Global Warning - Cause & Effect Essay

830 Words4 Pages
Global Warming Global warming is an increase of the average temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere. Some of the main impacts of Global warming on Earth are on the environment, the population and animals. The effects on Earth from its habitants is causing the temperature on the Earth to rise, and creating many problems that will begin to occur in the upcoming decades. The greenhouse effect is what is causing the temperature on the Earth to rise. Greenhouse gases are chemical compounds that are found in the atmosphere. Because of their chemical makeup, they allow energy from the sun to enter the atmosphere freely. When sunlight strikes the Earth’s surface, some of it is reflected back towards space as infrared radiation. Greenhouse gases absorb this infrared radiation and trap the heat in the atmosphere. Over time, the amount of energy sent from the sun to the Earth’s surface should be about the same as the amount of energy radiated back into space, leaving the temperature of the Earth’s surface roughly constant. So this heat that is formed in these gases merely sits there and radiates more heat than it should. Today, major changes are taking place. People are conducting an inadvertent global experiment by changing the face of the entire planet. They are destroying the ozone layer, which allows life to exist on the Earth's surface. All of these activities are unfavorably altering the composition of the biosphere and the Earth's heat balance. Through these actions we come to the pinnacle of an eco-revolution. "The Larsen B ice shelf… has shattered and separated from the continent as a result of warming." (U.S.A. Today, 1) as the global temperature steadily rises so do the results of this global heat wave, impacting the environment. Ice which has remained frozen for 100’s of thousands of years has begun to melt, and break off into the ocean. Once separated from
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