Earth and Earth’s Atmosphere Essay

Submitted By Dmiller92456
Words: 737
Pages: 3

1. Have I identified the cause or effect I am analyzing in my thesis? I have identified the cause or effect of climate change.
2. Have I explained the cause-and-effect relationship convincingly? I have explained the cause-and-effect relationship convincingly.
3. Have I organized my causes and/or effects logically? My essay is organized logically.
4. Have I used sound logic? I have used sound logic to explain my essay.
5. Have I concluded my essay effectively? I have concluded my essay effectively.
6. Have I proofread thoroughly? I have proofread thoroughly.

Causes and Effects of Climate Change Even though climate change is the greatest threat to the modern way of life, many people still do not understand the notion properly. This fact is partly due to political and ideological machinations around the issue since many influential political factors would prefer the truth about it to remain unknown. Nonetheless, in the scientific community, there exists an overwhelming consensus about the causes of the current trend of global warming and climate change, and its potential consequences. Climate change is a global process of significant alternations in the climate patter that is caused by increased emission of CO2 in the atmosphere, whose consequences are mirrored in the rising sea level, extreme climate events, and shifts in weather patterns. Scientific evidence that has been accumulated over the last fifty years undoubtedly shows that climate change is a scientific fact. As Mathez (57) reports, “in 1958, the average CO2 content of the atmosphere was 315 parts per million (ppm) by volume, in 2006 it was 380 ppm and increasing by about 2 ppm per year.” These measurements clearly show that there has been a significant increase in the concentration of this gas in the Earth’s atmosphere. The greenhouse effect, which is, according to many, the main cause of the climate change, emerged due to this increase in the concentration of carbon-dioxide. This phenomenon can be summarized as the process by which the Sun’s energy that is reflected from the surface of the Earth and the Earth’s thermal energy are reflected by carbon-dioxide and other greenhouse gasses in all directions, thus preventing them from leaving the atmosphere. This way, the atmosphere, just like the air inside a greenhouse, becomes significantly warmer. The use of fossil fuels in factories, transportation and energy production releases huge amounts of these gasses, and can be taken as the main cause of the problem. The effects of this phenomenon are very diverse, and scientists are still debating the issue; however, certain phenomena can undoubtedly be attributed to the greenhouse effect. The disagreement among the scientists about the consequences of global warming is partly due to the immense complexity of the Earth’s atmosphere as a physical system. As a prominent climatologist, Burroughs (6) notes, “the fact that a perturbation in one part of the system may produce effects elsewhere, which bear no simple relation to the original stimulus provides new insight into how the world around us functions”. In other words, given the complexity of the system it is