Global Warming Is an Increase in the Earth's Temperature Due to Fossil Fuels, Industry, and Agricultural Processes Caused by Human, Natural, and Other Gas Emissions. Discuss This Statement with Respect to the Carbon

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Global warming is an increase in the earth's temperature due to fossil fuels, industry, and agricultural processes caused by human, natural, and other gas emissions. Discuss this statement with respect to the carbon cycle and its environmental effects. In the mid-Cretaceous period, about 100 million years ago, sub-tropical conditions extended from Alaska to Antarctica. The polar ice caps did not even exist. Carbon dioxide concentrations were about five times higher than they are today and the average global temperature was 6 – 8 degrees higher than it is today. The earth’s temperature depends on the balance between energy entering and energy leaving the planet’s system. Electromagnetic radiation enters the planet’s system, and much of it is converted to infrared radiation (heat) which warms our planet, and sunlight is used by plants for photosynthesis. One has to only look at the example of the Moon to see how vital the Earth’s atmosphere is for the existence of life. The Moon has no atmosphere to block some of the sun’s rays in the day or to trap heat at night, and this is why temperatures on the Moon range from -233 degrees Celsius to 123 degrees Celsius at those respective times. It is the presence of greenhouse gases, not limited to but including Carbon Dioxide, Water Vapour and Methane, which protect the planet from harmful radiation and trap in heat which equips our planet with the tools for life. Global Warming refers to climate change which gradually raises the average temperature of the earth’s lower atmosphere, generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by carbon dioxide, CFCs, and other pollutants. Scientists and the general public are concerned that there may come a point when the damage caused by human-caused Global Warming may become irrevocable, leading to permanently changed ecosytems and more extreme climates across the

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