The warming of the Earth is increasing at an astounding rate. Global warming is one of the largest environmental concerns at the moment and for good reason. Every year the earth is getting warmer and warmer and this is causing a chain-reaction of negative effects. Global warming occurs when heat is trapped by gases in the atmosphere. Instead of being released into space, the heat stays in the Earth’s atmosphere. The main gases that are trapping heat in the Earth’s atmosphere are carbon dioxide, methane, sulfate aerosol, and HFC-23. Methane is 25x more effective at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, HFC-23 is 12,000x more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat, and sulfate aerosol is 24,000x more effect than carbon dioxide at trapping heat.
Carbon dioxide and methane are natural gases that occur in nature. The problem is that we’re creating an excess of them. Cattle farms are creating much more methane than what would naturally be produced because we are producing too many cattle for consumption. Carbon dioxide is being released into the atmosphere because we’re burning and cutting down forests larger than the size of New York State every year. The carbon dioxide is then released into the atmosphere. Warmer oceans will absorb less carbon dioxide, warmer soils will release more carbon dioxide, and melting ice caps will reflect less of the sun’s heat. When ultra violet radiation hits a surface like snow or ice, it still has a short wavelength and can escape through the gases into space. When it hits dirt, concrete, and anything else that isn’t reflective like snow it’s wavelength becomes longer and cannot escape through the atmosphere.
The solution to the above problems is a complicated one. It seems that it would be simple i.e. eliminate all of these emissions, but it’s far more complex than that. Unless every American is willing to become a vegetarian those cattle farms aren’t going anywhere and neither is the methane they produce. How could we stop cutting down forests for timber? What are you going to write on? What is going to support the walls of your home? Carbon dioxide and methane alone would most likely still progress global warming which would cause the above to occur to. However, it is possible to stop global warming. I’ve been a vegetarian since I was five years old and I don’t feel like I’m missing anything at all. In fact, I personally find eating meat disgusting. There are many benefits vegetarians enjoy that could convert meat eaters. The price of meat could be increased so that instead of eating meat every day of the week, families only had it once or twice a week. This would equal less cattle and more crops, effectively reducing the methane in the atmosphere and creating a carbon sink. Why not create a material to place in asphalt, paint, and shingles that would reflect the ultraviolet light at the same wavelength that it entered the atmosphere and making it mandatory to include it in all roofing and asphalt materials? Unfortunately there are no quick fixes for global warming and every country has to contribute. There is no one policy that can be changed because there are too many other variables contributing to global warming, but the every nation working together in unison would be able to overcome it – it’s just a matter of doing it.
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