How Global Warming WorksGases in the Earth's atmosphere act like glass in a greenhouse—tra

How Global Warming Works

Gases in the Earth's atmosphere act like glass in a greenhouse—trapping heat and making life on Earth possible. But there is a delicate balance. Burning coal, oil and natural gas increases atmospheric concentrations of these gases. Over the past century, increases in industry, transportation, and electricity production have increased gas concentrations in the atmosphere faster than natural processes can remove them leading to human-caused warming of the globe.

The Sources Of Global Warming

The major source of global warming is carbon dioxide pollution from power plants, automobiles, and industry. Another source is global deforestation.

Power plants are responsible for more than a third of U.S. CO2 emissions, yet there are no caps on CO2 emissions from power plants or any other industry.

Gas guzzling cars and light trucks are also responsible for a third of U.S. CO2 emissions. Current regulations allow for very inefficient vehicles which spew tons of CO2.

Trees remove carbon dioxide from the air as they grow. When they are cut and burned CO2 is released back into the atmosphere. Massive deforestation around the globe is releasing large amounts of CO2 and decreasing the forests' ability to take CO2 from the atmosphere.

Solutions

The U.S., with only four percent of the world's population, is responsible for 22 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. Fortunately, solutions exist to cut our global warming emissions. Decision makers in the United States should take the following steps.

Increasing fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks would cut millions of tons of CO2 pollution as well as decreasing dependence on foreign oil.

Putting a cap on CO2 from power plants would cut millions of tons of CO2 pollution as well as decreasing pollution that causes acid rain, smog, and respiratory illness.

Shifting investment from fossil fuels like coal and oil to renewable energy and energy efficiency would allow cleaner, more sustainable sources of energy to take their rightful place as market leaders.

Ratification of the Kyoto Protocol would be a modest but important first step toward international emissions reductions.

The Evidence

Recently, alarming events that are consistent with scientific predictions about the effects of climate change have become more and more commonplace. The global average temperature has increased by about 0.5℃ and sea level has risen by about 10 inches(25 cm) in the past century. Official confirmation came in 1995, when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an officially appointed international panel of over 2,500 of the world's leading scientific experts, found that evidence suggests a human influence on the global climate.

The following are events which consistent with scientists' predictions of the effects of global warming:

The past two decades have witnessed a stream of new heat and precipitation records. The 10 hottest years on record have all occurred since 1980, the hottest year ever on record is 1997, and the hottest January through July on record occurred in 1998.

Glaciers are melting around the world. Alaska's Columbia Glacier has retreated more than eight miles in the last 16 years while temperatures there have increased. A section of an Antarctic ice shelf as big as the District of Columbia broke off.

Severe floods like the devastating Midwestern floods of 1993 and 1997 are becoming more common.

Infectious diseases are moving into new areas as seen in the recent outbreaks of Dengue fever in Texas and Malaria in New Jersey.

The Opposition

The Global Climate Coalition, a powerful coalition of oil, power, and auto companies has followed the lead of tobacco companies by denyi

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