Term Papers on Global Warming

Term Paper Title	Global Warming
# of Words	1042
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4.17

Global Warming

Global warming occurs when the levels of greenhouse gasses rise and less
infrared light, or heat, escapes the earth's atmosphere.  Thus, the
temperature experienced on Earth begins to rise.  Climate change is a part
of the Earth's history.  There have been dramatic fluctuations in overall
average temperature for the past 150,000 years that suggest a direct
association with carbon dioxide levels.  In the past the temperature highs
and lows have been in tandem with carbon dioxide level highs and lows,
this does not seem to be a mere coincidence.

Carbon dioxide currently accounts for 0.03% of the gas content within the
atmosphere.  However, it has a disproportionate impact on the earth's
temperature.  Thus, minor fluctuations in the percentage of atmospheric
carbon dioxide will likely have a significant effect on the global
temperature.  The percentage of atmospheric carbon dioxide has risen over
the past century at an alarming rate.  Industrial civilization is
essentially driven by fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gasoline all
major contributors to the raise in carbon dioxide emissions.
Deforestation also releases carbon dioxide via burning and exposing the
soil to sunlight.  Also, since trees are a major factor in the natural
processing of carbon dioxide, needing it to make up their mass, when they
are cut down they can no longer serve to absorb carbon dioxide.  Our
practices are altering the environment and endangering society in return.

Carbon dioxide is put into the atmosphere in many ways; some of
which are naturally occurring and others are from human activity.  Over
95% of the carbon dioxide emissions are from natural sources, and would
occur even if humans were not on Earth.  However, Carbon dioxide levels in
the atmosphere, due to the cyclic nature of the carbon cycle, would change
little if not for human activities that produce so much every year.  The
present addition of 3% annually to emissions is enough to throw off the
balancing effect of the carbon cycle.  The result is a build up of carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere, which is currently at about a third higher than
pre-industrial levels worldwide.

Throughout the last century our world, reshaped by dams, irrigation,
logging and so forth, has seen drastic human population growth.  Resulting
technologies produced an industrial age that transformed the land, sky,
waters, and distribution of the biota of the worlds' nations.  The engines
and power plants, which evolved from this historical transformation of
science and technology, threaten our stability.  Just imagine for a moment
how the American continent was changed by these revolutions:

The frontier was conquered during the industrial age when science and
technology were unifying in a grand experiment which, at the time, seemed
like the manifest destiny of civilization: to plow from one coast to the
other.  The wheels of transformation were set into motion long ago and
they are far from slowing down.  The consumption patterns of the
industrial age will continue to grind for some time and place even greater
demands upon all related resources in the meantime.

Even if we change our practices in time to avoid instantaneous climatic
disturbances, the lessons of ecological history show that society and
environment continually alter each other regardless of the global warming
phenomenon.  The environment may initially shape the range of choices
available to a people at a given moment, but then culture...

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