Global Warming As Defined By The Us Epa - 1449 Words

Global warming as defined by the US EPA (2016) is â€Å"the recent and ongoing rise in global average temperatures near the Earth’s surface.† This phenomenon is part of a long ongoing process where the surface of the Earth naturally heats up and cools down due to variations in its orbit. Additional change occurs with the chemical composition of the Earth’s atmosphere due to natural cause such as volcanic eruptions (Global Warming 2010). Throughout Earth’s history it has naturally become warmer and colder by itself. Because of this, many individuals are led to believe that the recent shift into warmer temperatures is normal and nothing to worry about. Furthermore, a general lack of understand about the causes and history behind global warming†¦show more content†¦Under normal circumstances, after solar radiation heats the Earth a significant amount of excess heat energy is allowed to escape into space. This concept is often referred to as the green house effect. The Earth is subject to massive amounts of solar radiation, where approximately thirty percent of the radiation is immediately reflected back into space (Lallanila 2015). The remaining seventy percent of radiation that passes through to the Earth is absorbed by the surface, ultimately turning into heat energy or thermal radiation. This radiation emitted by the Earth eventually passes back though the atmosphere and into outer space. However, because of the excess amount of greenhouse gas in the planet’s atmosphere, the heat produced by solar radiation is not allowed to exit into space. The gasses act like a sponge, absorbing the thermal radiation, thus causing a significant increase in temperature. To add to the severity of this issue, the deforestation of millions of acres of forests cause carbon dioxide levels to skyrocket (Lallanila 2015). Plants live off of carbon dioxide, breathing it in, similar to how humans breath oxygen. By eliminating forests and plant life, humans destroy nature’s ability to normalize carbon dioxide levels naturally. To address this major issue, approximately two hundred nations agreed to attempt to limit carbon emissions in an effort to slow global warming. Global culture has