Dejarme, Alyssa Jill M.

February 10, 2017

CE 121 - Environmental Engineering

Reaction Paper in An Inconvenient Truth by Davis Guggenheim

We always hear topics about climate change and global warming. We

have heard it since we were young. We have heard it from our parents,
friends and neighbours. But as for me, I really didnt understand and
certainly did not know about how it could affect my life. All I knew is that
earth was getting hotter and hotter.
An Inconvenient Truth documentary says a lot about how greenhouse
gases affect our environment. Greenhouse Gas is a gas in the atmosphere
that absorbs and emits radiation within the infrared range (Wikipedia).
Basically, the sun gives heat to the earth in order for the earth and other
living things to survive. Heat goes to the earth and the earth receives the
heat and after these it goes back out of the atmosphere. So, greenhouse
gases help trap heat inside the atmosphere to help the earth to survive. But
too much greenhouse gas can trap more heat than what we need inside our
atmosphere. Heat is important for our system to function. But too much
heat is not good.
This documentary also states that Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is the cause
of this rapid acceleration of Global Warming. And humans, due to
industrialization, emit more CO2 that it is not proportional to the amount
carbon dioxide able to be absorbed. Trees are one of the largest absorbers
of CO2 on land and the other is plankton, which is in the ocean. And
according to An Inconvenient Truth the best way to eliminate this problem is
to lessen CO2 emission, which also means to lessen industrialization. It does
not only affect the environment and it also affects the economy.
Intrigued by this information, I began researching about these things. I
read some articles, books and watched other documentaries, too. There are
a lot of arguments about these topics.
Research says that greenhouse gas is composed of Water Vapour (36-
72%), Carbon Dioxide (9-26%), Methane (4-9%), and Ozone (3-7%)
(Trenberth, 1997). Greenhouse Gas may be composed of CO2 but compared
to water vapour it is really quite small in percentage that it might not be
significant in global warming. In the 1900s, there were allegations, that in
the future there would be an ice age because of the temperature going low.
But they were shocked that in the twentieth century it was the opposite,
instead of the temperature going low it went up high about 0.6C (IPCC,
2001). But this doesnt mean that this sudden increase of temperature is
because of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Wikipedia states, In the earliest part of the Eocene period, a series of
abrupt thermal spikes have been observed, lasting no more than a few
hundred thousand years. During the PETM (Paleocene-Eocene Thermal
Maximum), the global mean temperature seems to have risen by as much
as 5-8C (9-14F) to an average temperature as high as 23C (73F), in
contrast to the global average temperature of today at just under 15C
(60F).
In this record, thousands of years ago, the temperature went really
high compared to today. And that point of time, note that there were still no
industries at all, but, still it went to 15C above what we have now. Professor
Ian Clark in Department of Earth Sciences of University of Ottawa states
that about 2.4 million years ago the temperature rose about 2C and 800
years after that the carbon dioxide followed an increase. He concluded,
CO2 acts as a result of temperature rise.
Climate Change is inevitable. The climate has always been changing
and will always be. We cannot change the climate nor do anything to
change it. Global warming is one of the effects of climate change and it has
nothing to do with the carbon dioxide that human industrialization has
emitted. Dr. Tad Murty, Expert in IPCC Reviewer, in Department of Earth
Sciences of Carleton University urges, Dont fight climate change, Adapt
climate change. The small creatures, that have evolved through time and
survived the changing of climates did not do anything, because, they didnt
have the capacity to do something and even if, they had the capacity, they
still wouldnt be able to do anything about it because it is the nature and it
is inevitable, instead they adapted to the environment and evolved.
Carbon dioxide has nothing to do with global warming, climate change
does. And this is natural and these kind of changes also happened
thousands of years ago. We need to focus on adapting to these changes
and dont need to fight back or find ways to eliminate carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere because we need it and plants need it to survive. Lessening
carbon dioxide is not the answer. All we need is to adapt and find ways how
to survive with these changes. We should be cautious in whatever decision
we make when it comes to our environment. We should make use of our
natural power source (Solar Energy, Hydrothermal Energy, Geothermal
Energy and etc) to lessen carbon dioxide, because, continual emission of
carbon dioxide can lead to various diseases. Industries that emit too much
carbon dioxide (like coal mining and etc.) should be prohibited.
I resolve to preserve Mother Earth. Conserve Energy. Recycle. Stop
Coal Mining.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas
http://www.greenfacts.org/en/climate-change-ar3/index.htm#1
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): "Summary for
Policymakers of the Third Assessment Report"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzfQXd9vhok