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Kaitlyn Tibbs
English 1201
Ms. Barnes
22 October 2020
What Causes Global Warming and What can we do About it?
In today’s world people hear about “global warming” and “climate change” on the news
all the time, and about how they are affecting life all over the globe. The question is, what
exactly is global warming? Are global warming and climate change the same thing? What can
we do to help stop the effects of global warming from getting worse?
Scientists have known since the 1800’s that carbon dioxide had a direct correlation with
the Earth’s atmosphere and the balance of its energy (National Academy of Sciences). This is
important when tracking how our climate is changing over time. When surface temperatures
started rising in the 1900’s consistently with the rising carbon dioxide levels, scientists were able
to figure out that human activities were the cause for these changes in the Earth’s energy
balance. The key word is balance, because the atmosphere already contains a certain level of
carbon dioxide in it naturally. Without human intervention, carbon dioxide is naturally cycled
between the atmosphere and organisms on Earth through ways of photosynthesis, respiration,
and decomposition (National Academy of Sciences). There are several ways scientists have
determined that humans are the cause of the planet’s warming such as finding out that the
burning of coal, natural gas, and oil – something that humans do every day- releases carbon
dioxide and other heat-trapping gases into the air (Harrington).
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Scientists have proved time and time again that humans are the ones responsible for
causing global warming. For years select observatories have recorded the amount of carbon
dioxide and other heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere. For example, an observatory on the
island of Hawaii have been researching carbon dioxide levels since 1958 (Harrington).
Simulation tests that show the increase in temperature based on natural planet-warming
occurrences revealed that this increase in the planet’s temperature is not natural (National
Academy of Sciences). Another very common thing to hear about when the topic of global
warming is involved is how world leaders, scientists, and even the average citizen can help to
solve this crisis. The average person can help reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by using
more energy efficient appliances and air conditioning in houses, investing more in renewable
energy sources like solar and wind power, avoid unnecessary energy use in households, and use
more energy efficient transportation methods such as public transportation or riding a bike
(Herring).
Although most people can agree that global warming is an issue in general, they can’t
agree on what to do about it or how long we have until we reach the point of no return. Some
experts on this topic will say we need immediate action and to completely remove all carbon
dioxide emissions from our everyday lives in order to save our planet (Herring). Others will say
that we have time to deal with the issue at hand and that we can slowly adjust our habits into
more energy efficient habits (Lawton). The ways that we chose to deal with the climate changes
and how quickly we want to put these plans into action would influence how much time we have
before our situation gets worse. For example, communities can change their energy usage and
production patterns to decrease the amount of greenhouse gases emitted, but that kind of change
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would take a significant amount of time to fully switch over to more energy efficient ways
(National Academy of Sciences).
In our world today people often mistake opinions or facts. Some people also believe just
about anything they see on the internet. The topic of global warming is no exception to this.
Some of the biggest misconceptions people have about global warming are that it is happening
because of shifts in the magnetic pull of the Earth, or heat coming up through the planet’s crust
(Hayhoe). The one misconception that seems to get the most attention though is that global
warming is a natural cycle. All climate changes are disruptive to the Earth’s ecosystems and can
cause entire species to go extinct (National Academy of Sciences). The characteristic of this
situation that makes it different from the other “natural” climate disturbances, however, is that it
is happening way too fast for most living creatures to adapt. The temperature is also rising much
higher than it ever would in a natural situation such as during El Niño or La Niña, which is
discovered through climate calculating models (National Academy of Sciences).
Over many years of humans releasing greenhouse gases into the air by way of burning
coal, oil, or natural gases, global warming has snowballed into a serious world-wide problem.
Not only are a lot of people not taking this seriously, but there are also still people who are
skeptical of global warming and believe it is just a natural occurrence and that it will fix itself
over time, which could not be farther from the truth. However, scientists are discovering new
ways to prove that global warming is real and producing new ideas on how to reduce our
greenhouse gas emissions to lessen the impacts of global warming. By using more renewable
energy than fossil fuels and only using the energy when we need it, we can avoid some of the
more dangerous effects global warming could have on our planet.
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Harrington, Samantha. “Causes of Global Warming: How Scientists Know that Humans are
Responsible.” Yale Climate Connections,
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/03/causes-of-global-warming/. Accessed 22
October 2020.
Hayhoe, Katharine. “Katharine Hayhoe: Preaching Climate to the Unconverted.” Bulletin of the
Atomic Scientists, vol. 69, no. 3, May
2013,http://web.b.ebscohost.com.sinclair.ohionet.org/scirc/detail/detail?
vid=4&sid=29c7c61e-2170-468d-b578-7b61ec28af3e%40pdc-v-
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sessmgr05&bdata=JnNpdGU9c2NpcmMtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=sch&AN=87386878.
Accessed 22 October 2020
Herring, David. “What Can I do to Help Reduce Global Warming?” NOAA,
https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-qa/what-can-i-do-help-reduce-global-
warming. Accessed 14 October 2020.
Lawton, Graham. “‘This Is Our Chance to Start Bending the Climate Curve.’” New Scientist, vol.
246, no. 3284, May 2020,
http://web.a.ebscohost.com.sinclair.ohionet.org/scirc/detail/detail?vid=4&sid=c74f2793-
bc1b-4016-bd34-
b42f7436f0e4%40sessionmgr4007&bdata=JnNpdGU9c2NpcmMtbGl2ZQ%3d
%3d#AN=143458076&db=sch. Accessed 16 October 2020.
NASA. “The Causes of Climate Change.” NASA, https://climate.nasa.gov/causes/. Accessed 16
October 2020.
National Academy of Sciences. 2020. Climate Change: Evidence and Causes: Update 2020.
Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25733.
Accessed 21 October 2020
