Some of the effects are the increase in average temperature, extreme climate events, shift in climate patterns, snow and ice, rising sea levels, ocean acidification, living things and social impact, et cetera (Lallanilla, 2013, Internet). 

First of all, for the last two decades, one hundred and seven million people have been affected by natural disasters every year. There are two types of natural disasters that are influenced by global warming, which are Hydrological and Meteorological. Floods, storm surges and coastal flooding are all Hydrological events, while storms, cyclones, heat or cold waves, drought and wildfires are Meteorological events. A study shows that by comparing two periods of time, from 1980 to 1989 and from 2000 to 2009, the amount of disasters has multiplied by three and there are about eighty percent of the changes are caused by global warming (Steady Increase in Climate Related Natural Disasters, 2013, Internet).

In addition, the most significant impacts of Global warming are storms and hurricanes. First, Climate change may first decrease the number of storms, but as the temperature keeps rising, the storms will become more intensive. When the earth becomes warmer, the gap of the temperature between poles and equator becomes smaller. The reason is the pole geographic, which is cold and dry, is more vulnerable to the heat than the equator geographic, which is already hot and humid. As the temperature is decreasing, the amount of storms will also decline. However, according to NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) and Columbia University research scientist named George Tselioudis, the increasing of temperature will evaporate more water and force the atmosphere to contain more water vapor, which makes the storms more intensive. "If we are creating an atmosphere more loaded with humidity, any storm that does develop has greater potential to develop into an intense storm," added Tselioudis (The Impact of Climate Change on Natural Disasters, 2010, Internet). 

Furthermore, global warming makes changes to the temperature. The temperature keeps on increasing every day and it has many negative consequences. Based on NASA, a drop in one or two degrees can transform the Earth into a Little Ice Age and a five-degree drop can bury a large part of North America in a mass of ice. On the other hands, the increase in one degree can warm all the oceans, atmosphere, and land on the Earth (Global Temperatures, 2010, Internet).

Moreover, the increase in temperature changes the precipitation and animal habitats. The precipitation is increasing throughout the globe. The animals that lived in cold habitats are moving to find a suitable place to live since their old habitats are heating up. For instance, glaciers on both the North and South Pole are being melted by the high temperature (Effects of Global Warming, 2007, Internet). This will affect the coastal lives. If the seawater hits inland, it will cause floods, destroying agriculture, eroding the soil, and increasing the loss of animal's habitats. As the result of the North Pole’s glaciers, that have been melting, the amount of polar bears is beginning to decrease. Polar bears usually swim from one glacier to another. However, since there are fewer glaciers, the polar bears have to swim longer distances. Sometimes they cannot find any glaciers to rest upon, so they become exhausted and die in the sea (Gore, 2006).

In additional, in northwest Siberia, Nenet people are reindeer herders. In winter, the temperatures increased from minus fifty degree Celsius to minus thirty degree Celsius. It is not good for the reindeers because there are not enough pastures for them. The Nenets used to travel with thousands of reindeers pass the frozen River Ob in November and settle their camps near Nadym. In the same time, the snow in that region is melting faster than before, so they have to wait until late December when the ice was thick enough to go through. It is difficult for the reindeers to pull the sledges (Harding, 2009, Internet). 

What is more, global warming also creates problems in agriculture. Ninety percent of Cambodians are living in the rural area and they also have problems with farming because they depend on rainwater for their agriculture. Sometime, there are water shortages or floods that destroy farmers' crop, which means there will be fewer crops to sell. Furthermore, production of rice can be decreased and this reason forces the farmers move to the cities find jobs. This movement causes many problems for the city, including education problems, infrastructure, safety, and healthy problems (Wight, 2014, Newspaper). 

Another important point to note is that global warming can affect the climate. For example, it is involved in seasonal changes, drought, the increase of temperature, inability of the river to reach the sea, et cetera (Gore, 2006). 

Taken as a whole, the majority of global warming will be devastating to human and animal populations. For examples, an insecure food supply, more intensive storms, drought and rapidly rising sea levels, et cetera (Nathan. 2008, Internet). 

Word Count: 835 words 

Bibliography: 

-        Author Unknown, (2013). Steady Increase in Climate Related Natural Disasters Steady [Online]. United States, AccuWeather. Retrieved from http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-blogs/climatechange/steady-increase-in-climate-rel/19974069[Accessed 24 April 2014]. 

-        Author Unknown, (2010).The Impact of Climate Change on Natural Disasters [Online]. United States, Earth Observatory. Retrieved from http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/RisingCost/rising_cost5.php [Accessed 22 April 2014]. 

-        Author Unknown, (2010).Global Temperatures [Online].United States, Earth Observatory. Retrieved from http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/RisingCost/rising_cost5.php [Accessed 03May 2014]. 

-        Author Unknown, (2007).Effects of Global Warming [Online].United States, National Geographic. Retrieved from http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/gw-effects/ [Accessed 03 April 2014]. 

-        Author Unknown, (2008).Sea Level Rise [Online].United States, National Geographic. Retrieved from http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/critical-issues-sea-level-rise/[Accessed 03 May 2014]. 

-        Gore, A., (2006). An Inconvenient Truth [DVD]. Paramount Classics: United States. [Accessed 27 April 2014]. 

-        Harding, L. (2009) ‘Climate change in Russia’s Arctic tundra.’ Guardian Weekly. 20 October 2009. 

-        Lallanilla, M., (2013).Effects of Global Warming [Online].Los Angeles, Live Science. Retrieved  from http://www.livescience.com/37057-global-warming-effects.html [Accessed 27April 2014]. 

-        Slaght, J., Harben, P. &Pallant, A., (2009) English for academic study Reading & Writing.

-        Wight, E., (2014). Droughts, flooding, disease: the reality of a Cambodia that has been hit by climate change. Cambodia, Phnom Penh Post. Retrieved from http://www.phnompenhpost.com/7days/droughts-flooding-disease-reality-cambodia-has-been-hit-climate-change [Accessed 11 May 2014]. 

970 words

Writing

“Solutions to global warming”

Renewable energy is the long term solution to the problems of global warming. Firstly it is clean; it does not harm the environment or people’s health. Second, it is almost infinite, which means that it takes a long time until it disappears. The most popular types of renewable energies are solar and wind power.

Solar energy is one of the renewable energies and it is an alternative of burning fuel to obtain electricity. It can reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, which cause global warming. The sun releases energy into space on a daily basis.  Solar panels are black mirrors that capture that energy when it comes to the Earth to produce electricity. In the past, this technology was not very efficient because it could not be operated at night and it did not produce enough electricity on a larger scale. However, NASA has upgraded this technology by basing up on the new creation of rocket engines, they created the world’s first solar power plant. They built a huge tube and put hundreds of solar panels around the tube. As the sun heats all the panels, they direct the power into the tube, which generates a lot of power. NASA experts said that their solar power plants are cheaper and less dangerous than the nuclear power plants but can generate the same amount of power ("Shuttle engine design," 2014). Solar panels can also be installed at home, workplaces, and a lot of other places.  It saves a lot of money because people do not need to pay for the electricity from traditional power plants. 

Wind energy is another type of renewable energy that can solve the issue of climate change. Wind is a natural force that exists everywhere on Earth. Wind turbines rely on the wind to blow in their direction to spin their dynamos and generate a lot of electricity. Many countries around the world have been using these turbines to reduce the amount of fossil fuel used. Standsford scientists have found hydroelectric storages, which can be used to store the surplus energy. This extra power can be use as backup if power plants stop functioning (Shwartz, 2014).

Saving energy at home greatly reduces carbon dioxide emission. People can do this by adding more insulation to their house to stop air leaking. A person, who is knowledgeable about sealing and insulating his or her house, can save more than 20% of heating and cooling costs and a lot of energy that needs to be spent on those types of appliance. In order to do that, we can just use caulk and weather stripping to decrease air leaks and stop air currents. Plus, to stop the entering of hot air and cold air, insulation should be sealed in attics of houses. People should save more water as well because it takes a lot of energy to treat, pump and heat water. For instance, faucets should be closed to avoid water from running while brush teeth and shaving. Toilets and faucets leak should be fixed when they are broken (EPA, 2014).

Furthermore, people should buy products such as electronic devices and household appliances with ENERGY STAR label.  According to the EPA, this is an efficient way because these products consume less energy and are more efficient than normal products. Actually, there are more than 60 kinds of product, which are qualified by that label. Products that have the ENERGY STAR label can decrease greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 130 thousand pounds during their lifetime (EPA, 2014). It is also better to buy new products and recycle old ones.

            One other solution to global warming is that people should choose their ways of traveling wisely. In the US, cars and truck cause more than half of the transportation emissions, which is about one-fifth of the nation’s total worldwide global warming pollution. Transportation causes nearly 30 percent of America’s global warming emissions. People can choose to buy cars with higher mileage or even hybrid cars if possible. It is even better if people choose to talk or ride bicycles more (The Inconvenient Truth, Guggenheim). They can switch to cleaner fuels, go electric or reduce driving. These fuel-efficient vehicles use less gas and people could still drive the same distance. The least fuel burnt, the least gas emitted (Union of concerned, 2014)

Trees absorb carbon dioxide, which is one of the greenhouse gases causing climate change.  Cambodia is known to have the third highest rate of deforestation in the world. In mid 2009 in Treak village, Siem Reap, a community called Husk started a tree-planting program. Those trees provide a lot of benefits that they give the villagers fruit and a source of income. More than 100 fruit trees have been planted in 2009. Their goal for 2010 was to plant more than 500 trees in Treak village and start a new planting program in Kompheim village. Husk for Communities will also bring up educational programs to help educate poor families and preserve trees (Husk for Communities, 2014). Deforestation needs to be stopped and the government should create laws to protect forests in general not just try to recreate them as it takes a long time for forests to be created.

Trees not only absorb the greenhouse gas but also help with cooling. It means that people do not need to use energy for cooling systems. According to The U.S. Department of Energy, planting trees around houses can keep the houses cool in summer. In addition, trees, shrubs, or vines that are placed correctly can give effective shade and break the wind. As a result, uses of energy are reduced by 25%, in terms of each normal household. According to researchers, in tree-shaded neighborhoods, the temperatures of the air are 3 to 6 degrees celsius cooler than temperatures treeless zones in summer. (2011).

 

Bibliography

EnergySavers. (2011, December 1). . Retrieved April 30, 2014, from http://energy.gov/energysaver/downloads/energy-savers-guide

Husk For Communities. (2014, January 1). Retrieved from

 http://www.huskcambodia.org/our-program-tree-planting.html

Shuttle engine design was a game-changer for solar power. (2014, April 7). Retrieved from http://climate.nasa.gov/energy_innovations/1062

Shwartz, M. (2014, March 25). Study: Wind farms can store and deliver surplus energy. Retrieved from http://climate.nasa.gov/energy_innovations/1055

The Inconvenient Truth. (2006). Documentary film. Davis Guggenheim. Paramount pictures: America

Union of Concerned Scientists. (2014, January 31). Retrieved from http://www. ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/why-clean-cars/global-warming/

What You Can Do: At Home. (2014, March 19). . Retrieved May 2, 2014, from http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/wycd/home.html

            In conclusion, greenhouse gas emissions mainly come from our human daily activities, but also from natural causes, which also emit a lot of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Humans know that the greenhouse effect will be disastrous to every life on the planet. Thus, people are finding possible solutions to prevent this issue from becoming uncontrollable.