Adhikari

Shankar Adhikari
Prof. Casey Cooke
English 101
28 September 2015

Global Warming, Consequences and Prevention

There are some compounds present in our atmosphere, mainly in gaseous form, that plays
the most vital role in the existence of life in this planet. If these gases not been present in our
atmosphere our earth would have been nothing, but an ice ball and virtually the existence of life
would have been impossible. These life savior gases are known as greenhouse gases. These gases
have the capacity of absorbing infrared radiation and maintaining the earths temperature by
trapping and holding the heat energy from the absorbed infrared radiation, this phenomenon
itself is called greenhouse effect (livesciences.com). The recent human activity, especially the
industrialization has resulted in production of too much of these greenhouse gases resulting a
higher concentration of gases in the atmosphere causing excessive greenhouse effect. This has
resulted in a gradual increase of the average temperature in earths surface and is commonly
known as global warming, which is one of the biggest problem that is threatening the very
existence of each and every life living in the planet earth (nasa.gov). The issue of global
warming, if not addressed in timely manner is guaranteed to bring severe consequences, but
certain changes in existing laws, policies, and lifestyle could make huge difference in the
reduction of greenhouse that ultimately helps keep earth safe and sustainable for all of us and the
many generations to come.

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There are various types of greenhouse gases that occurs naturally, however the most
common gases like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide are also produced as a byproduct
of various industrial applications. Mining and burning fossil fuels like coal, gas and oil produces
huge amount of carbon dioxide. With increasing human population, the demand of energy is
rising every year and production and combustion of coal, gas and oil is just accelerating. Some of
the middle class families from certain countries like India and China being able to afford luxuries
like cars, heating and cooling systems, which demands huge amount of electricity and gas, it is
obvious that the concentration of carbon dioxide will rise day by day.
Deforestation for commercial agricultural, especially for pasture and cattle ranching is
another major cause of global warming. The slashing and burning of trees release huge amount
of carbon dioxide and the destruction of trees also reduces the photosynthesis process which is
responsible for reduction of carbon dioxide. According to the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations agriculture is responsible for 18% of the total release of
greenhouse gases world-wide which is more than the whole transportation sector
(timeforchange.com). Methane gas is produced when animal digest their food, according to the
time for change methane gas produced by a cow in a year contributes to greenhouse effect that
is equivalent to greenhouse gas produced by a car while driving 7800 miles. With the colossal
expansion of fast food companies and insatiable hunger for meat around the globe, mass
production of beef has skyrocketed and so has the production of greenhouse gases.
The most devastating effect of global warming is the erratic climate change. In addition
to that, global warming poses both short term as well as long term thereat to the environment we
live in. One of the already seen effect of global warming is the melting down of glacier and polar
ice. According to the national geography, these meltdown has caused a rapid sea level rise

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resulting in catastrophic damage of the coastal habitat therefore, much stronger and frequent
hurricanes and storms are likely in coming days. This will push the sea water much farther in
land and will create erosions, flooding of wetlands, contamination of aquifers and agricultural
soil and disrupt the fresh aquatic habitat for fish, birds and plants. Drought and erratic heavy
rainfall is also one of the anticipated effect of global warming that will follow us in coming days.
By the end of this century sea level is supposed to rise by seven to twenty-three inches at current
rate. This will displace most of the coastal cities around the globe. The polar bear population as
well as penguins population is depleting already. In the long run, generations to come will have
to deal with the shortage of drinking water as well (nationalgeographic.com).
Despite of the numerous threats global warming poses, the opponents have been
painstakingly lobbying against any strategic approach that intends to control the greenhouse
emissions. For them, the issue of global warming is nothing but a conspiracy theory designed by
an interest group, especially some scientists to gain ideological and economical status. However,
the fact that almost ninety percent of researches casting doubt on global warming having been
funded by giant energy companies itself suggest who the opponents are really working for.
The control and prevention of global warming is not easy, yet not impossible, as it
doesnt only involves amending and implanting new laws and policies but also requires disciple
and change in lifestyle from personal level. Contribution to reduce the greenhouse gas emission
can be made by different sector of society. One of the contribution from the energy sector could
be imposing higher taxes on electricity generation from fossil fuels and spreading knowledge
about saving electricity. In transportation sector, experimenting with the introduction of nonpolluting electric vehicles, and expanding the public transportation system can also significantly
reduce greenhouse emissions. The agricultural use of nitrogen fertilizers could be reduced by

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encouraging farmers to grow organic products. Similarly, forestation could also help to absorb
the extra carbon dioxide which is present in our atmosphere (ccbc.edu.gov).
The best solution for global warming is by protecting tropical forest, we can significantly
reduce global warming emissions. According to the Science for a healthy planet and safer
world Tropical deforestation record till now about 10 percent of the worlds heat-trapping
emissions is equivalent to the annual tailpipe emissions of 600 million average U.S. cars.
Therefore, by reducing the tropical deforestation can significantly lower global warming
emissions and together with efforts to reduce emissions from fossil fuel plays an important role
in a comprehensive long-term solution to global warming.
Another best way of controlling the global warming is to use renewable source of energy.
At individual level we should emphasize the use of lower carbon emission vehicles like hybrid
car, bicycle etc. Reducing meat intake also could be one of the key concept towards reducing
greenhouse gases as decreased meat consumption will force commercial meat producer to
downgrade their production scale. At community level we should raise our voice to enhance the
public awareness, and at the same time ask the elected officials to make tougher policies against
the major greenhouse gas producing industries and also by promoting ecofriendly companies.

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Work cited.
"Climate Change: Primary Documents." Culture Wars in America: An Encyclopedia of Issues,
Viewpoints, and Voices. Eds. Roger Chapman and James Ciment. London: Routledge, 2013.
Credo Reference. Web. 5 Oct 2015.
Wallace Broecker, "Climatic Change: Are We on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming?"
Science, vol. 189 (8 August 1975), 460-463.
http://timeforchange.org/are-cows-cause-of-global-warming-meat-methane-CO2
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/gw-effects/