Global Warming-Climate Change

There are numerous environmental problems facing our planet at the moment . Economic globalisation is causing destruction of rainforests in South America while boring a hole through the ozone layer , global warming occurs because of the increased emissions by transport and industries , melting of polar ice-caps is threatening low-lying coastal areas , damage of marine resources through overfishing is taking place acid rain and pollution of soil and groundwater resources results from using chemicals and artificial fertilisers to boost crop output incidence of hurricanes and other natural disasters is increasing

However , the most

urgent and pressing environmental problem is climate change . The concept is defined as `a change in the state of the climate that can be identified (e .g . using statistical tests ) by changes in the mean and /or the variability of its properties , and that persists for an extended period , typically decades or longer . It refers to any change in climate over time , whether due to natural variability or as a result of human activity (The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , 2007 ,

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There is still a debate going on in scientific circles concerning the causes of global warming : there is no persuasive evidence that global warming is induced by human activity . However , there is a growing consensus internationally and in American liberal circles that the truths about the causes and effects of global warming has been withheld from the public in to push through policies that might contribute to rather than stop global warming (Gore , 2007

Evidence suggesting that global warming is caused by human activity is as abundant as data proving that climate change is a natural phenomenon Even the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007 ) takes a cautious stance by arguing that `[t]here is very high confidence that the global average net effect of human activities since 1750 has been one of warming (p . 37

Furthermore , there is a debate between scholars who hold that global warming rate will continue or accelerate and scholars arguing that it might slow down in the future . While the first view is dominant , some scientists (e .g . Hansen et al , 2000 ) argue that exponential increase in global warming rate in the recent decades has been caused mainly by non-CO2 greenhouse gases , e .g . chlorofluorocarbons , CH4 , and N2O , and not by the products of fossil fuel burning , CO2 and aerosols , as it is usually assumed . The concentration of non-CO2 greenhouse gases is declining at the moment , and this could lead to a decline in the rate of global warming

However , the consensus in the scientific community is that global warming is caused by human activity and likely to accelerate . The causes of climate change are most frequently linked with the four long-lived greenhouse gases : CO2 , methane (CH4 , nitrous oxide (N2O ) and halocarbons (a group of gases containing fluorine , chlorine or bromine The emissions of these gases due to human activities have increased since pre-industrial times , with an increase of 70 between 1970 and 2004

As a consequence , it has been...