Global Warming: An Unwelcome Change

Change is an inevitable part of life. Seasons change, people change, opinions and styles change. But in relation to the issue of global warming, how much change is normal and how much dictated by human interference? There is an ongoing debate in this country on the truthfulness of the issue with opinion usually falling on either end of the spectrum between belief and non-belief. However, the vast majority of scientists agree that global warming is real, it is happening and it is the result of our activities and not a natural occurrence. The evidence is overwhelming and undeniable.

We are already seeing major changes. It is not uncommon to hear people commenting on the bizarre warmth of the month of December 2006 in New York City, where temperatures hovered in the 50's. The ponds of suburban New Jersey that many children of the 1970's and 80's grew up ice skating on do not freeze over today. Globally, glaciers are melting, plants and animals are being forced from their habitat and the number of severe storms and droughts are increasing. In the last 30 years, the number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes has nearly doubled. Malaria has spread to higher altitudes in places like the Colombian Andes, and the flow of ice from glaciers in Greenland has more than doubled over the past decade. All these facts are due to the warming of the earth's atmosphere.

Radiation from the sun permeates the thin layer of earth's atmosphere, and carbon dioxide and other gases warm the earth's surface. Some of those rays bounce back out while others get trapped inside, keeping the temperature of the planet relatively constant. By burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas and clearing forests, we have dramatically increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere, thus causing temperatures to rise.