Chrzanowski 1

Brian Chrzanowski
English 12
Mr. Stewart
11 November 2014
Global Warming
Beginning in the 1800s, fossil fuels have been burned to give energy in steam engines
that provided transportation for people in trains, and also gave the power to manufacture goods
in factories. Following this came Thomas Edisons wiring of entire cities. This demanded that
there would be a constant supply of electricity at all times. To generate electricity, a turbine must
be turning a magnet, which generates current inside of a coil of wire. To turn the magnet, almost
every single power company burns coal to heat up water, which turns the magnet and generates
current. This provides electricity for many people 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This
carbon dioxide being burned is caught in the atmosphere by the greenhouse effect. Because of
the overload of carbon dioxide in the air, the environment is in jeopardy, as well as our
comfortable society.
The quickest to notice problem our society has developed is the need for every single
adult to own an automobile. This holds true for most of the United States. Though some
teenagers take no interest in driving, it is still a monumental moment in a childs life when they
get their license. Our nation imports oil for mostly gasoline to be burned in automobiles. Because
this combustion process is not perfect, it does not release exclusively air and water.
Because of the impurities of the process, internal combustion engines release all of the
impurities in the gasoline itself, along with the carbon from the imperfect combustion process. In
areas not gifted by an air current, these various impurities in the air remain present long after the

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act of combustion in an automobiles engine. A prime example of this is the famous smog in Los
Angeles. A massive amount of people are all packed in. Our society requires a large number of
people to have their own automobile, and because of the citys geographic location to the west of
the Rocky Mountains, this smog and crud in the air cannot leave the sky of the city. It constantly
plagues its people.
Another contributor to our globes gradual temperature increase are power plants. These
institutions will often times burn coal to turn a generator. These generators produce electric
current that is used to give electric power to a television, or lights. Because individual companies
provide electricity for people, they must provide the best service so as to not lose profits.
Because battery technology is miles away from providing enough juice for entire cities, this
generator or set of them need to be turning continually so that the service is not lost.
This constant service requires a constant stream of coal. Mining communities in
Pennsylvania are famous for coal and generations of families have dug up the coal in
Pennsylvania just to supply energy to the world; however, the effect of mining on these
communities is drastic. Many of these companies have adopted a method of mining called strip
mining. Using this method, entire mountains composed of mostly coal are brought down to mere
mounds. All of this coal is then shipped off to power plants without a return to the community.
Not only will this coal be burned, but various communities have are unable to work because of
the fact that machines work better than humans. Human diggers are slower and slower than the
machines that do their mining on a larger scale. This has recently made several thousands of
people in the industry unemployed because the demand for coal is greater. Remember, the need
for this volume of coal stems from our requirement for electricity.

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The ungodly amounts of carbon freely floating in the atmosphere causes a few other
extreme issues as well. The shift in global temperatures leads to send normal weather patterns
elsewhere on the globe. For instance, in the 80s it was common for states like North Dakota and
Montana to receive extremely heavy precipitation during the winters. Because of the minor air
pressure changes in our globe, that weather has begun to shift eastward to states, Illinois and
Michigan.
This not only creates very angry and cold citizens where there never used to be, but it
means that heavy city-scapes will be lined with more snow than those cities are prepared to
handle. Water currents are beginning to shift and parts of Western Europe that have been
traditionally hot, like Spain and Italy, are cooling off during the summer. Countries like China
are constantly battling heavy pollution, as the pollution has a serious lack of constant air current
to take it places.
In the place of the finite fossil fuels, as a race, we should be utilizing naturally occurring
methods to generate the power of tomorrow. The facts are everywhere. In propaganda, in
schools, in the air, but the general populous still remains ignorant to what is placed in front of
them. This collective remains outside of the light because of the effort required to do anything
about it. In society today, the easy way is always taken out and minimal effort is ever used. If this
continues, not much will remain of the world. Change will happen, but for that change to be
positive, the world must make a change.