Climate Change: The Facts, the Effects, and the Arguments Before humans and before human's were industrial enough to cause a significant impact on earth's climate, climate change was caused by many natural factors including changes in natural greenhouse gas concentrations. The natural "greenhouse effect" is caused by heat-trapping gases. These gases absorb heat that is radiated from the earth's surface and then radiates the energy back to the surface. Our climate is dependent on this warming effect, without which the earth would be about 60 degrees Fahrenheit colder (U.S Global 14). Without this warming effect we would not able to live, nor would we be here to begin with. That being said, the greenhouse effect can have negative effects on …show more content…
One of them being retired neurosurgeon, Ben Carson, who is running for the Republican party's nomination. He has been quoted as saying, "There's always going to be cooling or warming going on " (Merchant). Now, Dr. Carson, has been criticized before for saying outlandish things, but this isn't one of those that's ever been talked about. This agrument that the climate is always changing is a quite common one. Many people argue that greeenhouse gas emissions are too small to substantially change our climate. They say the earth's climate has always warmed and cooled, that the recent rise in global temperature is the result of a natural climate oscillation, and will eventually give way to a cool period ("Pro"). Yes, natural causes can and do influence our climate, but according to the U.S. Global Change Research Program, "Because human-induced warming is superimposed on a background of natural variations in climate, change is not uniform over time: short-term fluctuations in the long-term upward trend are natural and expected. Nevertheless, global temperatures are still on the rise and are expected to rise further"