Because they reflect solar energy back into space they have a cooling effect on the world. The greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide is also produced however the CO2 produced is insignificant when compared to emissions created by humans. (see also featured article - Do Volcanoes cause climate change) Ocean current - The oceans are a major component of the climate system. Ocean currents move vast amounts of heat across the planet. Winds push horizontally against the sea surface and drive ocean current patterns.
“The increase in the mean temperature of the earth due to excessive emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrogen.” ( Green) These extra gases are making it hard for heat to escape the Earth’s atmosphere resulting in warmer temperatures. Here is a model of the Greenhouse Effect retrieved from http://epa.gov/climatechange/kids/greenhouse.html. Ethical Issues on Global Warming There are many causes of Global Warming to include Carbon Dioxide from power plants, cars, airplanes, and from buildings. “In 2002 about 40% of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions stem from the burning of fossil fuels for the purpose of electricity generation.”(Ayres) 93% of electricity generations is produced by coal. 33% of the carbon dioxide comes from vehicles.
Unfortunately, the activity of burning or combusting fossil fuels releases various kinds of hazardous substances and pollutants which eventually leads to changes in the environment; such as climate change, global warming, and changes in environmental health. Let us start with the change in climate or climate change. For over the past 150 years, the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal and oil have caused the concentrations of heat-trapping "greenhouse gases" to increase significantly in our atmosphere. These gases prevent heat from escaping to space, somewhat like the glass panels of a greenhouse. It would change our climate, but it would not bring us close to the level of uninhabitable Venus.
The rising temperatures have caused ice to melt in the Arctic and the North Pole which have been increasing the volume of water in the sea, gradually rising up to the shores of the islands and atolls. The link between climate change and global warming to the vanishing islands in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans is very clear in my research. The Vanishing Islands and Atolls Families in some South Pacific, Atlantic and Indian islands have been moving out of the islands they have been living in. They usually move to neighboring cities for example, in from the island of Kiribati to cities in New Zealand as environmental/climate refugees. Climate refugees are people who have been forced to move to other countries because their islands have been almost rendered inhabitable due to rising sea-levels and the lack of resource for sustaining life in the island.
Owing to the development of industry and the use of fossil fuels, the amount of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere has produced and the average global temperature seems to have risen. What’s more, deforestation can affect climate changes. The growing of trees and plants can absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere because of photosynthesis, however, deforestation lead to carbon dioxide emissions. Both of these can lead to global warming of the atmosphere. The report (UNEPWMO, 2004, P10) also pointed out, the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation are altering the composition of the atmosphere and contributing to climate change.
Ocean acidification began in the industrial Revolution by humans burning large amounts of coal which led the ocean water to become more acidic.This increased carbon dioxide in the earths atmosphere.This is important because it can have an affect on multiple marine organisms. But can also cause and even more drastic effect on marine organisms with an shell or skeleton like coral or an clam. Mainly tiny plants and animals in the marine food web.When acidification takes place it can cause the tiny plants and animals skeletons or shells to just dissolve away. Humans have had an part of this acidification problem and half of the carbon dioxide that has been put into the ocean has been found in the upper part of the ocean and half comes from humans.Which means,.Human activities has been absorbed by the world's oceans,which play a key role in moderating climate change.Without this capacity of the oceans, the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere would have been much higher and global warming and its consequences would be more dramatic.The impacts of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems are still poorly known the oceans are important for the health of all life.They control climate, a food and energy source and are used for all kinds of recreational activities..They have also helped buffer global warming by absorbing the excess carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.The carbon is now causing fundamental changes in the ocean, lowering the acidification in the oceans and causing them to become more acidic .Marine organisms aren't able to absorb enough calcium carbonate to build strong shells and skeletons, which will lead to effects on coral reefs and food webs worldwide. Measurements are being done by scientist on seawater collected during research cruises, which provide wide space coverage over a short time period, and from automated ocean carbon measurements on
Ishan Joshi 1 Mercury Contamination in Aquatic Ecosystem Term Paper [Chemical Oceanography-4126] Ishan Joshi Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences Abstract Mercury is the unique and toxic element that resides in small amount in the atmosphere, the hydrosphere and the biosphere. After industrial revolution and increased anthropogenic activities, concentration of elemental mercury and its compounds has increased about 3-4 times in the atmosphere which resulted life-threatening and devastating influence on marine and terrestrial ecosystem. Increment in atmospheric mercury concentration resulted elevated mercury loading in the upper ocean. More than a half of the human population depends on salt water and fresh water fish for their daily diet. Since fish is the main target of mercury contamination, humans are at a lifethreatening risk by toxic effects mercury.
As Williams E. Rees states in his book “Our Ecological Footprint”. This is shown in the Climate Change view because our pollution results in temperatures rising. Due to this increase of temperatures the Arctic sea ice is melting, glaciers are retreating and sea levels are rising. At the top of the food chain are the producers. In society’s case the producers are the natural resources.
EAP VI/A R/W YUCHENG WAN 11/27/12 Is Global Warming Manmade? Abstract Global warming is caused by numerous activities such as driving, taking airplanes, generating electricity, displaying fireworks, using air conditioning, developing industry and logging because those activities emit so much carbon dioxide that global temperatures rise up. Trees store CO2 in the forest system, so if forests are damaged, much CO2 will be released, which will increase the global temperatures. As this paper illustrates, natural climate cycles have already changed from warm to cool, so global warming is not because of natural factors. The solutions for global warming may include improving the efficiency of energy, protecting forests, producing more energy from renewable sources, generating electricity by wind, traveling in more fuel-efficiently vehicles, riding bicycles and using more efficient electrical appliances.
These two components are naturally occurring from sources like volcanoes but the industrial revolution has exponentially increased the amount of these chemicals in the air. The two components adjust the pH levels of water bring them down to sometimes sever acidic levels. pH levels are measured on a scale from 1-14. A pH level of 7 is a neutral water level; higher levels are alkaline and lower are acidic. Normal rainwater can sometimes be as low as a pH level of 5.0.