Climate Disruption Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Climate Disruption - Term Paper Example The intention of this study is climate change that is definitively happening, and the consensus is that the major cause of this climate change is man-made. The theory as to why climate change is occurring centers around greenhouse gases. Karl & Tremberth explain that these gases, which include carbon dioxide that results from burning fossil fuel accumulates in the atmosphere, and this is what causes global warming. This effect has been seen worldwide. They also state that the concrete jungles of cities makes the cities hotter than more rural areas, because of the pollution in these areas causes urban heat islands. Other places where there are regionally warmer temperatures includes Amazonia and Sahel, because of deforestation and desertification. Cloud feedback, in which clouds trap long-wave radiation, is another cause of warming. Alternately, cloud feedback may cause global coolling if the clouds reflect solar radiation . Man has contributed to the global warming problem in a signi ficant way. One way is through emissions from fuel burning, which causes oxidized gases which can become strongly absorbing aerosols, such as black carbon or soot. This interacts with the clouds and moisture, and this leads to neat heating. These aerosols also affect the climate by reflecting solar radiation and affect the climate indirectly by changing the reflective properties of clouds and the clouds’ lifetimes. The overall consensus is that global climate change is due to man-made activities, and that climate change has dire consequences for our ecosystems and land masses throughout the world. Evidence Regarding Climate Change The scientific consensus is that the cause of climate change is due to an increase in greenhouse gases. There are a variety of studies which support this claim, and Oreskes (2004) contends, essentially, that the debate on climate change is not over, for there are no significant dissenting opinions on the matter. Climate change is real, it is caused by greenhouse gases and it is not the result of a natural warming trend. In her article â€Å"The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change,† Oreskes takes on the individuals who would deny climate change and refutes their arguments, one by one. She begins by stating that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was created in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program, has stated unequivocally that the scientific consensus on the matter is that human activity is affecting the earth’s temperatures. They state that the observed warming over the past 50 years is due to the greenhouse gas concentrations. Oreskes observes that the IPCC was formed for political reasons, not to foster new research, and this is because the matter of climate change is one which is highly political. This might make the panel suspect, ecept that Oreske contends that all the major scientific bodies in the United States with expertise o n the matter have issued reports stating the same thing – that greenhouse gases has caused the earth’s temperature to rise. They also have consensus that the rise in these temperatures are over and above natural warming trends that might have happened within this period (Oreskes, 2004). Oreskes has also reviewed the contents of scientifically reviewed papers which have been published in recent years, noting that these papers must be scientifically sound, as they are published in peer-reviewed papers and must pass the scrutiny of critical, expert colleagues. Oreskes notes that the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) has indeed all the papers which have been refereed by scientific journals, and are able to sample the scientific literature on any given subject, which provides an unbiased view of the subject. The ISI examined abstracts for 928 papers published between the years 1993 and 2003, and found that, after using the keyword phrase â€Å"global climate chang e† to discern the contents of articles about this subject that not one of the papers