Vehicle emissions/global warming

The earth has been experiencing a marked increase in its temperature and this has been occurring steadily since approximately 1970 ( Kyoto Protocol ' 437 . Although in much earlier times , changes in the earth 's climate have come about as a result of nature , recently these climate changes have been accelerated as a result of the actions of man . The Industrial Revolution brought with it a substantial amount of waste that has to a large extent been carelessly released into the environment in ways that have had unfavorable effects on the world 's climate (Robinson

br et al , 7 . The emission of greenhouse gases (GHG 's ) has been widely considered to be the main cause of this problem , and the effect they have on the earth is to change the constitution of its atmosphere in such a way that weathers around the world have also been affected ( Kyoto Protocol ' 437 . Industrial activity as well as fossil-fuel burning has been in large part the contributor to this dilemma (Klare The Clean-Air Acts of 1990 were implemented in an effort to reclaim the environment . The Acts have included provisions that limit the amount of damaging substances that countries are allowed to release into the atmosphere (SUV Info , and one of the most damaging of these substances is the carbon dioxide that is given off in the exhaust of fuel burning vehicles (SUV Info

Scientists have shown that more carbon dioxide exists in the atmosphere today than there was a hundred years ago (Robinson , et al . 1 . In fact its proportion has increased by about 30 per cent (Sierra Club . Over these hundred years , another change has taken place : the average temperature at the surface of the earth has risen by more than one degree Fahrenheit (Sierra Club . Though a degree might appear small this fact that this temperature change spreads unevenly around the globe means that in some areas (such as polar areas that contain enormous ice caps , the increase has been greater and /or significant enough to cause a high degree of melting ( Kyoto Protocol ' 437 . As a result , global warming has become a noticeable reality in the past few years , and the 1990 's have proven to be the hottest decade in recorded history (Sierra Club . Droughts , heat spells , and global warming related diseases have killed many in the past few years . Melting polar ice caps have led to a rise in sea level of approximately 4-10 inches within this time as well and this can be seen as a major contributor to many of the floods the earth has known in recent times (Sierra Club (One such example would be that which occurred during Hurricane Katrina ) At the root of this problem is the over-consumption of the fossil fuel-derived gasoline by human driven motor vehicles (Peralta Sierra Club SUV Info

Cars , truck , minivans and sports utility vehicles are fossil-fuel burners (Sierra Club SUV Info . They contain internal combustion engines that run on oil taken from deep within the earth and formed over...