Todays Society-We as humans play a huge role in global warming. When looking at the movie "An Inconvenient Truth", Al Gore explains how the increased amount of Carbon Dioxide that we as humans are emitting into the atmosphere is causing the temperature to rise. When looking at the graph in his movie; relating CO2 emissions with temperatures rising; you can see that they go hand in hand. .

In the graph above, the red graph represent carbon dioxide levels while the blue graph represents temperature. Every time CO2 levels reach their peak, the temperature drops and an ice age occurs. When looking at these graphs you could predict an ice age could occur in the near future. One thing that really jumps out at everybody is how high the CO2 emissions have gotten. They have never been this high, so scientists do not know what effect this is going to have on our planet. The rise in temperature is killing our earth and changing the climates. With the rise in temperature comes the melting of ice caps. This will cause an increase in water levels. With the increase in water level it could cause the sea level to rise a remarkable twenty feet. Think about that, twenty feet of water. Do you know how many islands and areas along the coast that will flood? With todays over populated world, where will those people go? This would cause a crisis in today's society; one that we are not ready for.

    Global Warming also causes extreme weather; the increased amount of burning fossil fuels in today's world causes these CO2 emissions to get caught in our atmosphere. This causes heat to get trapped and the temperature to rise on our planet. This increase in temperature throws our natural weather patterns out of whack. This disturbance has caused hurricanes of category four or five to double since 1979. It has also caused an increase in new viruses and bacteria. If you think about it, viruses and bacteria thrive in warm environments, so the increase of our planets temperature will only help these viruses survive. This will cause different viruses’ occurring in different environments, and will expose people and animals to viruses their bodies are not immune to.

Human Impact-What do we do as humans do to cause global warming? One thing that most people do not realize is how deforestation effects global warming. From the article "Saving the Forest for the Trees", it says, "between 20 and 25 percent of all CO2 emissions come directly from tropical deforestation" (Tangley 2008/2009). When thinking about it; that is a huge chunk of CO2 emissions that could be eliminated. Scientists also say that this 20-25 percent is "more than the entire global transportation sector" (Tangley 2008/2009). Other ways people emit carbon dioxide into our atmosphere is by using fossil fuels, or using machines that rely on fossil fuels to run. For example one way to limit the amount of CO2 we release in the atmosphere would be to get a gas friendly car, so instead of buying that Hummer you always wanted you could go out and buy the Honda Civic Hybrid that gets about 50 miles to the gallon. Some ways to limit the amount of emissions you cause could be by car pooling, use public transportation or riding a bike. The problem with today's society is that most people don't realize what they are doing to the environment. They don't see the reason why they should car pool or buy a gas friendly vehicle, so they don't change. While others know the terrible effects they cause on the environment, but they think with the mentality that out of the six billion people in this world, what harm will it cause if one more person doesn't think green.

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