Porter 1

Sean Porter
Jaclyn Brinkmoeller
Matthew Coombs
Sunwoo An
Cris Longhurst
English 1010
04.6.15

Academic Argument
In the history of man one thing has always been there, the planet earth. Now has come a
time in the relationship between earth and man to determine and discuss just how to move
forward. Is the earth just going through another cycle like the ice age or are humans pushing this
cycle by our narcissistic means of life? The issue of Climate Change has been going on for
some time. Those who remember the 1970s global cooling scare tend to be the biggest skeptics
regarding Climate Change and rightfully so. The fact is that around 1970 there were 6 times as
many scientists predicting a warming rather than a cooling planet, but, today, with 30+years
more data to analyse, a clear scientific consensus has been reached: human beings are causing
global warming (Peterson,2). This is agreed upon by 97% of working climate scientists. While
rarely will you find an argument that Climate Change exists, the causes of a changing earth's
climate remain much discussed in the world. More specifically, it is argued as to the role human
behaviors factor into the changing of the earths climate.
Our group took on the challenge of evaluating the literature relating to Climate Change.
Based on our research it is our consensus conclusion that; although human beings are not the sole
contributors to Climate Change, humans behaviors are accelerating the natural process.
In the following sections we will outline the basis of our conclusions. We will discuss all
the contribution both natural and unnatural (man-made contributions). Along with the scientific
research to explain our point and provide arguments to refute the climate change skeptics. We

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will explain how all contributions of natural and human factors play into one another and the
course the eminent future may hold because of these contributing factors.
Climate Change skeptics argue that there are many natural causes of climate change. This
is true; there are natural causes of climate change. One argument is the heating of the earths
climate comes from the intense solar flares of the sun. However, if this was the case the outside
of the earths atmosphere would be much hotter due to the direct contact of intense heat from the
sun, but this is not the case. Therefore it must be a change that is happening due to the factors
here on earth. The earth indeed goes through natural carbon cycles, also known as the slow
carbon cycle. The slow carbon cycle, refers to the natural release and cycle of carbon dioxide or
CO2 from rock to soil, to ocean and to atmosphere, via plate tectonic movement, and many
chemical reactions. The carbon is absorbed and converted to oxygen from certain organisms and
plants through the process of photosynthesis. This natural process takes 100-200 thousand years.
However humans have been measurably accelerating this natural process since the industrial
revolution. In fact humans have contributed nearly 100 parts per million of CO2 in less than one
lifetime.

(http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/)

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This massive and undeniable acceleration is largely due to the burning of fossil fuels.
When fossil fuels are burned it takes that harbord carbon dioxide and releases nearly all of it into
the atmosphere simultaneously, and with deforestation practices the carbon can not be as quickly
absorbed, and converted into oxygen.
CO2 is a greenhouse gas which is a necessary chemical compound. It can be produced in
many ways including people and animals respiration which converts oxygen into CO2. So there
is always some amount of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.
Carbon dioxide is also produced with the burning of methane gas, which is considered
another greenhouse gas. Methane gas is another serious contender when it comes to the worlds
climate. Science is beginning to show that methane plays a crucial role in the temperature, and
life on this planet. The reasons being Methane reacts with more chemicals in our ozone making
the air we breath more toxic, Methane also plays a major role in the containment of the suns
energy in the atmosphere from the stratosphere, along with other greenhouse gasses making it
harder for the excess heat to escape earths atmosphere. Methane gas is more potent than CO2
when it comes to temperature change.
In order to study the air quality from the past someone has to drill deep into a sheet of
ice, the deeper someone drills the further back in time they can study, like the rings on a tree. By
analyzing air bubbles that are trapped in the ice, scientist can see the amount of greenhouse gases
that were in the air at that particular time. They can also see the ratio of oxygen to greenhouse
gas molecules. Scientists can derive the temperature from that time and what was happening in
the environment at that time. In the article, Climate Change: The Evidence and our options
from the World Future Review, the authors Lonnie G. Thompson, a professor of
Paleoclimatology and Glaciology at Ohio State University, and Gioietta Kuo show a graph of the

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concentration of carbon dioxide in the air and the temperature variation over the last 400,000

years.
(Thompson and Kuo 118)

As you can see (above) it shows a direct correlation of CO2 concentration and the
temperature variation through history. So if humans continue to burn large amounts methane gas
that produces carbon dioxide the temperature will continue to rise along with the amount of CO2
in the air.
However, CO2 is not the only one that contributes Climate Change Farming also
contributes directly to climate change by releasing large amounts of nitrous oxide into the
atmosphere. Using pesticides and animal wastes such as antibiotics and hormones emits nitrous
oxide. These nitrous oxides absorb emitted infrared light from the surface with CO2, (Cummins,
Ronnie 118) then absorbed infrared light staying in the atmosphere. Therefore, nitrous oxide
accelerates climate change. By these human behaviors, earth gets warmer. A growing number of
organic consumers, natural health advocates and climate hawks are taking a more comprehensive
look at the fundamental causes of global warming. It has led them to this sobering conclusion:
our modern energy-, chemical- and genetically modified(: , )

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organism (GMO)-intensive industrial food and farming systems are the major cause of manmade global warming. We should make a solution to stop global warming. First, by taking a
more inclusive look at the scientific data on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to realize what
contributes global warming. Second, by doing a full accounting of the fossil fuel consumption
and emissions of the entire industrial food and farming cycle, including inputs, equipment,
production, processing, distribution, heating, cooling and waste. Finally, by factoring in the
indirect impacts of contemporary agriculture, which include deforestation and wetlands
destruction.(Cummins,
Ronnie 118)

Humans
contribution to the
global climate crisis, is
Chlorofluorocarbon
(CFC) more plainly
known as aerosols.
CFCs are a byproduct
of refrigerators, air conditioners, and aerosol paint cans. CFCs unlike methane or CO2 do not
trap heat in, rather CFCs destroy the ozone layer that protects earth from ultraviolet rays from
our sun, this also allows intense heat to come directly into our atmosphere. Ultraviolet rays work
against plant growth, and can pose serious human health concerns such as cataract, sunburns, and
skin cancer. Although there has been signs of amendments in the ozone layer including one of
the largest over Antarctica, humans behaviors are not shifting fast enough and the ice caps are at
serious risk.

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Another major topic in todays Climate Change discussion is that glaciers and ice sheets
are melting all over the world. The critical issue is that Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets and
glaciers are melting at an alarmingly rapid pace, 3 times faster than normal. The climate change
skeptics argument is that the amount of global sea ice is above historical averages and reaching
record highs since monitoring started in 1979. In an interview with Sean Smith on VICE, NASA
Glaciologist, Eric Rignot, explained the difference between land ice and sea ice. Sea ice is the
same water freezing and
melting again. So the amount
of sea ice is controlled by the
wind. So the same wind that
melts West Antarctic land ice
can cause east Antarctic sea
ice to increase as the winds
move over the continent. The
simplest analogy used to
describe the difference is that the sea ice is like( : /) ice cubes in a glass of
water when they melt it does not overflow the glass because it was already there. Land ice is like
adding more ice cubes to an already full cup it will overflow the cup. Hence sea levels will rise
as land ice melts. Antarctica alone is one and a half times the size of the United States and if
three glaciers (equaling the size of Germany) on the west side of Antarctica melt, sea level will
increase by 1-meter/3 feet worldwide. (Thompson and Kuo 116)
Additionally, the temperature on the Antarctic Peninsula has risen by 2.5C in the last 50
years. Greenland is also experiencing record high temperatures at the rate of 2C per decade,
indicating larger-scale global climate change. They have experienced the first full surface melt

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of their ice sheets. Due to pollution Greenland ice is no longer white, it is grey and black in some
areas. This is from man-made aerosols and an increase in wildfires due to warmer temperatures.
Which in turn increases the rate of melting
because the ice absorbs the heat rather than
reflecting it.
( ) If

all of glaciers in

Greenland melt the sea levels would rise 21 feet

globally according to Glaciologist Jason Box
with Geological Survey of Denmark and
Greenland (GEUS) (He received his B.A., M.A.,
and Ph.D. from the University of Colorado,
Boulder and for 10 years an associate professor
of physical climatology and geography at Byrd
Polar Research Center at Ohio State
University.) This is becoming a more
realistic possibility amongst scientist.
Should Antarctica and Greenland both melt,
the sea level would rise by an astounding 64
meters or 210 feet according to Lonnie
Thompson. (Thompson and Kuo 116) Seafront
cities such as New York, London, Shanghai,
and other low-lying cities would be
submerged.

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( , )

Cities like Bangladesh are already seeing the effects of the rising sea level. People are
having to relocate inland because their homes and farms are now part of the ocean floor. Some of
these refugees know nothing except the life of farming and are now living in urban cities without
the knowledge or skills to provide adequate housing or food for their families. According to Dr.
Atiq Rahman, a co-recipient of the nobel peace prize, 300 million people will need to relocate
by the end of the century due to sea level rise which could be catastrophic on societies and
governments everywhere.(Gandhi)
Other communities in the Himalayan Mountains (also referred to as the third pole) may
also be affected. The Himalayan mountains contain more than 15,000 glaciers. Glaciologists at
the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research in Beijing have been monitoring 612 glaciers. They
have found that from 1990 to 2005, 95% of these glaciers are retreating.(Yao, Pu, Lu, Wang, &
Yu, 2007). Causing these communities to contemplate relocating because scientists say the
glacial melting is creating huge lakes that threaten to burst and devastate mountain communities
downstream. They warn that the glaciers could disappear within decades, bringing drought to
swathes of Asia. There are more than five million cubic miles of ice on Earth, and some
scientists say it would take more than 5,000 years to melt it all. If we continue adding carbon to
the atmosphere, well very likely create an ice-free planet, with an average temperature of
perhaps 80 degrees Fahrenheit instead of the current 58, according to National
Geographic.(NGM Staff)
With contributing factors outlined by the scientific research and the effects now being
seen to occur a new question is being posed. What if anything can we now do to eliminate the
possibility of our extinction? We have found scientific evidence and data to be nothing short of
compelling. Human behavior has a direct impact on the planet's climate change. The research has

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shown that even if everyone stopped using fossil fuels tomorrow that the effects of CO2 climate
change will continue for the next 20-30 years.(Smith) So how do you want the future generations
to live? We have a hard future of air quality, warming temperatures and new maps of the earth to
think about. There is no planet B.
The notion that humans are contributing to the global climate crisis is no longer a
question, but rather a well documented, and tested fact, from the most well-informed scholars
and institutions in the world; emphasizing climatological, ecological, biological, meteorological,
and historical analysis. However, we as humans have already signed ourselves and our childrens
children up for an outcome thus far almost entirely unpredictable. Due to our lack of knowledge
in ecology and how our actions affect the world around us through this interconnected web that
is our global ecosystem, have a greater impact on global climate outcomes then we have we have
previously recognized.
We as humans still think quite linear, when in fact the repercussions of our mistakes
made in arrogance and ignorance will sprawl out in every direction down through the
generations. We must stop and take a look at what we are doing, in order to prevent further
suffering, and possible extinction of the human race.

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Work Cited
Cummins, Ronnie. "How Factory Farming Contributes to Global Warming." Eco Watch
Transforming Green. N.p., 21 Jan. 2013. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.
Goodell, Jeff. Greenlands melting Ice Sheets: Climate Changes Disastrous Effects Rolling
Stone JULY 25, 2013 Web. April 2015
Jenkins, Amber. "Entering Unknown territory." 16 May 2013. Climate.Nasa.gov. The earth
Science Communications Team. Web. 04 March 2015
NGM Staff.Rising Seas-Interactive: If All The Ice Melts September 2013. National
Geographic Society. WEB. 08 April 2015.
Parker, Wendy S. "Comparative Process Tracing And Climate Change Fingerprints."
Philosophy Of Science 77.5 (2010): 1083-1095. Academic Search Premier. Web. 20 Feb. 2015.
Peterson, Thomas C.THE MYTH OF THE 1970S GLOBAL COOLING SCIENTIFIC
CONSENSUS NOAA National Climatic Data Center, Asheville, North Carolina 64.7
(Unknown) 13 April 2015
Smith, Shane; Gandhi, Vikram Our Rising Oceans HBO 06 March 2015. Television. 07 March
2015.
Smith, Shane; Greenland is Melting/Bonded Labor HBO 2014. Television. April 07 2015.
Thompson, Lonnie G., and Gioietta Kuo. "Climate Change: The Evidence And Our Options."
World Future Review (World Future Society) 4.2 (2012): 114-122. Academic Search Premier.
Web. 27 Feb. 2015.
Yao T, Pu J, Lu A, Wang Y, Yu W. Recent glacial retreat and its impact on hydrological
processes on the Tibetan Plateau, China and surrounding regions. Arctic and Alpine Research.
2007;39:642650