Penrod 1

Linda Penrod

Professor Hughes

English 1201

17 March 2019

Working Bibliography

My essay will attempt to answer the question if global warming is real, and what is The

United States of America doing to combat this problem. I want to know if America is taking this

life-altering possibility seriously.

Jackson, Stephen T. “Climate Change”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 7 February 2019.

https://www.britannica.com/science/climate-change. Accessed 3 March 2019.

Stephen Jackson writes about a multitude of different aspects of how the climate can

change. From greenhouse gasses, weathering rock, to continental drift and how they affect the

climate around us. His work will be critical to my essay because he not only explains what can

change our climate, but how our climate is affected by these changes. He writes about how

volcanic activity can affect our climate, and gives an example of the eruption of Mount Tambora

on the island Sumbawa had caused the year of 1826 to be known as “the year without a

summer”. Some might say that green house gasses are supposed to raise the global temperature,

and not decrease the temperature, right? In some cases, yes, but due to the incredible amount of

pollutants in the air at this specific period of time, instead of the sun’s rays being trapped in the

Earth’s atmosphere, the pollutants were so great that the sun’s rays didn’t even penetrate the
 Penrod 2

atmosphere; they were reflected back into space. He also talks about how chlorofluorocarbons

(CFCs) deteriorate the ozone layer by directly breaking down the ozone (O3) on a molecular

level. All of this information is just on the first page of this article. I will use this information to

support my claim by giving information and statistics that show that climate change is real.

MacMillan, Amanda. “Global warming 101.” NDRC. 11 March 2016.

https://www.nrdc.org/stories/global-warming-

101?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIpuWyw_LQ4AIVMCCtBh227wAWEAAYAiAAEgL79PD_

BwE. Accessed 3 March 2019.

Amanda MacMillan goes more into detail, and spells out how greenhouse gasses can

create the greenhouse effect. The article has multiple citations including ones from scientists and

engineers. She also explains how climate is the temperature globally, and not of just a specific

area. This is why there are skeptics, because they personally see no difference in the weather

around them. Sadly, they cannot realize the difference between climate and weather. This article

pertains more to my topic than Stephen’s article, because it talks more about our country, and

what is has done (or not done) to deal with these upcoming problems. Referencing Trump’s

repeal of the Paris Agreement, which ultimately, turns a blind eye to the problems that are

emerging. This answers part of my research question, because it answers that as of now, the

United States isn’t legally obligated to follow the strict guidelines of the Paris Agreement, which

shows that as of now, we (The United States) aren’t taking serious precautions for what might

happen to our home, planet Earth.

Schneider, Stephen Henry, and Terry Louise Root. Wildlife Responses to Climate Change.

[Electronic Resource] : North American Case Studies. Washington, D.C. ; London :

Island Press, 2002.

 Penrod 3

http://sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=tr

ue&db=nlebk&AN=133712&site=eds-live&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_419. Accessed 3 March

2019.

415-419

The authors of this book discuss how wildlife is adapting to the changes in climate.

Including butterflies migrating north, plants of the Colorado Rocky Mountains blooming earlier,

coral bleaching, etc. They, however, do not know what this may mean for us in the long run, but

it could cause more endangered species, in example, the grizzly bear. Us humans can adapt far

more rapidly than the wildlife that are forces to face the harshness of the outside world, but

someday it may become difficult for us as well. This researched information is critical to my

essay because it illustrates how detrimental the warming of the planet can be.

Paris Climate Promise : A Bad Deal for America : Hearing before the Committee on Science,

Space, and Technology, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fourteenth Congress,

Second Session, February 2, 2016. 2017. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-

114hhrg20827/pdf/CHRG-114hhrg20827.pdf#?

4-20

This article is very unique. It is written during the time when Obama signed the Paris

Agreement. In this article, it has multiple scholarly people speaking about their take on Obama’s

actions, and as far as I can tell, the opposing side id mostly concerned with the amount of money

it would take for America to uphold their part of the agreement. They believe that The United

States is being treated unfairly, because the country runs on mostly coal burning energy, and

since we use more coal than most countries, The United States would have to sacrifice a lot of
 Penrod 4

their funding to go towards something that sounds seemingly impossible. Long story short,

America doesn’t want to spend the money for something that isn’t “proven”. But what wull it

take to prove it? Will it take lives to probe this life-threatening theory? Considering climate

change cannot be “proven” until the worst of it’s forces hits us, the American government will

not lift a finger because “fixing a problem that hasn’t yet risen” is a great risk, and that’s not

good for the economy. The information provided in this article will be detrimental to my essay

because it answers the second half of my research question. No, the American will not take

precautions to tchis life-threatening theory. It also poses counter-points to my claim, which will

be useful when explaining the detrimental aspect of this “what if?”.

Global Climate Change Prevention Act of 1989--S. 1610 : Hearing before the Committee on

Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, United States Senate, One Hundred First Congress,

First Session, on S. 1610 ... November 6, 1989. Washington : U.S. G.P.O. : For sale by

the Supt. of Docs., Congressional Sales Office, U.S. G.P.O., 1991, 1991.

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-106shrg85521/pdf/CHRG-

106shrg85521.pdf#?.

This article is written after the the U.S. congress in 2000. The entire article is about the

congress and Senate acknologing the severity of climate change, and are proposing solutions to

this arising problem. These solutions include setting expectations on the miles per gas on small

trucks and suvs, and harvesting CO2 from the atmosphere and putting it into the soil. This helps

my claim by showing that the U.S. once took this theory seriously. This may be detrimental to

my essay, because this article proves that climate change has become a political issue, instead of

a wellbeing issue.

Hess, Darrel, et al. McKnights Physical Geography a Landscape Appreciation. Pearson, 2017.
 Penrod 5

227-244

Darrel Hess wtore a textbook entitled Physical Geography: a Ladnscape Appreation. The

main point in these pages is to inform the reader about the current, ongoing couses and effects to

climate change. I know that this is a credible source because the information here is to be taken

as true, and I know this because it is in a school textbook.This textbook is going to be one of my

strongest sources. In these pages, the book explains the damages of certain pollutants. This

chapter is important because it shows the most statistics and proof that the Earth is truly

warming. I believe that this source will be taken the most seriously out of all of my sources

because the facts that it provides comes straight out of the textbook.

“Climate Policy Tracker.” Climate Nexus | Policy Map, Climate Nexus,

climatenexus.org/policymap/.

This article shows which states have already adopted policies to delay climate change.

This well help my essay because it shows what positive and negative actions each state took that

affects the planet. Instead of this source being a true article with an author, it just has facts of

which state has done what. I can trust this article because it’s only reason for publishing such a

thing is it inform it’s readers. I will use this source to prove to the readers that America as a

whole is not taking any action towards slowing down climate change, which will answer the

second part to my research question.