Although temperatures in Florida have been rather cold lately, the earth as a whole is getting warmer and professionals are calling it global warming. They are linking the cause to emissions of greenhouse gases produced by humans. Emissions of methane, carbon dioxide, water vapor and nitrous oxide trap heat in the earth’s atmosphere that would usually escape this causes the earth’s temperature to rise and several plants to die. It is affecting all parts of the world because it is causing sea level to rise and many species of algae and small fish to become extinct.
Electricity is one of the main causes of global warming because it gives off emissions of greenhouse gases and is 38% of earth’s energy sources. So each time someone does something as simple as turning a light on or using their dishwasher they are contributing to global warming, that being said we cannot stop these things altogether but something could be done to conserve energy. Landfills also contribute a huge amount of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere when they burn garbage, but by far the largest contributor to global warming is emissions from cars, they contribute 50% of the earth’s harmful emissions. Several people have started carpooling to cut back on this problem.
Another thing that causes global warming is when people cut down trees because they are one of the factors that helps turn carbon-dioxide into oxygen.
Even things as simple as using hairspray and other aerosol sprays hurt the atmosphere. The government has stepped in and recently passed the Clean Air Act, which will by 2015 require most harmful products to reduce to the amount of greenhouse gases they emit.
President Obama has unveiled his plan to convert the United States to a type of fuel that emits less carbon and greenhouse gases. He plans to reduce our dependence on foreign oil as well as help the environment.
Even though the government has taken these precautions, a recent survey release by the Non-partisan Survey Institute concluded that 76% of Americans feel there is not enough being done about global warming, and studies show that the average temperature could increase up to 7 degrees in the next century. That being said our questions to you are
Is the government doing enough to prevent global warming?
Should they be focusing more on the issue of global warming or should it be an individual choice to conserve energy?
--Ashlyn Cobb and Jasset Cole
I think the government is doing all they can when it comes to global warming. People are still going to use electricity and drive their cars -- two of the main causes of global warming, so, there's not much that can be done to prevent it.
ReplyDeleteReally, I don't see how they could focus more on it. The facts are out about global warming, it's not like it is a secret to anyone. So, in my opinion it should be an individual choice.
I concur with Kaitlyn. I also believe there's only so much the government can actually do, having to divvy out funding appropriately. I think it's certainly up to the individual do do what he/she can do to conserve.
ReplyDeleteMy opinion is that the government could impose the oil multinationals to impose the carbon tax act and the government could ratify the Kyoto Treaty and last but not least give incentives to individuals and families that design, construct and uses with more energy efficient methods and at the same time that is good for the environment but it is up to the individual to step up and change the mind set for a better tommorrow.
ReplyDeleteNick Jackson said... I believe it is up to the individual, in a perfect world everyone would contribute as much as possible to help this problem but thats not the case. The bottom line is while its sad that we are creating this problem, the causes for it (gas, electricity, ect.) are a necessity to uphold the lifestlye we as society have grown acustom to.
ReplyDeleteThere isn't much that any gov't we have can do right now at this point about global warming. Stricter rules and laws for factories and energy sources would help. Basically we need to find a way to continue on with our lives without using the same resources as we are now.
ReplyDeleteI think global warming isn't the immediate concern of the day...
ReplyDeleteAhhh, those golden parachutes. How many are unemployed now?
I believe that they are doing the best they can. They try to fix it too late. They should of been worrrying about it years ago not now when its happening.
ReplyDeleteI think that the goverment is doing the best that they can at this point and time. Stating their opinion and the effects of global warming hopefully is enough to want to get people involved but you can't force things like that. I believe that whether or not you participate in such things on the topic of global warming is your choice. Even though i think everyone should do a little something to make a difference im sure a lot of people think that way..but who ever does it?
ReplyDeleteI agree with what M.B. Jennings said, I know I only think about it now because it is brought to my attention, and it it is not an everyday concern. More so, it is the lifestyles of each individual that has been contributing to what could become a great disaster and not much the government can do, if we do not take into consideration for ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what the government is doing to help global warming but I would hope that they're doing SOMETHING. I definately believe that they should be focusing more on it rather than it being just an individual thing. Global warming is affecting us all so it's everyone's problem.
ReplyDeleteIt seems we have visitors... ;-)
ReplyDeleteI do not think anyone is doing enough to prevent this from happening. We as a people need to think about the lives of our children today while we still have time to save them. the government has time to make new tax laws so they need to put penalties on over using energy like fines and when it goes to far jail time. i know that will help fix the problem.
ReplyDeleteI say the government is doing too much about global warming. The earth climate is a cyclical thing and I don't see how there can be enough definite data to say how hot it was a thousand years ago, or a million for that matter. Scientists are always changing their minds and global warming will be no different. The global warming "green" frenzy is already dying down, and being overtaken in our minds by the economy. I'd rather have a job than a Prius. Josh Pitek
ReplyDeleteThe government in my opinion is a part of Global Warming because it was the government who wanted to make money and get ahead so they had people invent ways to help them do so and unfortunately for them, it ended up hurting our ecosystem which in turn ended up hurting everyone!!! I think that people should attempt to take it upon themselves to try to restrict their uses of certain items that cause green house gases, but I also think that the government should take part in helping hte cause. It amazes me how people can come up with all these things like cars and how to run them but yet no one can seem to figure out how to invent something that can provide just as much convienience to us and reduce these harmeful gases. I've caught word that poeple have made great breakthroughs with alternative fuels for things such as cars and the government has put a stop to it because they were making so much money off of gas. I don't know the truth but I sure hope that when we finally have ruined our world and our country, that I'm already dead.
ReplyDeleteChelsie Sphaler Tuesday Thursday Class 1:00 A.M.
1. The Goverenment is doing what they can I guess, but I'm sure they could put a little bit more effort into this situation. But what really would help is the citizens all over. If everyone pitched in and would conserve energy by using less elictricity and recyle more things that I know that soon it would really make a huge difference. Me and my Husband are actually about to run our car on vegtable oil because it is cheeper and so much more better for the air. Now I also realize that not too many other people want to do that to their car, but there are so many other ways in contributing to saving our Earth.
ReplyDelete2. This should not be a choice to help save our Earth. We all live on it, and we all help to hurt it everyday by turning on a light, a car, or by whatever other reasons there are. So if we are all the source of the problem then everyone helping should be the answer.
-Allison Kahler
the president can only do what he can to help global warming.One can't perfectly changed it.We should focus more on the issue beccause if we don't then we might distroy our environment.
ReplyDelete1. The government should really try to make a bigger deal of global warming. This is our world and if somnething doesn't start to get done now, then later will be too late.
ReplyDelete2. This should not be an individual choice to conserve energy. People should HAVE to recycle and do what we can to help the situation get better. This Earth is all of ours and we should keep it clean and treat it with love and respect if we want to still live on it, because if the Earth goes to crap, then what happens to us?!
-Michael Kahler
Global warming is a hoax! Obama is a moron. Does he honestly think that there are enough people will to make this change for him to actually be able to implement this "new energy source"? Only because he is just ridiculous. Not to mention his socialist view of how this country should be run. But that is a whole other topic.
ReplyDeleteGlobal warming is not actually happening. Our world is not going to stay the same forever. It is going to change eventually. But it won't exist forever either. I think it is all a big hoax for the government and private agencies to get lots of founding for a project that doesn't really exist.
Cars are the main factor which causes global warming. Therefore Government should support or sponsor for all the car industries to research and develop a car generation which reduced a tremendous amount of toxic gases to the environment.
ReplyDeleteI think the government is limited to what they can do because we the American people certainly don't like to be told what to drive or how long to leave our porch light on. I think it is the choice of the individual to do what we can to help with the issue. We know what is harmful to the environment and it is up to us to change our life style as we see fit.
ReplyDeleteBrittney Tanner MWF 9:00 class
ReplyDeleteGlobal warming is definately a rising concern for the future.I dont personally feel like the government is doing all they could to help reduce gas emissions.The sad thing about the whole situation is there are so many uneducated individuals when it comes to this issue.If you look back at the weather trends for the last 150 years for the most part it has been on an uprise (a fast uprise).
Unfortunatly we dont have records of the weather patterns for the years before 1860's but we can however determine from the rocks that every so many years a pattern occured where the earth was either warmed or had a freeze.However the pattern we are on now is depleting much more than people are aware of such as the great barrier reef!
Summer MWF 9a
ReplyDeleteJesse- global warming it a real issue. The world is always heading in one of two directions: it is either A) headed for global warming where the ice caps could melt and a majority of our land would be underwater (this is how our planet started out-more or less), or B) headed towards an ice age (that is what killed off the dinosaurs).
What Obama is doing, he is not trying to stop it, he is simply trying to slow it down. We have to start somewhere. This is not goign to happen over night, it will not even effect our great-great-great-great grandkids... however it will effect someone some day and the more we polute the faster it will happen and the more we try to conserve the slower that day will come.
I think that your statement is idiotic (no obama) becuase everything and anything that has ever happened in society started when one person making a change. I think the people who stand up and try to help the world fix their issues should not be repramanded but at least be acknowledge for thier attempt at trying to do something good for our future. Even if it does not work at least he tried something what have you done to help the future of this world?
Global Warming is a dramatically urgent and serious problem. Scientists infer that the global warming we now experience is not a natural occurrence and that it is not brought on by natural causes. Men are responsible, they say. What did we do? I think our new inventions have a part of responsibility. We don't need to wait for governments to find a solution for this problem: each individual can bring an important help adopting a more responsible lifestyle: starting from little, everyday things. It's the only reasonable way to save our planet, before it is too late. There are a lot of simple things that everyone can do in order to fight against and reduce the global warming. Some of them are planting tree, reducing waste, keeping car tuned up etc... Some of these ideas are at no cost, some other require a little effort, but they can help to prevent global warning.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't it be grand if hybrids were cheaper?
ReplyDeleteI do not have enough time to impart to the author of this article all the facts that make global warming a giant hoax. Hitler once said "The bigger the lie, and the more often you tell it, the more people will believe it". The author of this article is one of the most misinformed people I have ever encountered. Approximately 3% of the carbon dioxide, 8% of methane, and 5% of nitrous oxide emissions are man made. The rest occur naturally because they are vital to life on earth. These gases are not pollutants, as the insidious protagonists of global warming would have you believe. Increased CO2 levels actually benefits nature in ways I don't have time to explain. The statements "electricity is the main cause of global warming..." and "cars contributes 50% of the earth's harmful emissions..." are the most ignorant and ridiculous things I have ever heard. If he had said that 50% of 3%, or 38% of 3%, that would be not even be plausible because airplanes and trucks contribute almost as much pollutants as cars. The Statement "the average temperature could increase up to 7 degrees in the next century" is preposterous; we have only warmed .6 ( that's six tenths of one degree) degrees C. in the last 100 years, and that was during the industrial revolution. Temperatures in 1938 were the coldest in recorded history. Temperatures all over the planet have been cooling since 1998, and the polar ice caps are growing at a rapid pace. Don’t forget the same goofballs in the 1970’s were predicting an ice age in 10 years. The question "Is the government doing enough to prevent global warming?" shows the author's political and ideological prejudice. The government is utterly incompetent. There are always unintended consequences that they always seem to overlook. The best and the brightest don't seem to be working out. The Kyoto treaty is a joke, in that it does not mandate that any of the other major industrialized nations (China and India...) participate, and it would bankrupt and undermine American business, that's why Bill Clinton did not sign it. It is also unnecessary, because it would do nothing to help a problem that does not exist. When all is said and done, it boils down to this: for the bargain price of just $200 trillion we could theoretically lower global mean temperature by about 1 degree C., and even that 1 degree C is debatable. How would we know if that 1 degree drop in temperature was caused be man's efforts, or by the fact that the planet is entering a cooling period. Indeed, are we really going to try to modulate the temperature of the earth whenever we think it is to hot or to cold. For that matter, what is the right temperature for the planet at any one time anyway? What scientists will make that determination? The answer is it will be controlled by natural. The ludicrous idea that we can change the temperature of the earth is simply not believable to anyone with a functioning brain.
ReplyDeleteTo everyone with out a "functioning brain" this is how our actions can effect the temprerature of the earth.
ReplyDeleteCarbon dioxide (which is emitted into the air via cars, power plants, the house you live in, ect...even some natural occurences emit C02) builds up in our atmosphere causing a blanket effect. This "blanket" of carbon dioxide allows the sun light to enter the atmosphere, however, it does not allow heat to escape out. This can be seen in a smaller scale, known as a green house. The insulated glass allows the sunlight to enter and heat to remain. That is how this phenomenon got dubbed "the green house effect". There are ways to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as well but that is another story.
I just wanted to let everyone one that yes we as a whole can change the temperature of the earth by changing the atmosphere around it.
Barry ... you stay it raised .6 degrees celcius in the past 100 years. well, we burn more carbohydrons now then when this study started. The bigger point of why I felt I should elaberate a little more on this fact is that you made it sound so measly by saying 6/10 of 1 degree. Well, 1 degree celcius is equal to 5/9 a degree farenheit, which is what we use to measure temperature in the US. So, your 6/10 of a degree should really be 1.1 degree farenheit.
ReplyDelete