Global Warming - Its Implications on the Human Population.
Though there is some scepticism that climate change is a result of human actions, it is unlikely to be a natural event. Some dismiss the phenomenon known as "global warming" as a hoax, and claim that yuppies driving SUVs could not possibly change the overall temperature of the earth. In a sense, this misguided notion is true- but climate change is much more than "yuppies driving SUVs." It is industry freely burning fossil fuels to make a profit, and about the fact that every person on the earth requires energy, a clean source for which does not yet exist, or has not been implemented because of the tight grip governments and corporations hold on their stake in energy (fossil fuels), on which they know every person is dependant. .
Nine of the eleven hottest years in the 20th century have occurred since 1985, which is not consistent with a natural trend [Haines et al., 1998]. Glacier shrinkage is occurring at a much faster rate than can be explained by natural trends [Oerlermans, 1994]. Even when the heat effects of volcanoes and other misleading weather phenomena that would make the temperature of the earth seem higher than it actually is are taken out of consideration, studies show that the surface temperature of the earth has been increasing at a rate of 0.17 degrees Celsius per decade [Haines et al., 1998]. These figures are not consistent with a natural trend, and, when one considers the tens of thousands of years in which humans have inhabited the earth, and that humans have really only started burning fossil fuels heavily since the industrial revolution, and the fact that the world's population is only going to increase, this number is dauntingly enormous. .
Increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may alter the surface temperature through the "greenhouse" effect, which is capable of changing the ground terrain, from melting glaciers to expanding tropics and savannahs toward higher latitudes.
