Climate change is not a particularly new idea, despite what society seems to think. The Earth’s various temperatures have always been in a state of constant adjustment, though it is only now that we are finding the planet’s gradually increasing temperature to be a dire consequence of human impact upon the land. Carbon dioxide emissions have grown drastically since the Industrial Revolution, including those produced by deforestation. Due to a rapidly swelling bank of evidence on global warming, many organizations have formed to take action against this worldwide manifestation. Hence there is a wide variety of improvements we could implement to reduce our influence upon the Earth’s environmental shift, we need only take charge of our actions
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Consequently, we often forget that forests provide clean air and water, shelter against weather extremes, and habitats for millions of species -not only an industrial and economic benefit for us humans- and that they are our greatest weapon against global climate change. If greenhouse gases are our number one source of climate change, then trees are our number one source for air purification, taking in carbon dioxide only to expel it in the form of fresh, breathable oxygen. Unfortunately, this weapon is quickly being torn away by the destruction of trees caused by agriculture, logging, forest fires and overgrazing (mostly human or man-made causes), the most harmful cause being agriculture [National Geographic, 2016]. When we destroy our forests the carbon absorption carried out by those trees ceases to exist entirely. Not only is that an issue, but as a result of trees being cut down, any carbon stored in those organisms will be released into the Earth’s atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide should the wood be burned or …show more content…
This research is mainly conducted using a plethora of equipment including boats, buoys and satellites with which scientists measure temperatures in all parts of the biosphere -though mainly on the ocean’s surface and in the lower regions of the atmosphere. Subsequently. they compare the data collected daily to what is “normal” for that location and time. This “normal” average is generally based on statistics collected over a period of 30+ years. Researchers are looking for significant differences in global temperatures, called “anomalies”. These anomalies can be positive or negative, a positive anomaly being warmer than the long-term average, while negative is quite the opposite [Carbon Brief, 2015]. Incidentally, satellites are often used to measure the lower tropospheric temperatures, which are significantly different than those on the Earth’s surface. All data collected from these satellites in the past 30 years show a gradual warming trend in this portion of atmosphere [Carbon Brief, 2015]. We also measure the chemical composition of the air to see changes in quality affected by greenhouse gas emissions and sea levels to gauge the effects of melting ice coverage on shorelines everywhere [Global Greenhouse Warming, 2010]. All of these approaches and more are then combined to get a complete and accurate account of what
Consequently, we often forget that forests provide clean air and water, shelter against weather extremes, and habitats for millions of species -not only an industrial and economic benefit for us humans- and that they are our greatest weapon against global climate change. If greenhouse gases are our number one source of climate change, then trees are our number one source for air purification, taking in carbon dioxide only to expel it in the form of fresh, breathable oxygen. Unfortunately, this weapon is quickly being torn away by the destruction of trees caused by agriculture, logging, forest fires and overgrazing (mostly human or man-made causes), the most harmful cause being agriculture [National Geographic, 2016]. When we destroy our forests the carbon absorption carried out by those trees ceases to exist entirely. Not only is that an issue, but as a result of trees being cut down, any carbon stored in those organisms will be released into the Earth’s atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide should the wood be burned or …show more content…
This research is mainly conducted using a plethora of equipment including boats, buoys and satellites with which scientists measure temperatures in all parts of the biosphere -though mainly on the ocean’s surface and in the lower regions of the atmosphere. Subsequently. they compare the data collected daily to what is “normal” for that location and time. This “normal” average is generally based on statistics collected over a period of 30+ years. Researchers are looking for significant differences in global temperatures, called “anomalies”. These anomalies can be positive or negative, a positive anomaly being warmer than the long-term average, while negative is quite the opposite [Carbon Brief, 2015]. Incidentally, satellites are often used to measure the lower tropospheric temperatures, which are significantly different than those on the Earth’s surface. All data collected from these satellites in the past 30 years show a gradual warming trend in this portion of atmosphere [Carbon Brief, 2015]. We also measure the chemical composition of the air to see changes in quality affected by greenhouse gas emissions and sea levels to gauge the effects of melting ice coverage on shorelines everywhere [Global Greenhouse Warming, 2010]. All of these approaches and more are then combined to get a complete and accurate account of what