Global Warming Essay

Every day we go about our own business. Many of us never take the time to look around and see how we are affecting our earth’s atmosphere. Everywhere you look today you are bound to see some factory or machinery polluting our air. Just think how many times you have seen those large semi trucks or big fossil fuel factories emitting thick dark smoke into the atmosphere. We need to come to reality and realize that all that polluting we have been doing over the last half-century is finally catching up to us. It is very easy to detect through scientific research that our earth’s climate is changing, Time magazine reports in its 2004 issue that the earth’s average temperature is increasing at a steady rate. Yes, we all have heard the term â€Å"global warming†, however many people don’t know in depth what global warming is, or how our actions will affect our earth if we don’t respond to the issue. If we can educate ourselves on what global warming is and how it will affect us in the near and far future, we can then begin to change our old habits of polluting and create new habits and goals to living in a much healthier and cleaner environment. During the earliest times, the life-styles of our ancestors were very simple. The air they breathed was clean. The streams were clear and free of harmful organisms. They used natural fertilizers for their agricultural crops. The surroundings were free of household throwaways. Today, there has been a tremendous growth in science and technology. Such advances have brought about changes in terms of new products, improved equipment, and more effective methodologies. Unfortunately, this same technology which made life easier for us produced wastes which are now affecting the quality of our surrounding air, water, and land. Factories and motor vehicles send tons of pollutants into our air. Excessive air pollution poses a danger to our health and environment. It can likewise cause stunted growth and even death to our plants. Out streams are polluted by discharges from industrial plants that use chemicals. Garbage and sink wastes are carelessly thrown in our surroundings. Synthetic fertilizers and insecticides pollute our land and farm products. At the same time, the burning of fossil fuels, particularly coal and oil, produces sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides which are hazardous to the atmosphere. Findings show that a single smokestack may produce as much as 500 tons of sulfur dioxide a day. When these gases combine with oxygen and moisture, sulfuric acid and nitric acid is formed. The rain will carry the acids to the ground (acid rain) which may cause the depletion of calcium and magnesium in the soil, elements needed by plants for the formation of chlorophyll and wood, or it may cause the release of aluminum in the soil, which are poisonous and can kill the roots of trees. How can we take care of our environment? We must undertake measures to preserve our resources and minimize utilization of energy before it’s too late. Our fight against pollution is an initial step toward conserving our environmental resources and energy. We must all join hands for this common goal. Furthermore, of all issues affecting humanity, climate change is the most pervasive and truly global, posing a very real and serious threat to our environment. Climate change is the alteration of the pattern of global climate that may be due to human activity that alters the composition of the atmosphere.