Ecology Essay Example: Personal Position on Climate Change and Global Warming

By examining the early history of environmental changes, one can gain a broad perspective on air pollution and its relationship to the evolution of human technology. The composition of earths atmosphere has experienced substantial changes since the bombardment of meteorites and volcano eruption among other natural events. Initially, the primitive life was not dependent on oxygen, and with the rise of photosynthesis, the Proterozoic era became the first and greatest air pollution disaster. However, the condition stabilized with oxygen content at around 20 percent leading to the flourishing of new forms of lives (Birch, 2014). Ever since there have been numerous events leading to change in the composition of air with the industrial revolution of the mid-19th century leading to more advanced effects. In fact, by the 20th century, the world began to feel the effects of pollution tides flowing in the planets ecosystem. The accumulation of greenhouse gasses that is carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere is associated with increased levels of global warming which possess problems to lives. To control the devastating effects of air pollution the world is joining hands in cleaning the air, which continuous to harm the environment and peoples health.

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Global warming is one of the most controversial debate globally with scientists discussing how it has occurred in the modern times. There is uncertainty among people, scientists, and nations if global warming is real with some terming it as a hoax. Despite the scientific disagreements, the world is in consensus that the planet is warming. For instance, the last 100 years has experienced a temperature rise of 0.4 to 0.8 degree Celsius (Birch, 2014). To evaluate published scientific findings on climate change and any information on global warming the United Nations Environment Program and World Meteorological Organization established Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988. In the latest IPCC reports, it seems certain that humans are the primary cause of the status of global warming.

Position of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on Global Warming

According to IPCC, human activities have raised the concentration of carbon dioxide above unexpected levels. Global warming occurs when air pollutants mainly carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses are trapped in the atmosphere and absorbs solar radiation and sunlight which have bounced off the earths surface. Naturally, the radiations should escape into space, but with high accumulation of pollutants, they last in the atmosphere for centuries raising the planets temperatures. In 2007 report, IPCC affirmed that the post-industrial rise in greenhouse gasses does not result from the natural mechanism, but anthropogenic activities cause it. As per the provisions of IPCC before industrialization in 1750, the concentration of carbon dioxide increased by merely 20 parts per million (ppm). By 2005 the levels of carbon dioxide had increased from 280ppm to 379 ppm (Phalen & Phalem, 2013).

The primary sources of greenhouse gasses from anthropogenic activities are burning of fossil fuels. For instance, in the United States, the burning of fossil fuel to power electric machines and produce electricity is the largest source of heat-trapping pollutants, producing about 1.5 to2.0 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year. Fossil fuel is readily available and widely used in the transportation sector. It is estimated that its use could raise temperatures by a range of 1.4 to 5.6 degree Celsius from the year 1990 to 2100. In this case, scientists have decided to set a goal to limit this concentration to 500ppm at most (Phalen & Phalem, 2013). Other sources of greenhouse gasses are farming and forestry. For example, deforestation accounts for one-third of the anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. Paddy rice farming, livestock digestion, vented subsurface landfill emissions, and use of manure are among the agricultural activities leading to a higher concentration of methane. Manufacturing of cement and aerosols among other human activities also exerts a cooling by altering the way sunlight is reflected or absorbed.

Effects of global warming are disastrous, and we should take actions to minimize it in future. The primary consequence is constant temperature rise as human induced warming is placed over naturally varying climate. The temperature rise across the globe has not been uniform, and this will continue over time. There is a possibility of long seasons affecting the ecosystem and the agricultural sector. Other effects include decreased accuracy in precipitation of the climatic patterns, more heat waves and droughts, intense and stronger hurricanes, rising sea levels, and a reduction of ice at Arctic regions. The above effects will affect human and other forms of lives negatively. Also, there are increased cases of skin cancer all over, and medics have related it to the intense radiation from the sun. The destruction of the ozone layer by greenhouse gasses exposes the earth directly to the intensity of sun rays. In fact, todays scientist's points climate change as the biggest global health threat of the 21st century.

Position of Climate Change Skeptics on Global Warming

However, IPCC reports are under scrutiny and climate change skepticism is on rising. Some people believe that IPCC does not conduct its research and it depends on summary reports on climate science studies. For instance, Tom Wigley and Ben Santer would receive the credit for concluding that humans environment influence was responsible for 50 to 150 percent of the global warming from 1950 to 2005 (Sussman, 2010). Later IPCC published their reports affirming this claim, which makes their information unreliable, as they did not carry out an investigation to support this idea. The credibility of IPCC should be an eye to both the scientific community and governments as its commitment should reflect the state of human understanding on climate change science. Nevertheless, some scientist has accused IPCC as an implacable monolith imposing dogma of contrived consensus for a political motive. Some of the issues limiting their integrity are that they do not have permanent bureaucracy, it entirely relies on the support of technical and scientific communities to produce its reports, and the fact that it aims at limiting peer reviewing as an essential component of their assessment process.

The Climategate scandal of 2009, exposed data files and email messages exposing scientific frauds and data manipulation by scientists on global warming theories. With this frauds, people would term IPCC as scum. The leaked data questions the assumption that anthropogenic activities are the primary cause of climate change. The information indeed shocks the provision of IPCC forcing some scientists within the panel to join hands with other skeptics. The Climategate emails exposed all the frauds within the Climate Research Unit and their efforts to subvert publication of skeptical papers. With scientists discovering that other political factors influenced climate science some have launched new investigations to examine the extent human activities leads to global warming and the appropriate measures to control this phenomenon.

Recently, global warming took a turn with more than 1000 scientists several from former UNIPCC disagreeing that humans are the primary factors responsible for global climate change. In their argument, they believe that earths climate has always warmed and cooled naturally. Their examination suggests that the 20th-century rise in temperature is within the bounds of natural temperature fluctuations for the last 3000 years. For instance, a study published in Nature in 2005 found that in Northern Hemisphere around AD 1000 to 1100 they experienced high temperature similar to those observed before 1990 (Sussman, 2010). Another research by Chinese Science Bulletin of 2010 suggested that the recent global warming period is because of twenty-one temperature oscillation and that new cooling period should take place in the 2030s (Birch, 2014).

The rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide were widely associated with global warming. However, skeptics propose that carbon dioxide does not necessarily cause global warming and though they are some correlation between the two, there is no sufficient evidence to link them directly. Some scientists suggest that the past 240000 years global warming preceded global increase of carbon dioxide. Also, the oceans, forests, and other carbon sinks reabsorb human-produced carbon dioxide negating any climate change. According to a study published in Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences, there is an increase in forests growth rate due to an elevation of carbon dioxide levels decreasing carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere. Others believe that the carbon dioxide is already saturated in the air and if more of it finds its way back there whether human-made or natural events the climate will experience minimal impact.

Because of the disagreement on anthropogenic global warming skeptics proposes that the primary cause of global warming and cooling is due to fluctuations in the suns heat. Also, IPCC in their 2013 report recognized that the past 15 years global warming has slowed despite a continuous increase of carbon dioxide. Lastly, to the prediction of accelerating anthropogenic climate change are mainly based on computerized climate models with skeptics terming them incorrect and inadequate and scientists should not rely on them. With this skeptics retains their ideology that global warming and cooling is a natural phenomenon. For instance, sea and acidic levels have been rising steadily over time without the influence of humans activities.

Personal Position on Global Warming

Personally, they are more cases of hurricanes, melting of glaciers, and rising of acidity levels in the oceans as compared to the previous years these cases were not as common as they are today. Therefore, it means that something is acting as a catalyst and its effects must have a direct impact on the climate change. The natural greenhouse effects had minimal negativity as they aimed at establishing a more inhabitable climate and environment for living organisms and humans. If nature remained intact, it means that we would have a stabilized atmosphere with minimal pollution as nature could balance the composition of the air. However, human activities are among the factors changing the natural habitat immensely. The industrial revolution specifically resulted in increasing of carbon dioxide concentration in the stratosphere with about 37 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide finding its way in the air.

In conclusion, the sun will keep bathing the earth with energy and the ground will absorb and emit it as infrared radiation or heat. However, increased levels of greenhouse gasses prevent the ground from discarding as much heat. Without natural emission of greenhouse gasses, the planet would be freezing and unfriendly for human habitation. Nevertheless, the addition of these gasses due to human activities is causing an average increase of temperature in the ecosystem. The increasing levels of greenhouse gasses are responsible for the extreme long-term climate and weather changes. Though some scientists believe that global warming is natural phenomenon efforts to limit the emission of carbon dioxide particularly is fruitful in controlling the global temperatures. Therefore, global warming is widely influenced by anthropogenic activities and not controlled the world climate will keep worsening and eventually the planet will not support human life. References

Birch, E. (2014). A Review of Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability and...