ipl-logo

Are Humans Responsible For Climate Change

743 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay On Ocean Acidification

The ice sheets have dissipated to the point of no return. Undoubtedly, the ice sheets are disappearing. For instance, half of the ice has disappeared since 1980, and today people are indecisive about what is responsible for climate change. Humans are not only injecting CO2 into the atmosphere, but also into the ocean, causing ocean acidification. Furthermore, modern technologies have contributed to recent discoveries of fossil fuels. The world now has more than it could possibly need. There is a Danish island called Samso that comprehends the issue of global warming. For example, this meager community has managed to become carbon neutral. Once again, the president would promise to take action. Barack Obama appeared to be taking action, however, …show more content…

Even if CO2 emissions completely disappear, it would take thousands and thousands of years for the atmosphere to return to normal. One scientist, Ken Caldeira, would publish research on ocean acidification, and it would be startling. For instance, he put fourth four different scenarios, and even in the best case scenario, the ocean is going to still end up the same as in the worst-case scenario. Furthermore, corals are dying at alarming rates. Consequently, this is where a massive portion of marine life resides. The corals demise is because of water saturation levels, and most of the marine life around the coral is totally dependent on them. In return, this will have a catastrophic effect on marine ecosystems. The planet cannot possibly recover from all the CO2 emissions.

In this chapter, ocean acidification comes to light. There is no way to predict what happens after plankton and coral disappear. Ultimately, it will be catastrophic to the ocean ecosystem. I also learned that if it was not for the ocean absorbing all the CO2 that it does, the planet would be worse off than it is.

Chapter 13: Unconventional …show more content…

The mining process of tar sands is simply atrocious. The condition of the left over water from the process is ridiculous. Plus, it takes extensive amounts of energy to deal with tar sand mining. Therefore, they are going to build two nuclear power plants to provide for it. In addition, the unconventional oil extracting process creates extra greenhouse gases than using the oil itself creates. Supposedly, the polluted water from the tar sand process is getting into one village’s water supply. Rare types of cancer have been popping up in this community.

In this chapter, instead of looking for new ways to lower CO2 levels, humans are using new technologies to add even more CO2 to the atmosphere. These are the results of mining oil unconventionally, which is a process that is unbelievably harmful to our planet in my

Show More
Related
435 Words | 2 Pages

To extract and produce the oil from the sands, carbon is released into the air 17% more than that of conventional oil. The increasing carbon emissions in the air can speed up the changing climate, and can lead to severe health risks. Pollution is a result of extracting this alternative oil, but

Read More
1196 Words | 5 Pages

If the climate continues to rise the coral population could become obsolete and disappear (CREARY, M. (2013). One of the most notable climate changes that damaged the coral reefs was the “El Nino” storm in 1998. This storm caused an extreme increase in the water temperature and bleached one- sixth of the corals in the World (El Niño prolongs longest global coral bleaching event. (n.d.)) Although we cannot prevent the weather, humans can reduce the amount of deforestation in rainforests that will reduce the amount of carbon dioxide that is emitted into the atmosphere.

Read More
530 Words | 3 Pages

Around 150 years ago, humans started releasing fossil fuels into the atmosphere during the industrial revolution. The ocean takes up a quarter of the gas that surrounds earth by absorbing the CO2 we put in our atmosphere. Scientist thought the ocean was a great resource for getting rid of these CO2 gases in the atmosphere; however, they didn’t know how much these gases where destroying our great ocean. NOVA’s documentary presents, Lethal Seas, a documentary of the destruction of our vast ocean, concentrating on the American northwest coast, Papua New Guinea among the volcanic islands of Milne Bay, and Aurora Australis. The documentary dresses the issue of rising acidity levels in the ocean and its effects.

Read More
1083 Words | 5 Pages

This becomes a much larger problem when Kolbert talks about the reefs on our world. She states: "This is because out in the real world, reefs are constantly being eaten away at by fish and sea urchins and burrowing worms" (Kolbert). What Kolbert means by this is as the PH levels in our oceans drop, the rate at which reefs grow will decrease. With the decrease in production rates, the reefs will not be able to keep up with the fish and other organisms that break them. World wonders will slowly begin to erode away to extinction and

Read More
1315 Words | 6 Pages

Even as the ocean is warming, much of the coral cover will still remain. We will see a rise in sea-level but to a limited extent. Working to adapting and mitigating to these climate changes will prove successful. Efficient land-based conservation efforts and sanctuary management work will be crucial for facing these climate

Read More
1637 Words | 7 Pages

According to Ocean Science, the ocean serves as a reservoir for carbon (Hoffman, 161). This is significant because carbon in the Earth’s atmosphere is at an all-time high due to humans burning fossil fuels and increase in deforestation leading to fewer trees emitting oxygen in place of carbon dioxide. Excess amounts of carbon leads to acidification forming, and the acid in the ocean is impacting both fish and coral that have lived in the ocean for millions of years. The acid in the ocean is impacting both fish and coral that have lived in the sea for millions of years. The Ocean Portal Team writes, “a small change in the pH of seawater can have harmful effects on marine life, impacting chemical communication, reproduction, and growth” (p. 7).

Read More
190 Words | 1 Pages

Annotated Bibliography: How Climate Change Is Affecting Our Planet Controversy statement: Climate change is been debated for over centuries now. People all around the world are taking action and reducing burning fossils to minimize the gasses in the atmosphere. Many people believe that climate change doesn't exists. But there are a lot of controversial topics that proves that climate change is real. In my opinion, climate change is slowly killing us and destroying our planet.

Read More
531 Words | 3 Pages

It’s obvious to see that global warming is becoming more and more of an issue. What we don’t know is how much global warming is going to affect us in the future. Some people believe it’s a major issue while other aren’t quite sure if it would even change anything or cause damage. When you look at the statistics though, it’s easy to realize that something, like using renewable resources, must be done to slow down global warming or stop it all together.

Read More
1661 Words | 7 Pages

Climate Change This quote said by Washington State Governor, Jay Inslee shows the severity of climate change “We are the first generation to feel the sting of climate change, and we are the last generation that can do something about it.” “On Earth human activities are changing the natural greenhouse of the Earth.” (A blanket around the Earth). Burning fossil fuels is causing carbon dioxide to be released into the air.

Read More
1609 Words | 7 Pages

Do humans cause global warming or is it natural? Many researchers, scientists, and environmentalists are expressing concerns about changes in the overall climate of the `earth. Some believe that a dramatically dangerous warming is taking place in the overall global climate, a problem that is referred to as "global warming”. What is global warming? Global warming is an increase in the average temperature at Earth's surface (“global warming”).

Read More
692 Words | 3 Pages

About 71 percent of our planet Earth is covered by water, and the majority comes from the oceans (about 96.5 percent of all Earth’s water). It remains as the most expansive, diverse, and mysterious places on planet Earth. But it is being threatened by the pollution by people and nature itself. By polluting the habitat of marine organism will indirectly affect the ecosystem of the marine life. Marine life is dying and as the result the oceanic ecosystem is threatened.

Read More
861 Words | 4 Pages

The topic of this research paper will cover over Ocean Acidification and the effects on marine ecosystems. Ocean acidification is the decrease in pH levels of the Earth 's oceans, due to overbearing carbon dioxide being brought by the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide is drawn by seawater, where the chemical reactions take place, which minimize the pH levels in the ocean, the carbonate levels and the important calcium carbonate which these sea creatures need. When carbon dioxide disperses in this ocean, it causes the levels of acidity to rise towards the the surface, where most shell growth in marine animals have been stopped and has created the cause of reproductive disorders in multiple fish. Part of the problem with ocean acidification is human activity.

Read More
1141 Words | 5 Pages

In the worst case scenario these animals will become extinct in the future. Carbon dioxide is well known as CO2. The level of carbon dioxide in the ocean has increased over the past years. The ocean dissolves the emissions of humans and the combustion of fossil fuel. Once being dissolved, the carbon dioxide creates

Read More
832 Words | 4 Pages

According to ZeeNews, Over the past 250 years burning fossil fuels have raised the atmospheric CO2 concentration by more than 40% over its preindustrial level of 280 parts per million. In May of 2013, the CO2 concentration in Earth’s atmosphere surpassed a milestone of 400 parts per million for the first time in human history. Many scientists consider this to be extremely dangerous for its impact on Earth’s climate (Emissions from fossil fuels to impact global warming). In addition, global warming is a very serious problem because many animal habitats are slowly disappearing and it is causing biodiversity loss.

Read More
1634 Words | 7 Pages

The ice from glaciers, the ice sheets and permafrost are already melting and will probably continue to melt at a higher rate in the future leading to rises in ocean levels (IPCC, 2014). Furthermore, it causes the emission of methane (also a GHG), stored mostly in the Arctic regions (Shakhova et al., 2007) which in turn leads to increased heat in the atmosphere, further aggravating climate change. GHGs cause the oceans to contain increasingly more acids, which damages coral reefs and negatively influences the amount of CO2 the ocean can absorb (IPCC, 2014). Weather conditions are becoming progressively extreme and a rise in floods, hurricanes and temperatures can already be measured and will further increase in the future (USGCRP, 2014). Weather incidents could destroy forests and swamps, which causes less CO2 to be absorbed naturally.

Read More

More about Are Humans Responsible For Climate Change

Related Topics

Open Document