Does Human Activity Influence Global Climate Change? Global climate change is the gradual increase in the overall temperature of the atmosphere of the Earth. It is caused by carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and other pollutants. The biggest contributor to global climate change are greenhouse gases (gases that trap heat in the atmosphere) such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. An unnaturally large amount of these “greenhouse gases” are released by human activities like burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and mining.
It increases as the Earth’s atmosphere warms which makes it the most feedback mechanisms to the green house effect. Carbon Dioxide is released through natural activities like volcano eruptions and human activities like deforestation and burning of fossil fuels. We have seen that humans have increased their atmospheric CO2 concentration by a third since the Industrial Revolution. Methane is a hydrocarbon gas, which is produced through natural sources and human activities such as decomposition of wastes in landfills and rice cultivation. Methane is a more active green house gas than CO2 but is less abundant in the atmosphere.
Since the beginning of human civilization and the Industrial Revolution, mankind has lived in a competitive relationship with nature. Human tendency to exert a negative influence on ecology has resulted in rapid increases in the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Evidence has proven that “since 1900, the global surface temperature of the Earth has risen about 0.8 Celsius (see fig. 1).” As data have shown, temperature has been increasing ever since the period of Industrial Revolution (after the year 1840 to 1850). We then, can assume the reason for the increasing temperature was resulted from industries, over-powering energy with coal during that specified time period.
First of all, From Dow’s performance, sales of chemicals and metals including the ethylene sales increases 7% in 1994, and then 34% in 1995. Sales of Plastics including polyethylene increase 22% in 1994, and 28% from in 1995.This high growth rate especially in 1995 attributes mostly to the high growth in European market (33%) and rest of the world (24%). Also, the demand for polyethylene in Latin America is expected to triple in next ten years. With a globally expanding market, Dow has to increase its capacity to at least maintain its market share. An acquisition seems to be a good way to increase its production capacity.
i. The world’s population and energy usage have followed similar patterns of growth. Both tables show a relatively steady increase between 1850 and 1950, then over the next 50 years the Growth rates increase rapidly. Question 2 Environmental impact a) The ecological footprint is a model which is used to measure the amount of resources consumed by an individual or group of people .This calculation determines the impact a particular lifestyle has on the environment. Fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and natural gas are energy sources which contain large amounts of carbon, any process that uses fossil fuels will add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
Carbon Sequestration VS Carbon Capture and storage: A solution for today or tomorrow? As we all know, global warming is an arising problem, affecting every single soul inhabiting planet earth. Global warming is the increase o average temperature earth; as temperature increases, hurricanes, floods and other natural phenomenon become more frequent. The temperature in earth has risen 1 degree Celsius (about 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit), in one century. This minor temperature increase is responsible for many natural phenomenons.
What is a thermal runaway reaction? Source: http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg254.htm An exothermic reaction can lead to thermal runaway, which begins when the heat produced by the reaction exceeds the heat removed. The surplus heat raises the temperature of the reaction mass, which causes the rate of reaction to increase. This in turn accelerates the rate of heat production. Thermal runaway can occur because, as the temperature increases, the rate at which heat is removed increases linearly but the rate at which heat is produced increases exponentially.
5. What is the most likely explanation for the increase in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere over the last 100 years? a. During this time period, these has been an increase in the use of fossil fuels to power our industry, cars, and homes. b.
Carbon dioxide does not only cause problems in the atmosphere but also in the ocean. The coming of industrial advancement has brought many changes in the earth’s environment (Gibson et al., 2011). Industrialization has brought an increase in gases released into the atmosphere; carbon dioxide forming the largest percentage. The ocean absorbs about 30% of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and, thus the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere leads to a corresponding increase in the amounts the ocean absorbs. When the ocean absorbs carbon dioxide it reacts with water to produce chemicals such as bicarbonates and carbonic acid, which lowers the pH of the ocean.
Diminishing Conditions Star HUM/111 Diminishing Conditions What is Global Warming and why is it so important to understand? Global warming is the effects that pollution from burning coal, oil and natural gases has on the environmental stability of our beautiful earth. Anyone can see that the temperature of our atmosphere is hotter than recent years and if conditions continue to diminish at the rate they are now we are likely to see the global temperature climb higher than it has in the past two million years. These conditions have had and will have a profound impact on our natural wildlife and human society (Greenpeace USA, 2010). Global warming is a very important moral issue and should not be taken lightly by society as we are seeing the impact from it every day from natural wildlife losing their homes to the disastrous weather conditions we are experiencing.