Posted: June 27th, 2015

Global Warming

Global Warming

Introduction

The causes of the recent climatic changes are a hot topic that has elicited heated debates across the world. Environmental scientists have over the years been heavily involved in the research about the changes in climate conditions and the effects to the environment. There has been a common consensus that climate change has a role in the recent weather extremes being witnessed across the world (Gillis, para. 2). Gillis discussed the differences in opinions and research findings to exactly what causes climate changes. In his article, Gillis reveals that environmental scientists do not fully agree on whether the human activities today or natural environment variations can be blamed for climate change (Gillis, para. 9 and 20).

Global warming

Since early 1980s, the world has witnessed increased human activities that have had a drastic impact on the climate. Increased greenhouse gases emission from burning of fossil fuel in the recent years has heavily been a subject in scientific researches on environment. Scientists have believed that the continued human activities and industrial processes have had profound effects on weather extremes, like heavy rains and snowstorms (Gillis, para. 9).

According to recent scientific papers and reports, the percentage of earth temperature stood at less than 1 over the past century. Gillis observes that the earth’s land surface continues to gain extreme heat, which is thought to be as much as 13 percent in recent years (para. 1). The Texas heat wave in 2011, the Russian heat wave of 2010 and the European heat wave of 2003 are some of the recent weather extreme that attracted studies to ascertain their exact causes (Gillis, para. 2).

Gillis looks at James E. Hansen’s scientific paper that focused on the causes of climate change. He found out that the scientist, together with his colleagues. He attributes the climate changes to global warming. In the paper, the scientists have found out that, during the summer periods of 1951 and 1980, only 0.2 per cent of land surface was subjected to extreme heat. On the other hand, the period between 2006 and 2011 witnessed extreme heat over the earth’s surface ranging from 4 to 13 per cent. The scientists concluded that global warming has soured climate changes in the recent times (Gillis, para. 12).

The report has attracted mixed responses from various environment scientists who sharply differ with James E. Hansen (Gillis, para. 5 and 6). Some scientists argue that Hansen’s findings are not backed by persuasive evidence. Also, the findings were based on solid ground of greater overall likelihood that global warming may cause heat waves (Gillis, para. 18). In addition, the findings of Hansen are debatable. This is particularly so through research suggestions by Dr. Hoerling that noted that natural climate variability and largely contributed to Russian heat wave and Texas draught (Gillis, para. 20).

Conclusion

The effect of global warming on climate changes has been a contested issue by the environmental specialists. The various research findings carried out by the scientists continue to attach increased human activities as significantly impacting on the climate. Today, researchers continue to struggle in finding the answer to the question of whether climate changes are human-induced or natural. Regardless of disagreements to what exactly is causing this global climatic changes, there is a common consensus that the earth is continuously being covered with anomalous warm events.

Works Cited

Gillis, Justin. Study Finds More of Earth Is Hotter and Says Global Warming Is at Work. August 6, 2012. Web. 08 August 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/07/science/earth/extreme-heat-is-covering-more-of-the-earth-a-study-says.html?ref=earth

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