Global Warming

            As of right now, emissions from human activities have .
             altered the earths chemistry, have resulted in climate change due to the greenhouse .
             effect, increased exposure to ultraviolet rays due to ozone depletion, and acid rain .
             precipitation. Political leaders around the world have taken up research and development .
             in the case for earth preservation and have had some conflicting views as how to go about .
             solving the problem. At the front of the debate for earth preservation is the concept of .
             global warming. Despite mounting evidence that supports the increase in global .
             temperature, there are also equal amounts of evidence that suggests the opposite.
             Carbon dioxide, which is emitted largely by combustion of fossil fuels, is the .
             most influential human-made greenhouse gas. As the atmosphere becomes richer in these .
             gases, it becomes a better insulator, retaining more of the heat provided to the planet by .
             the Sun. If emissions of carbon dioxide were halted today, it would take more than a .
             century for the atmospheric level of carbon dioxide to approach its pre-industrial level. .
             Human induced warming is more rapid than what occurs naturally. This in turn would .
             cause many plant and animals to have difficult adjusting to the change. It also affects the .
             rise and fall of the ocean sea-levels (glacial melt) and could affect low-lying countries .
             with flooding.
             In 1997,160 nations reached an agreement concerning the use of fossil fuels and .
             the emission of CO into the earths atmosphere. Called the Kyoto Protocol, it required 39 .
             industrial nations to limit their annual emissions to an average of 7 percentage points over .
             the course of four years. Many of these nations were influenced by large businesses .
             and corporations that opposed the treaty. They hired their own scientists who found .
             evidence that there was no need to limit emissions. Deep emission reductions, according .
             to them, would lower energy usage by 25 to 35 percent and that the economic costs .