Introduction
Global warming is the rise in temperatures of the climate of the earth. The oceans have been the main store of energy for a long time. However, with an increase in temperatures of the earth and the oceans, the water levels have risen. The levels have risen because of the melting of the ice caps in the Polar regions. Since the 20th century, the water temperature and the earth’s temperature have risen by about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit. Other causes of the global warming are human activities like deforestation, pollution, mining and extraction, urbanization and industrialization. The main causes of global warming are natural causes, climate changes and human activities.
Global Warming: What actions need to be taken to halt this trend?
Natural causes are those that do not have a human fingerprint on them. One of the natural causes is solar activity. The sun is a mass of hot gases and with time, the sun changes in terms of activity. These are times when the sun is hotter than others, and this has an effect on global warming. The changes in solar activities affect the sun. Other natural causes are volcanic activities. The earth emits a lot of molten rocks and hot gases and ash during volcanic emissions. All these can have an impact on the temperature of the air, water surfaces, and land.
The emission of greenhouse gases also affects the earth’s temperature because they deplete the ozone layer. Other changes are those of the distribution of the air in terms of wind patterns and currents. All these are factors that man cannot control, and this is why they are the natural factors. There is no way to prevent the natural factors from affecting the earth’s temperature.
The anthropogenic climate factors are the human factors that affect global warming. One such factor is the manufacture and uses of aerosol sprays that contain greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases deplete the ozone layer (1). The ozone layer is instrumental in protecting the earth from radiation. When the ozone layer has gaps, the sun radiation affects the earth, and this causes it to have high temperatures. Another way is deforestation and pollution. All these contribute to global warming because they spread desertification thus raising the temperature of the Earth. The only way that man can counter this is to halt pollution and to conserve natural resources like water, vegetation, oil and natural gas.
Global warming is taking place. There are evidences to support this claim. One is the melting of the polar ice caps. Long time ago, most of the mountains and polar ice caps had snow on the top because of the low temperatures at high altitudes. As the years go by, the ice has melted, and this shows that the temperature has increased (2). Secondly, the water level in the oceans has risen; this is because of the increase in water after the melting of the polar ice caps that flow into the sea. The third evidence is desertification; this is a result of climate change and rise in temperatures. Places that had vegetation in the past are now deserts because the climate has changed.
There are different ways to mitigate global warming. One of the ways is to reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere by carbon taxing. This method is very effective for industries that use oil and natural gas to produce energy. A carbon tax is a tax that depends on the amount of carbon that a factory produces. Also, it is a conservation measure that is effective because it limits the amount of fuel that an establishment uses, and this prevents global warming. Burning of fossil fuels affects the environment and causes global warming. The cost of the tax depends on the amount of carbon that the factory produces, and it is costly for big manufacturing companies.
A carbon tax is also a tax that depends on the amount of carbon in the fuel. Different fuels have different levels of carbon in them. For example, biodiesel has less fuel than petroleum. There are other sources of energy that do not give out carbon dioxide. An example is the sun. The sun has free energy and firms should find a way to harness that fuel to avoid carbon taxing. The reason for this tax is to reduce greenhouse gases. Carbon taxing in very cost effective. Some firms suffer because of these taxes. For example, manufacturing firms pay a lot of taxes because they are the largest consumers of gas and petroleum products. A carbon tax is a regressive tax because the firms pay some price for their actions. However, they do not bear the whole cost but the society suffers.
Another effective method is the clean coal technology which is an innovation that uses clean coal as a source of energy. Clean coal does not produce a lot of carbon to the atmosphere as compared to the normal coal (4). This method is costly for factories but is very effective. Sometimes, the coal goes through thermal decomposition and it emits Sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, mercury and nitrogen oxides. All these chemical compounds depend on the type of coal that the factories are using. This coal is harmful to the environment because it causes acid rain. The emissions also cause global warming. The clean coal technology seeks to reduce pollutants in the coal so that there is little or no emission of poisonous gases. One of the main techniques in clean coal technology is when the scientists chemically wash the coal to reduce its effects. Another technique is gasification and treating gases like flue gas. Another technique that applies for the low-rank coal is de-watering brown coal. When people de-water coal, they alter the calorific value of the coal. This technology takes care of the problems that come from burning coal.
The most-effective policy change is environmental conservation. Man has affected the environment negatively through his activities. These are mining, pollution, industrialization, urbanization and deforestation. Each of these activities is prevalent in all parts of the world. The only way that man can preserve the climate is if people from all countries unite under one mission (3). If man would reduce air, water and environmental pollution that would be a great start. The mining and manufacturing sector are the largest contributors because they use natural gas and oil for energy. These are the sectors that should decide on alternative sources of energy if the policy to reduce extraction and use of minerals would cease. However, for global warming to reduce, there has to be a collective effort from all the sectors and all the countries.
References
- Archer, D. (2007). Global warming (1st Ed.). Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.
- Giss.nasa.gov. (2014). NASA GISS: Science Briefs: Separating Natural from Anthropogenic Influences in Twentieth Century Climate Data Records. Giss.nasa.gov. Retrieved from…
http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/briefs/delgenio_05/ - Usgs.gov. (2014). Distinguishing Natural Climate Variability from Anthropogenic Climate Change | Climate and Land Use Change Research and Development Program. Usgs.gov. Retrieved from http://www.usgs.gov/climate_landuse/clu_rd/pt_nat_climate.asp
- Weart, S. (2003). The discovery of global warming (1st Ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.