We Should Not Take the Problem of Global Warming for Granted

Living in the modern world, it is almost impossible to deny the existence of global warming. It is talked about in the news, TV shows, and even occasionally mentioned at your work. Maybe because of that, at first glance, such topic may seem to be overused. Unfortunately, global warming is still happening, and happening really fast, such a massive problem cannot be silent. At the moment, people will stop talking and take it for granted, the hope will be lost forever. Why did all this happen at the first place? What are the main causes and effects of global warming? The answer to all of this is quite simple: carbon dioxide and methane emissions, deforestation, and usage of chemical fertilizers is causing the rise of a sea level, widespread extinction of species, and massive crop failures. This argumentative essay on global warming and climate change examines this pressing environmental issue and suggests solutions.

When talking about causes, carbon dioxide emissions should be discussed first. It is happening mainly from burning fossil fuel and gasoline. Coal burning power plants creates a huge amount of carbon dioxide. Around 40% CO2 emissions in America come from burning coal and electricity production. Another 30% is caused by the car usage. Considering the enormous growth of the population, it is quite understandable that the demand for cars is growing too. This type of transport is so common, that people might be shocked if you don't have one by certain age.

What also is quite worrying is deforestation, especially when it comes to cutting tropical forests for timber and territory. It is important to remember that plants consume CO2 and release oxygen. So, less plants means more carbon dioxide. More than that, forests are also often used for fuel and that sends us back to the previously mentioned argument.

To continue this free argumentative essay about global warming, another problem is quite ridiculous from the initial point. It is methane emission from animals and agriculture. It is important to know that methane is an extremely potent greenhouse gas, second in the top, right behind CO2. When bacteria under oxygen-starved conditions break down organic matter, methane is produced. This process takes place in the intestines of herbivorous animals. And because the demand on food is increasing every year, the level of methane released into the atmosphere is also increasing.

Last but not least is the increase in usage of chemical fertilizers. In the end of 20th and the beginning of 21century, the use of chemical fertilizers has risen enormously. The heat storage of cropland and the run-off of excess fertilizers are highly affected by nitrogen-rich fertilizers, often leading to the creation of 'dead-zones' in our oceans.

Some people might share a counter argument about global warming, that climate change is natural and normal—it’s happened at other points in history. So there is absolutely no reason to blame humanity for anything and Earth is just going through its natural cycle of things. Yes, no one can argue that there have been other quite long periods of global warming and cooling on our planet. Those were also directly related to the emissions in greenhouse gases during the Earth’s long history. What also needs to be considered is that those historic increases of CO2 were quite dangerous for anything living at that time. It led to serious environmental changes and mass extinctions. Even though it happened naturally, it was still happening slowly. At least it was much, much slower than it is happening now. That is truly only our fault.

So, that is happening, but what kind of cost will humanity pay for that? The first and probably the most important effect of global warming is the rise of a sea level. When water heats up, it expands. Ice formations tend to naturally melt every summer. However, cold winters are usually balancing everything out. But global warming have led to bigger summer meltings and smaller winter icing, so the balance was perceptibly damaged. That is causing sea levels to rise. The sad thing is that as seawater reaches farther, it will lead to the land flooding, and lost habitat for fish, birds, animals, and plants. According to the EPA, global sea level has gotten up by eight inches since 1870. This change might not be visible to someone living on continents, but it already did affect people living on low-lying islands greatly. According to the research of The National Academy of Sciences in 2009, If everything continues to be the way it is right now then the sea level could increase by 16-56 inches by 2100. It means that places like Kiribati, Maldives, Seychelles, Torres Strait Islands, Tegua, Solomon Islands, Palau, Micronesia, Bangladesh, and others might disappear in less than 100 years.

Another important effect to include is the widespread extinction of species. According to research that was published in Nature in 2016, rising temperatures could lead to the disappearance of no less than a million species by 2050. That is scary. Though some people might say that plants and animals can adapt, they are wrong. Because of the fact that man-caused global warming is happening so fast, animals, plants, birds, and fishes simply don’t have any time for adaptation. The best example to include is frogs, which are often the first species to die off due to their weak body structure. About 200 of frog species have already gone extinct and hundreds more will be lost over the next century. Disappearance of coral reefs is also not something to forget. If the worst case scenario is ever to come true, coral populations will collapse almost completely by the year of 2100 due to the increased temperatures and ocean acidification. What is even more unfortunate is that many other species in the oceans rely on coral reefs completely.

Another important effect is massive crop failures. People depend on food, so that one is going to affect us more than directly. According to National Geographic, there is a really high chance that around 3 billion people around the world will have to choose between hunger and moving to a different land within the next 1000 years. Just because the land they are living in is not applicable for agriculture.

Humanity still has many solutions to prevent global warming and reduce its damaging effects, but those solutions are almost impossible to coordinate. Of course, it could be a much easier if people just stopped burning so many fossil fuels, stopped throwing so much rubbish into the ocean, and stopped doing other really harmful things. Though unfortunately, due to the global capitalism and consumerism, those solutions are not something to ever happen. Let's be argumentative about global warming, this essay propose different small choices that one person can make about himself to make this issue better. And if many people will take such small choices, than the change could happen. You could take public transport instead of a car, choose a reusable bottle instead of a plastic one, and recycle your rubbish instead of just throwing it out. In conclusion there are plenty of causes and effects of global warming. Unfortunately, it is highly likely that the problems of global warming will continue to grow unless immediate actions are there to be taken