The Sun: Man's Friend & Foe - Tour to the Center of the Sun Part 6

Global Warming

"I find myself increasingly persuaded that a climate effect may be occuring."

- Mark Moody-Stuart, Shell Oil

Global warming can be defined as "The gradual increase in planet-wide temperatures". This warming is probably caused by the green-house gases trapped in the Earth's atmosphere. Practically none of the information available today related to the study of global warming is complete and proven. Scientists are still speculating what is contributing to global warming, how much man is responsible, and how much global warming is just part of the Sun's heat cycles. Any information we give you should be considered as theory or understood to be under review and not fact. Here are some of the opinions held by various scientists today.

First of all some scientists think that global warming doesn't exist at all. They say we should blame what they call "The obvious culprit", the Sun. They say that "Scientific evidence conclusively shows that the Sun plays a far more important role in causing global warming, and global cooling than any other factor, natural or man-made." They also propose that the 150 years of global warming the Earth has experienced are on the verge of producing a prolonged period of cooling. They say that evidence for future cooling is supported by considerable scientific research that has only recently come to light. In fact it wasn't until 1980 that NASA satellites proved that the Sun's brightness occurs in regular, predictable cycles. This means that when the Sun gets dimmer, the Earth gets cooler and vice versa. However, some of these scientists have admitted that some of the global warming problem is related to greenhouse gasses.

Other scientists believe that humans are responsible for global warming. They claim that the carbon that humans produce by burning fossil fuels such as petroleum, oil and coal causes global warming. They believe that the carbon gets trapped within our atmosphere and just stays there due to our atmosphere and traps the Sun's heat. This, they say, is the major reason why the planet is heating up.

NOTE: It is true that every year about 6 billion tons of carbon is emitted from the burning of fossil fuels but half of that is absorbed by forests and oceans.

"It would be unwise and potentially dangerous to ignore the mounting concern" over global warming. "Climate change is a long-term problem, and what matters is that we begin to take precautionary steps"

- John Browne, British Petroleum

Other scientists say that "In the last 100 years, factory chimneys have poured approximately 360 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the air. This process has increased the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere by about 13%. Carbon dioxide absorbs energy and prevents heat from escaping into space, a factor that has raised the Earth's average temperature by about 1 degree F. Since 1940, however, we have discovered that instead of increasing, the Earth's average temperature has decreased about 0.7 degrees F. Smoke and dust accumulations in the atmosphere act as filters that block out sunlight and prevent it from reaching the surface. That means that carbon dioxide and the dust particles may actually cancel each other out".

Another opinion is that humans are to blame but not for burning fossil fuels but for biomass burning. They say: "Some 55 percent of the greenhouse pollutants produced each year is in the form of carbon dioxide, and the majority of that is from biomass burning-not the burning of fossil fuels as we once believed."

We suggest you, or as a class, research global warming and topics related to global warming as a project, perhaps you'll have more luck finding verified information than we did. The Greenhouse Effect is a related topic that we were able to obtain a lot of information on.

The Greenhouse Effect

A greenhouse is usually much warmer than the temperature outside. This is because the clear walls of the greenhouse allow energy from the Sun to shine in. This generates heat, then the walls keep the heat in and maintain the heat for an extended time.

"I have two sons who are being taught, hands-on, by their father, uncles (and other elders) to hunt walrus, seal, whale, birds and fish. But this year the ice packs left sooner. There was very little game for them to hunt, (which) cut short our food supply" and the time her sons had to learn "how to continue this way of life".

- Sterling Golongergen - August 13, 1998 - Savoonga, Alaska

The earth's climate works almost the same way. The earth's atmosphere contains certain gasses, called greenhouse gasses, that allow energy from the Sun to pass through to the earth's surface. These gasses, include water vapor, carbon dioxide (CO2), and methane. They trap a lot of the energy inside the atmosphere making the earth warmer. This is what is called the Greenhouse Effect.

The Greenhouse Effect is a natural process of the Sun and a benefit to us when it is at normal energy. Without the insulation of the Greenhouse Effect the Earth would be a lot colder. In fact the Earth without the Greenhouse Effect would be too cold for life on earth to exist.

Many people think humans are responsible for the increase in greenhouse gasses. The more greenhouse gasses that are in the atmosphere the greater the Greenhouse Effect. This means that if there is no reduction of the gasses or temperature reduction the temperatures on earth will rise eventually to a point where life can't live on Earth.

The existence of Global Warming is a highly debated one in the scientific community. Even though it is widely reported on and discussed no one has proven that Global Warming is a threat to the extent that it is being represented to be. Today action is taking place to reduce, avoid, and better understand Global Warming. The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) coordinates the extensive research on climate change. Countries from around the world have firm commitments to strengthening international responses to the risks of climate change. The Third Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change will take place in Kyoto, Japan this year.