Term Paper on "Greenhouse Effect Solution Over a Century"

Term Paper 5 pages (1350 words) Sources: 5 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Greenhouse Effect Solution

Over a century has passed since Svante Arrhenius, a Swedish chemist, theorized that the unchecked burning of fossil fuels would act to trap heat within the earth's atmosphere. The "greenhouse effect" that Arrhenius has warned us has indeed happened, as seen in the unprecedented rise in global temperatures and the corresponding harmful effect both on human health and on the global environment as a whole.

This deductive essay argues that the world needs to act to curb, if not reverse, the greenhouse effect and the resulting global warming. If nothing is done, these gases will continue to trap heat within the planet's atmosphere, resulting in a continued and significant rise in global temperatures.

The first part of this paper examines how human activity related to industrialization has upset the natural balance of greenhouse gases that have kept this planet habitable. In the second part, this paper examines how people have tried to address the problem of global warming, both through technology and through legislation, and argues that a balanced and global approach must be adopted to bring the greenhouse effect back to its original levels.

Upsetting the balance

The planet's natural ability to trap heat at necessary has kept if habitable for over four billion years, and maintaining this delicate balance is important for the planet's survival. The thermal blanket of heating gases has kept the earth warm and habitable. If not for these gases, the earth's temperature would plunge to an estimated 59 degrees Fahrenheit, making it uninhabitable for most of the living organisms on earth today (EPA).

However, as Arrhenius noted, this natural balance has been upset by many human-made factors. The drive towards industrialization has caused humans to engage in practices that exacerbate the effect of these natural greenhouse gases, making them thousands of times more efficient in trapping gases.

Human activity, for example, has significantly raised the levels of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Part of the increase is due to respiration, as the population increase generates more carbon dioxide. Many other human activities contribute indirectly to the increase in carbon dioxide levels. Deforestation, for example, serves to both release the carbon stored in trees and to reduce the number of trees that absorb carbon dioxide.

Industrialization has also caused a significant increase in levels of other greenhouse gases, such as methane, nitrous oxide and flourinated compounds. Methane and nitrous oxide are both products of the Industrial Revolution, released into the atmosphere by burning fuels like coal and oil (EPA).

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), a popular form of fluorinated compounds, were first synthesized in 1928 and were widely used in aerosol sprays as well as a variety of industrial applications. It was not until decades later that atmospheric scientists Ralph Cicerone and F. Sherwood Rowland recognized that these CFCs were damaging the ozone layer. Both scientists were later honored with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their discovery (Robbins).

In addition to the ozone layer, fluorinated compounds are an extremely efficient greenhouse gas. One molecule of these synthetic compounds traps one thousand times more heat than a carbon dioxide molecule.

Restoring the balance

Undoing the effects of such greenhouse gases is a daunting task, but people must act now if the planet is to survive. Such actions must first curb the creation of more greenhouse gas compounds, and also find ways to reverse the damage already created by these gases.

There have been notable attempts, for example, to address this global problem on an international level. Since 1992, for example, representatives from some 160 countries have been discussing ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. This resulted in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which requires industrialized nations to gradually reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. As a target, signatories are required to cut their emissions by at least five percent by the year 2012 (Morgan 38).

Despite its good intentions, however, a ratified Kyoto Protocol is still not in force. In 2001, President George W. Bush refused to sign the treaty, arguing that the required carbon-dioxide reductions entailed in… READ MORE

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