ince the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the mid-1700s, the amount of methane in the atmosphere has more than doubled. (Encarta Global warming) All of these factors are producing green house gasses and a damaging effect called global warming. Throughout time our Earths climate has changed many times. Right now we are headed for a global warming at an unprecedented rate. The effects on the earth could be disastrous for mankind. At worst our air could be absolutely toxic to breathe, not to mention how devastating the rise in water levels could be from the melting of the polar ice caps. Our world as we know it could be demolished by this fairly new recognized phenomenon. The weather to say the least would be catastrophically different. We have already seen some of the effects. Global mean surface temperatures have increased 0.5-1.0F since the late 19th century. The 20th century's 10 warmest years all occurred in the last 15 years of the century. Of these, 1998 was the warmest year on record. Globally, sea level has risen 4-8 inches over the past century. Worldwide precipitation over land has increased by about one percent. (EPA Global Warming) So the fact that something is happening to our planet is rather indisputable. According to Dr. Robert C. Balling, Arizona State University, by most accounts, man-made emissions have had no more than a minuscule impact on the climate. Although the climate has warmed slightly in the last 100 years, 70% percent of that warming occurred prior to 1940, before the upsurge in greenhouse gas emissions from industrial processes. If this is true then are we as humans really at fault for the Earths climate change? (Global Warming In Brief) Even more shocking is that a Gallup survey indicated that only 17% of the members of the American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Society thought the warming of the 20th century was the result of an increase in greenhouse gas emissions. (Global...
