The earth’s temperature is steadily going up. Scientifically, some gases are known to trap heat, and therefore they act as a blanket that is warming up the planet; one of these gases is carbon dioxide which we emit into the atmosphere when we burn fossil fuels that we use to power up cars, buildings, and machines. Global warming is the severe change in the atmosphere over a prolonged period. It is, therefore, crucial to change these outcomes and find better ways to prevent global warming as it is detrimental to all life on earth; human, animals and even plants.
Global warming is caused by some factors that can be classified into two, anthropogenic and natural climatic changes. Anthropogenic refers to the human aspect that humans have contributed towards global warming while natural climatic changes apply to those natural factors and cycles that have been there over the years. The earth’s climate is driven by the amount of energy coming in and out of the atmosphere (Lyndon, Hanania, Celeste, & Donev, 2015). Even without the human element, the earth itself has cycles that influence climate change; take for instance the solar energy that reaches the earth. As the earth rotates and revolves around the sun, the amount of sunlight that strikes the earth is uneven, sometimes extreme and sometimes just a little. The amount that hits the earth determines the temperature of the earth, too hot and it may damage life and ruin the entire biosphere. Continued and excessive solar energy causes global warming. Also the variability in volcanic activity; an eruption would release many toxic fuels and release a lot of carbon dioxide into the air causing global warming.
Use your promo and get a custom paper on
"Global Warming Mitigation".
Anthropogenic factors are however argued to be the biggest reason for global warming. The human aspect in this world has brought about the use of machines and engines that emit harmful gases into the atmosphere leading to the rise in the earth’s temperature. Also, the land alteration in the form of deforestation is also brought about by humans. The industrialization era has also been characterized by an increase in temperature in said areas. The fuels that are released by most manufacturing and processing industries consist of aerosols and burnt carbon that act as blankets allowing for the atmosphere to hold in the sun’s heat as well as that produced from the earth, the aftermath of this is global warming. Deforestation means the clearing down of trees and vegetation without planting more. Basic biology explains that plants take in carbon dioxide and emit oxygen, therefore stands to reason that a reduction in vegetation will lead to an increase in carbon dioxide in the air that eventually leads to global warming.
There is no controversy about the fact that global warming is taking place. Recent studies by NASA have shown that the earth temperature has gone up by 1.1 degrees Celsius since the 19th century; most of the warming has been identified to have occurred within the past 35 years (“Climate change evidence: How do we know?” 2018). This was at the time the world was ushering in the industrialization age. More evidence of global warming has been brought forward such as the shrinking ice sheets of in Greenland and Antarctic, decreased snow cover, the rise in sea levels and the presence of unseen extreme events such as heat waves and intense rainfall events.
To attenuate the destruction of global warming is ethical and moral and requires global unification in this just cause. Governments and other organizations have put standards in place that industries should follow to reduce the emissions that are being brought about by their harmful byproducts. Measures such as carbon taxing have also been put in place that imposes higher taxes on carbon contents of fuels that are aimed at inducing industries to come up with other ways of powering up their machines that are more environmentally friendly. China is the largest car market in the world; the government estimates that more than a third of the smog in Beijing is caused by automobiles. As a result, the country has taken the initiative of pulling out old and inefficient cars from the road and placing incentives on people to buy hybrids and electric vehicles that do not have carbon emissions which is high fuel efficiency standards (Adler, 2016). The country has also gone a step further by projecting to build high-speed rails to ease the use of cars within the state. In the United Kingdom, they have introduced the use of renewable energy to reduce the carbon intensity (Bowen & Rydge, 2011). All this is aimed at reducing global warming, and if done as proposed it will minimize the impact that cars have on the environment.
Changes need to be made to deter global warming. Policies need to be put in place to make sure that the changes made are followed. Procedures that should I can put forward can be in three categories economic policies; these affect the prices of goods and services, performance standards; these involve building codes and fuel consumption limitations and innovation policies; these are for research and development to come up with better energy providing methods. Economic policies such as carbon tax should be implemented to reduce the amount of carbon that is also used there should be incentives offered to industries that take up the mantle to use environmentally friendly technology such as nuclear power. This is meant to be stricter for businesses to either incur heavy taxes or come up with environmentally friendly ways for manufacturing. For performance standards, policies such as building codes and car fuel economy standards need to be checked. Buildings that have low energy consumption should have little pay off periods. Cars that are inefficient and old should also be banned from the roads and citizens offered incentives to get electric cars that are less harmful to the environment. Performance standards are stricter to the government since only it can make sure they are observed. Innovation policies would also go a long way in ensuring that global warming is reduced. Sizeable donations and funds should be put in research and development programs that are aiming for better energy and less global warming.
In conclusion, global warming is a huge problem to the earth and as a result a threat to life here. Better ways of disposing carbon and aerosols will go a long way in reducing this problem. The governments of the world have a huge role to play in reducing global warming by introducing policies and making sure that they are followed. Industries as well need to be held accountable for the waste and emission that they release to the atmosphere; they need to find better ways to neutralize on and reduce their emissions. Planting of trees is a small task that could be carried out by individuals to reduce global warming as well. Research and development should be funded to find alternative sources of energy that are not detrimental to the atmosphere and are reliable such as the use of nuclear energy.
- Adler, B. (2016, September 29). 7 signs that China is serious about combating climate change. Retrieved from https://grist.org/climate-energy/7-signs-that-china-is-serious-about-combatting-climate-change/
- Bowen, A., & Rydge, J. (2011). Climate change policy in the United Kingdom. Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, 12.
- Climate change evidence: How do we know? (2018, 1). Retrieved from https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
- Lyndon, G., Hanania, J., Celeste, P., & Donev, J. (2015). Natural vs anthropogenic climate change. Energy Education. Retrieved from http://energyeducation.ca
