Human Impacts: The Human Causes Of Global Warming

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Human activity is proven to have a direct link to global warming through studies on greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. While there multiple human causes of global warming, the most prevalent human cause is the excess release of greenhouse gases. According to the article “Global Warming”, there has been a large increase of the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in the last 60 years. From 1958 to 2017, the concentration of carbon dioxide has increased nearly 100 parts per million. In addition, the concentration of other gases, such as methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorocarbons, have also increased. Meanwhile, in that same amount of time, the global temperature has increased nearly two degrees fahrenheit. (Global Warming 1). A greenhouse…show more content…
Due to warmer water temperatures, the past three years have been extremely destructive to coral reefs, especially to the Great Barrier Reef near Australia. They described that more than 90 percent of the reef had shown signs of bleaching, with half of the reef facing severe effects from bleaching (Heron & Eakin 2). Coral bleaching is a recent phenomenon in which coral loses algae that helps it survive due to increasing water temperatures. Coral bleaching would not have happened if the water temperatures had not drastically increased. If the bleaching is severe enough, coral would die as a result. This would be highly destructive to an ecosystem, as other animals who use coral to benefit themselves will no longer have the opportunity to do so. Another ecosystem that would be destroyed due to global warming is the arctic. The Arctic is warming drastically, as ice is melting and the treeline continues to grow further north than in the past. “Most vegetation, most notably the trees near the arctic tree line, have been able to grow upwards of 50 miles north, and 400 feet in elevation above of where they were able to grow about a century ago” (Parmesan 2). With warming temperatures and changing vegetation in the arctic, species native to the region will most likely die off due to not being able to adapt to the new environment. However, this is not the only negative to the changing environment in the arctic. As the arctic continues to warm up, arctic ice will melt and cause the ocean levels to rise, leaving some coastal areas underwater. It could potentially displace millions of people within the century. Additionally, as previously stated, warmer ocean waters will cause stronger weather events to occur, which will cause more lives to be negatively affected by global warming. Humans are allowing temperatures to increase, as little to no

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