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Trevor Hess

Eric Ratica

Computer Applications

26 September, 2019

What to Know About Global Warming

Throughout history, many topics based on the Earth’s environment and keeping our

beloved planet green have risen. With exceeding amounts of garbage and waste, the question of

where to put this waste is becoming a threat to the environment. At the same time, different

gases like methane and carbon dioxide are raising the Earth’s surface temperature. The effect of

this is that cold areas on Earth’s surface like Greenland, Antarctica, and parts of Russia have

started to melt as a result in the temperature rise. If all of these bodies of ice and snow do melt

into the oceans, it can lead to an overflow of the ocean onto land, possibly putting every livable

piece of land on Earth under water.

Until now, scientists believed that climate change started in the late 1800s. But

using coral, microscopic organisms, ice cores, cave samples, tree rings and

computer simulations, researchers were able to track very slight changes in

temperature in North America, Europe and Asia going back as far as 1850.“When

Did Global Warming Begin?”, Gretel Kauffman.

This quote shows that while global warming is a topic that emerged within the last couple

decades, it may have been taking place while many were unaware of it. During the 1800s, many

revolutionizing inventions were becoming a reality to the people that lived. These inventions

took everyday tasks and eliminated the back breaking work that used to be done by hand and

made it much easier for people. The problem with this is that many of these inventions started
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taking coal and other natural resources for new machinery. The excess steam and polluted air

given off by this has been harmful to the environment. During these times, technology was only

slowly taking off and was not what it is in the current day. People were unaware of the effects of

this pollution and temperature rise at the time. Now, it has been almost 150 years since the

effects of climate change have altered Earth’s living environment. Humanity was blind to the

fact of global warming for this time and it has now caught up with the Earth. Preservation efforts

have since taken effect to help prevent this environmental crisis, but many begin to wonder, did

it start to late?

Another area of focus is the rising temperature and ice melt. With the temperature rising

due to the air pollution and excess steam released in today’s world, it starts to melt glaciers.

While this may not sound like a big deal to begin with, many people are unaware of what the

consequence is.” In the past decade scientists have documented record-high average annual

surface temperatures and have been observing other signs of change all over the planet: in the

distribution of ice, and in the salinity, levels, and temperatures of the oceans”( The Big Thaw,

Daniel Glick). This quote above expresses the problem with melting of ice bodies. People are

blind to the fact that the glaciers melting can result in the flooding of land and continents.

Areas like Antarctica, Greenland, and other ice bodies will start to melt. The temperature rise

can destroy land, and the people that do not think that global warming cannot take effect, will

soon realize that it is a major problem.

The last point that needs attention within global warming is the time that it will take to

begin the effects of global warming. Although preservation efforts have begun to help the

Earth, many of these efforts will take too much time to stop before the Earth begins to heat

excessively. “Even if we stopped emitting greenhouse gases today, global warming would
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continue to happen for at least several more decades, if not centuries. That’s because it takes a

while for the planet…to respond, and because carbon dioxide – the predominant heat-trapping

gas – lingers in the atmosphere for hundreds of years. There is a time lag between what we do

and when we feel it” (Is it too late? NASA Global Climate Change). As shown, it will take

massive amounts of time just to let the Earth cool down enough to stop ice caps form melting

into the oceans. In time, these bodies will begin to melt, and when they do, it might be too late to

stop.

In conclusion, release of gases and pollution into the air will soon prove fatal. In time, the

Earth will begin to gradually rise in temperature and melt ice all over the Earth. This will

eventually lead to the flooding of land and the possible loss of all livable bodies on the planet.

Preservation efforts can help, but if people do not act very soon, it could lead to even greater

tragedies.

Works Cited

Bibliography

Denchak, Melissa. "Global Climate Change: What You Need to Know." NRDC (2019): 9.

Document.

Glick, Daniel. "The Big Thaw." National Geographic (2019): 17. Article .

NASA. "Is it too late to prevent climate change?" NASA Global Climate Change (2019): 2.

Article.

Nunez, Christina. "Causes and Effects of Climate Change." National Geographic (2019): 13.

Article.
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Union of Concerned Scientists. "Global Warming FAQ." Union of Concerned Scientists (2018):

8. Article.

Lynas Mark, Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet (Book)