The Army Values System Essay, Research Paper

Global Warming: The Effects on the Global Environment

When you think about what causes pollution to day, what do you first think of? The sewage from a factory spilling into the river, or is it the thick, dark, palpable cloud of smoke pouring out of the factories smokestack? Well the reason those images come to mind is because Industrial Pollution is the most visible form of pollution.

In the beginning of the industrial revolution in Great Britain, it was not known nor foreseen that there would be devastating effects from the over-use of industry. From the coal plants and textile mills of yesteryear to the processing plants and Nuclear Power plants of today, pollution is of major concern for all of us.

At the start of the industrial revolution, people where not concerned with whether or not our planet would be affected farther into the future, but even then the appearance of Industry was of concern to some. This is one of the forms of pollution caused by industry. This eye-pollution as you will was centered on the factories themselves. These factories where located in the larger populated areas of Europe, but would eventually branch out, consuming the world. The soot from the burned coal would settle everywhere, making everything dingy and dirty. Even the rich were not free from the effects of industry.

Aside from the visual effects of industry another problem was developing, a term that would become popular in the 90?s, Global Warming. Global warming refers to the heating of the earth?s atmosphere via a process known as the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is essentially what keeps our planet alive. If it weren?t for the greenhouse gasses trapping heat in our atmosphere, the earth would be 60 degrees cooler and uninhabitable. While natural gasses in the atmosphere such as water vapor and carbon dioxide feed the greenhouse effect, so do industrial pollutants

The ten warmest years have occurred since 1983, with seven of them since 1990. Recent evidence shows the 20th century was the warmest in the last 1,000 years. The 1990s were the warmest decade and 1998 was the single warmest year of the past millennium.

The increase in population as well as Industry has led to an overall growth of the greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere. As the amount of gasses increase, so to does the temperature. The average Global surface temperatures has risen 0.6-1.2?F since the late 1800?s. The snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere and floating ice in the Arctic Ocean have decreased, leaving the sea level at 4-10 inches higher over the past century. Worldwide precipitation has increased by about one percent. The numbers of storms bringing great amounts of rainfall at one time have also increased in many parts of the United States.

As the earth begins to warm, it will bring with it some devastating effects. The risks to human health will increase, bringing with it disease and death. This will likely be influenced by the destruction of large areas of forests from which we derive our food supplies. Evaporation will increase as the climate warms, which will increase precipitation in some areas. With the increase of precipitation, come the floods and mudslides. In other areas, the amount of rainfall may decline bringing with it, dry hot unbearable conditions, harmful to plant survival. Sea level is likely to rise two feet along most of the U.S. coast. A number of the Essential nutrients found in the soil will be washed away giving way to poor crop growth. That will lead to famine and the cycle continues.

These problems are not found in any one specific place, but distributed wherever there is atmosphere. Though the effects or problems resulting from Global warming are not found anywhere in particular, the causes are. Large factories, power plants, paper mills, and the emissions from motor vehicles all add to the greenhouse gasses. These places are normally found in large cities were there is not enough vegetation to handle all the dirty air. Theses large industries went unregulated for so long that the damaged they caused may be nearly irreversible. However, it is never to late to change things for the better.

From China to Africa and the U.S. to Australia, no one is exempt from the effects of global warming today and everyone must do his or her part to help keep our earth for the generations to come. By doing simple things, we will gain infinite ground in the war against our planets destruction.

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