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A Little Less Conflagration

(A Little More Action, Please)








Doryen Chin
Roxanna Dewey
English 101
November 16, 2011
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Doryen Chin
Roxanna Dewey
English 101
November 16, 2011
A Little Less Conflagration
(A Little More Action, Please)
Over the last 40 years, the phenomenon of global warming has been well documented and
investigated by climatologists all around the world. (Clemmitt 2006) The general consensus is that
the explosion of greenhouse gas emissions caused by burning carbon fuels has lead to an overall
increase in atmospheric energy. This is currently causing global warming, and could lead to
devastating long term effects in the earths climate, which could make life - for humans at least - very
challenging. (Tigay 2011) While the worlds political powers debate on and on about how to best
deal with dwindling carbon fuels and exploding greenhouse gas emission rates, our dependency
upon inefficient forms of energy is producing changes to the global climate which could threaten the
very survival of humankind as we know it.

The climate change were experiencing is caused by the retention of solar energy in our atmosphere
via what scientists call a greenhouse effect. (Cooper 1996) Greenhouse effects are created when
certain gases, creatively named greenhouse gases or GHGs build up in the atmosphere of a planet.
This generally contributes to an overall warming trend, as the Earths surface is gradually heated
over decades and centuries. Through the use of inefficient carbon-based fuels, people are producing
exponentially more GHGs than ever before in the history of mankind, and this is creating some
dangerous consequences for life around the world. Cooper states,
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Thanks to sophisticated computers and satellites, scientists today know more about how
burning fossil fuels and other industrial activities release carbon dioxide and other gases that
trap solar heat in the Earth's atmosphere. (1)

To have a clear picture of how global warming creates extreme weather conditions, imagine a pot of
room temperature water, sitting on a stove. What happens to that water when you turn the stove on?
At first, the water at the bottom of the pot begins to warm, causing it to rise to the surface, creating
what is known as convection current. Now apply that idea to the Earth on a global scale. As GHGs
trap energy from the sun, the atmosphere begins to heat up, which heats up the water in the oceans.
This has a big effect on the water cycle, because suddenly there is quite a bit more energy than there
used to be. The energy has to go somewhere, and it does. In places where its already dry, higher
temperatures create stronger high-pressure systems which force out moisture, leading to unfortunate
droughts and heat waves that can be extremely deadly. There is evidence that this process has
already begun. In Europe, veteran social-policy reporter Marcia Clemmitt writes, an extreme heat
wave in 2003 killed more than 25,000 people nearly 15,000 of them in France. (13)

Warming and climate change can lead to disastrous effects on agriculture and wildlife as well.
Chanan Tigay, a writer who won the Simon Rockower Award for his coverage of Hurricane Katrina
writes, The warmer that Earth's atmosphere becomes, scientists explain, the more water vapor it
can hold. As the temperature rises, the atmosphere essentially holds more fuel to power violent
storms. More intense rainstorms could increase flooding, ruining crops and polluting waterways.
(26) This raises the cost of food as well as the amount of energy (read, fuel) that it takes to produce
the food. Since our primary source of energy is GHG producing carbon fuels, this is at the very least
ironic. At the poles, the warming trend is melting the permafrost vital to the survival of arctic forests
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and destroying the habitats of animals which depend upon an icy environment to thrive by making
the waters inhospitable to food sources. (Clemmitt 2006)

In addition, the increased amount of solar energy being absorbed at the equator is leading to even
more violent storms, including hurricanes and surges, which threaten many major coastal cities. As
well, there are several small island nations that could be entirely wiped out by the catastrophic
weather events caused by global warming. Already, many are seeking partnership with neighboring
larger nations for evacuation or annexation. According to Clemmitt Islands and developing nations
generally are most vulnerable to the effects of global climate change. (2006)

Thanks to our understanding of climatology, we are able to see exactly how continuing to burn
carbon-based fossil fuels is leading to what could potentially lead to a runaway greenhouse effect.
The heated debate over whether we develop cleaner energy sources or raise taxes on excessive
carbon fuels will continue to rage on, but one thing is certain; we must not only stop producing
GHGs, we must find a way to reverse the global warming trend already in progress. It may be
inconvenient, but its the truth.








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Works Cited
Clemmitt, Marcia. Climate Change: Is tougher action needed to slow rising temperatures? CQ
Researcher. 27 Jan. 2006. Web. 7 Nov. 2011.
Cooper, Mary H. "Are Limits on Greenhouse Gas Emissions Needed?" CQ Researcher. 1 Nov. 1996.
Web. 7 Nov. 2011.
Tigay, Chana. "Extreme Weather: Is Global Warming Causing Severe Storms?" CQ Researcher. 9 Sept.
2011. Web. 7 Nov. 2011.