GLOBAL WARMING

By Sana Samad

What would happen if you woke up one day and suddenly

found yourself in chaotic world where there is catastrophe

everywhere? Global warming is a worldwide phenomenon that is

affecting our earth in a very dramatic way. However, there are

scientists who disagree with this fact and say that it’s not global

warming affecting our earth, it’s the opposite, it’s global cooling.

How strange is that? This has created a dilemma as to what people

should believe. Conversely, global warming has solid evidence to

support it. Some of the very obvious reasons are the increase of the

earth’s temperature due to human activity, the retreating of the

glaciers and lastly the fact that the past decade has been recorded

as the hottest one so far. So, this shows that global cooling is not

legitimate.

Studies show that our earth is heating up because of the

greenhouse gases that get trapped in our atmosphere. The average

global surface temperature has increased by 1.4 degrees

Fahrenheit. This is because of our atmosphere is reflecting back the

incoming radiation of the sun. Earth partly heats up because of the

burning of fossil fuels. Currently, about 80% of our energy comes

from fossil fuels. This means that since we are using so much fossil

fuels, we are burning them a lot, causing them to emit carbon

dioxide in the environment. This ultimately results in the creation of

the greenhouse gases. Statistics show that uncontrolled burning of

fossil fuels will result in the melting of polar ice-caps, rising of sea

levels and inundating coastal communities. According to the

Institute of Oceanography, carbon emissions as a total have been

increasing since 1960. It has increased from 320ppm (parts per

million) in 1960 to 400ppm in 2010. These significant numbers

evidently justify that global warming is serious, because our earth

heats up with gases, its causing problem at the poles which results

in melting of the ice in an disproportionate manner.

Evidence shows a global decline of snow and ice. In particular,

starting from 1980 and the past decade the ice has started showing

signs of melting. Snow is retreating in the early spring. Ice in the

Arctic is shrinks all seasons especially during the summer season.

And because of this melting, it has caused a rise in the sea level in

various regions around the globe causing floods. Over the past

years, Arctic sea-ice extent has decreased about 5%. This may

seem a small number but imagine the same happening every year.

And statistics also show that since 1966 the ice in the Northern

Hemisphere has decreased by 2%. The rise in the earth’s surface

temperature has caused the melting of the snow around the globe.

This effect has caused huge problems around the earth because as

the earth heats up, the glaciers start to melt and flow into the sea,

increasing the sea level and causing floods in low-lying land areas.

In other words, how can global cooling be taken seriously if there

are so devastating results of global warming?

Global warming has gained more attention worldwide than

global cooling because it’s just not the evidence, it’s the fact that

people are observing the climate around themselves. An analysis of

the global temperatures by statisticians shows that the earth is still

warming and not cooling. The statisticians researched the

temperatures of the past years and found no trend of falling

temperatures. This means that global cooling is nowhere close to

being serious, because no effects have come into notice. Secondly,

the past 10 years have been recorded, as the hottest decade of the

planet, so linking this to global cooling would be absurd. The reason

why people might have thoughts or confusions about global cooling

is because of the earth cooling down in different regions, but this is

not because sunspot activity, on the contrary it is actually because

of the La Nina effect. Which is when the earth’s surface temperature

cools down. And because of the La Nina, it has caused some

fluctuations in the rising temperatures that have caused people to

re-think about what they believe. But even though La Nina had

occurred, the past years were still extremely warm. Over the past

years, sea levels have been rising at an average of 1 -2 millimeters

and this is because when the ice melts they flow into the sea

causing them to overflow. Glaciers in South America’s Andes are

melting so fast that if the current rate continues, they could

disappear entirely by 2020. Clearly, this proves that global warming

is serious and has reliable evidence to support it.

In conclusion, I would say that before believing in something,

you need to weigh the evidence, and see if it is reliable. It’s global

warming effecting our earth warming because people won’t make

this a big issue for no reason, it has got to have some strong

evidence to back-it up, which it does have. On the other hand,

global cooling has facts that are merely there for causing confusion

and dilemmas in people’s minds as a lot of money is involved in

these issues. Ice and snow around the globe is melting. It’s getting

warmer and warmer as everyday passes. There are catastrophic

disasters everywhere because of the change of seasons and

increase in the water-level. So how can we put these facts aside and

believe in something that is completely superficial? Global warming

is a very serious issue, and if not acted upon now, is going to

drastically destroy our earth for our future generations. And by the

time we even realize the chaos in the world, it will be too late to do

anything.

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