Olivia Pugh

Research Paper
December 19, 2019

No Alternative Facts: Climate Change is Real and Here’s Why

Living in Virginia Beach for half of my life has taught me to expect the unexpected, at least

weather-wise. If you have lived in Virginia Beach long enough you will understand what I mean.

The weather is always a surprise. For the most part, we have four seasons but that doesn't mean

that the temperature is predictable. In the dead of winter, it could be 70 degrees with sun and in

the middle of summer, you might find yourself wearing jeans with a sweatshirt due to cool

temperatures. The running joke in the area is that, “Virginia Beach is bipolar”, but there is a

reason why the weather fluctuates so frequently, and it has nothing to do with the mental state of

the atmosphere but rather results from a condition known as climate change.

Climate change refers to the constant change in average weather conditions (“Climate

Change”). Since the late 19th Century, scientists have discovered that the temperature of the

planet is slowly getting warmer and over the next 50 years, the temperature is expected to rise

another one to five degrees (“Climate Change”). Before the development of big cities and large

human population centers around the time of the industrial revolution in the 1700s, climate

change was able to be explained by natural causes some including solar energy, volcanic

eruptions, and natural greenhouse gas changes. In the mid-20th Century, climate change and

observed warming were not just from natural causes, in fact, human activities played a large role

in the increase of the temperature. One of the largest contributing factors to the increase in

Earth's temperature is The Greenhouse Effect.

The Greenhouse Gas Effect is a large topic of discussion as often it is jokingly referred to

as a myth, and some people even believe that it is not real. The Greenhouse Effect, in fact, is a

predominant cause of global warming, which causes the atmosphere to retain heat leaving a rise

in temperatures. The Greenhouse Effect takes place when light from the sun touches the surface
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of the Earth. At this point, it has two options, to be reflected back into space or absorbed by the

Earth. When the later occurs, the energy that the planet obtained gets released back into Earth’s

atmosphere as heat or infrared radiation. Water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane, some

common greenhouse gases, take in the energy and slow down or prevent loss of heat into space.

The greenhouse gases “house in” heat containing the heat on Earth to make the atmosphere

warmer than it would usually be. In effect, the carbon from affecting the glacial cycles causes the

carbon levels to be high or low during certain “interglacial periods.'' Earth's surface and oceans

can cause changes in the natural sources and sinks of these gases through heating and cooling

therefore changing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere (“United States

Environmental Agency”). Around 1750, the time of the Industrial Revolution, activities of

humans began contributing to climate change by introducing CO2 and other heat-trapping gases

to the atmosphere. The greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels are the biggest

effect on the amount and rate of climate change and the primary human activity influencing the

increase in temperature. The most important greenhouse gas directly emitted by humans is

carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.

What are these elements that are affecting the temperature of our planet? Most of them

are gases, greenhouse gases to be exact? The biggest greenhouse gas affecting our planet is

carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a natural gas produced in or as a part of the carbon cycle also

released by plants in photosynthesis, animal respiration, and volcanic eruptions. But too much

carbon can affect the atmosphere. The burning of fossil fuels and changes in land use release

large amounts of CO2 that are released back into Earth’s atmosphere. Since pre-industrial times,

atmospheric CO2 has increased by more than 40% meaning approximately 280 parts per million

by volume in the 18th century to over 400 parts per million by volume in 2015 (“United States

Environmental Agency”). In recent years, CO2 levels are higher than they have ever been. “The

United States Geological Survey reports that human activities now emit more than 135 times as
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much CO2 as volcanoes each year. Human activities currently release over 30 billion tons of

CO2 into the atmosphere every year” (“United States Environmental Agency”). The carbon

overflow is releasing more than Earth’s atmosphere can take in.

The second most overproduced gas is methane. Methane is found naturally and through

human activities. For example, natural wetlands, agricultural activities, and fossil fuel extraction

and transport all emit CH4. Methane is more abundant in Earth's atmosphere now more than ever

due to human activities. During the 20th Century methane had increased sharply and now are

more than two-and-a-half times since pre-industrial levels, in recent years the increase has

slowed considerably (“United States Environmental Agency”). The third most abundant gas

overproduced in the earth’s atmosphere is nitrous oxide. Like the other two, nitrous oxide is both

naturally produced and from human activities. This is mainly through agricultural activities and

natural biological processes such as fuel burning. Since the start of the Industrial revolution the

burning of fuels has risen approximately 20% (“United States Environmental Agency”).

The last gas is water vapor. Despite having a short atmospheric lifetime the most

abundant greenhouse gas is water vapor and the most important when it comes to the natural

greenhouse effect (“United States Environmental Agency”). Although most of the water vapor is

not due to human emissions.

Greenhouse gases are not the only cause of climate change; particles and aerosols in the

atmosphere can also affect the climate, although some aerosols also come from natural sources

such as volcanoes and marine plankton. The main particle is known as black carbon. Black

carbon is an aerosol or solid particle that contributes to the warming of the atmosphere, black

carbon is not a gas (“Methane and Black Carbon”). Black carbon can directly absorb incoming

and reflected sunlight in addition to absorbing infrared radiation, unlike greenhouse gases

(“Methane and Black Carbon”). One of the major effects of black carbon is its ability to sit on

snow and ice that can cause darkening of the surface, causing an increase in the melting of the
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snow. Temperatures in the Arctic are increasing faster than anywhere else across the globe. From

1950 to 2012 the Arctic climate has warmed at a rate almost double that of the global average

with about 1.6 degrees Celsius increase the region’s mean annual surface temperature has

increased (“Methane and Black Carbon”). Some problems that have occurred in the Arctic

include sea ice loss, glacial retreat, and the increase of wildfires.

There are three major problems that have occurred as a result of climate change and an

increase in the atmosphere temperature. The first being sea ice loss in part of the Arctic Ocean.

The Arctic Ocean is covered by ice year-round but due to warming temperatures, the extent of

Arctic sea ice has decreased. Arctic ice has become thinner which makes it more vulnerable to

additional melting. Reductions in sea ice cover also increase the exposure of darker, underlying

water, causing more sunlight to be absorbed this leads to more warming. The next problem is the

glacial retreat. Since the 1960’s the acceleration of ice loss in the United States and worldwide

has caused glaciers to shrink in Alaska causing the Arctic rise in sea levels (“Methane and Black

Carbon”). The last problem is an increase in wildfires. “From 1984 to 1998, wildfires burned

approximately 315,000 acres per year in Alaska. Most of this occurring in the subarctic portion

of the state quadrupling. From 1999 to 2013, wildfires burned approximately 1.3 million acres

per year across the state” (“Methane and Black Carbon”). Increased quantities of freshwater

entering the ocean contribute to rising sea levels and affect ocean current circulation.

As humans, the Earth is our only home. Unlike other known planets, Earth is a complex

planet with a delicate design that has enabled our existence on it for thousands of years. Over

those centuries, we humans have evolved and created an architecture that is affecting that

delicate design and could possibly prove disastrous for life on the planet. Since we humans, as

the most industrious species on the planet, created the problem, it is our responsibility to resolve

it, or our future on Earth is not guaranteed. As with any problem, the first step to resolution is

admitting there is a problem, no matter how inconvenient the truth may be.
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Works Cited

Climate Change. ProQuest, Ann Arbor, 2019. sirsissuesresearcher,

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Grandoni, Dino. "One of the Biggest Coal Mining Firms Caps Production Amid

Climate.." Washington Post, 22 Feb 2019. sirsissuesresearcher,

https://explore.proquest.com/sirsissuesresearcher/document/2265911156?accountid=3785

"Methane and Black Carbon Impacts in the Arctic: Communicating the Science ."

Methane and Black Carbon Impacts in the Arctic: Communicating the Science, 19

January 2017. snapshot.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-09/documents/arctic-

methane-blackcarbon_communicating-the-science.pdf.

United States Environmental Agency. 19 Jan. 2017. snapshot.epa.gov/climate-change-

science/causes-climate-change_.html.

Wallace, Gregory. "Judge: Government must Consider Climate Change in Oil Drilling

Leases." CNN Wire Service, 20 Mar 2019. sirsissuesresearcher,

https://explore.proquest.com/sirsissuesresearcher/document/2266172456?accountid=3785

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