Angela Bentle

Climate Change

Climate change is a widely known term but most people dont know exactly what it means. climate is the average over many years of weather conditions in an area including precipitation and temperature. Climate change refers to the predicted increase in the Earth's average temperature and the effects of the increase. he two main arguments on the side are first that global warming is caused by man and will have critical negative effects on the Earth and it's people while proponents say that global warming is naturally occurring and will not have as a severe affect as most scientists predict. !roponents of "uman caused climate change argue that the Earth's climate has fluctuated for millions of years. he Earth's orbit changes from an ellipse to a circle increasing our distance to the sun# which has a direct effect on climate. $ther natural causes include volcanic activity that releases methane and other green house gases into the atmosphere. !roponents also argue that the greenhouse effect is a beneficial natural occurrence that helps regulate the earth's temperature so that we don't have temperature way below free%ing at night and scorching temperatures during the day. $f the greenhouse gases C$& is named as the main culprit but it is a naturally occurring gas that is essential for photosynthesis and cellular respiration. 'o an increase in the gas should cause plants to become more robust. !roponents also argue that climatology is a very young science and we still don't have a full understanding of what is exactly happening. Beyond science Chris "orner argues that climate change is a hoax perpetuated by energy suppression groups with the goal of securing funds for facilities and research into a phoney science. $n the other side is the idea that humankind is causing climate change and the effects are in fact going to be very harmful to our planet and society as a whole. here is no argument that the greenhouse affect is a naturally occurrence or which gases cause it. (A'A reports that we have not had this much

Angela Bentle carbon dioxide # a green house gas# in the air in the past )*+#+++ years. 'o the amount of change we are seeing are within decades or hundreds or years which is extremely fast in terms of geography. 'cientists are able to see these changes through the study of ice cores# tree rings and current observations. A change that we are witnessing is the acidification of the ocean. his will cause coral bleaching and a decrease in kelp ecosystems. Another is increase in sea level. ,illions of people along the coast will be misplaced with increasing water levels. $ne argument made was that increased carbon dioxide would make plants more robust. his is actually having the opposite effect. !lants are sub-ect to higher temperatures and less precipitation or even acid rain which has a negative affect on crops Climate change is happening. .hether people agree it is human caused or not it is something that can be observed easily. All observations made about how greenhouse gases work and the amount of them in the air can explain why there are so many changes happening with different climates and ecosystems in the world. Also if a huge ma-ority of the scientific community and many non political organi%ations agrees that climate change is human caused. /t makes me very suspicious when proponents of climate change are funded by Exxon ,obil. Especially when you compare it to research done by individuals who have a life long passion for their field of study. he way which we view our climate and Earth is very important. .e can't afford to wait to make decisions about whether this is actually happening or not when we can see it happening right in front of us.

Angela Bentle

0eferences1 Competitive Enterprise /nstitute. .ikipedia. &+23434&5 6lobal Climate Change. (A'A. .ebsite. &+23434&5 /ntroduction to Climate Change. (07C. .ebsite. &+23434&5 /!CC. Climate Change &+231 /mpacts# Adaptation# and 8ulnerability. Assessment 0eport. &+2342+492 !B' (ews "our. !B'. &++24+3423. .ebsite. &+23434&5