What is global warming and is it really a concern?

What is global warming and is it really a concern?

The climate change summary report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes that the earth is unequivocally warming. Yes, global warming is happening as you read these words. In a sobering indictment, research authors from 40 countries have determined that human influences are responsible for a disruption of climate stability, such as warmer oceans, greater temperature extremes and altered wind patterns. The accompanying disorder in weather patterns can be attributed to climactic sensitivity to carbon dioxide concentrations, the chief greenhouse gas emission. In a nutshell, the planet-wide temperature increase points to greenhouse gas emissions directly stemming from human activity.

What’s exactly going on with global warming?

Scientists acknowledge that naturally occurring periods of global warming have occurred for millennia. Yet the alarming situation at this point is the rate at which the carbon dioxide concentrations are growing, plus the rapidness of the temperature increase—with no abatement in sight. Indeed, carbon dioxide concentrations are on the verge of doubling from pre-industrial levels. And unless dramatic changes are made, scientists warn that the temperature of the planet will continue to spiral upwards.

When you stop to think about it, it’s pretty obvious: the atmosphere was never intended to absorb extraneous amounts of carbon dioxide emissions. Nature intended for free carbon dioxide to be absorbed by trees, plant matter and crops—eventually being deposited into the soil or ground as the plants die and decay. Our modern industrialized culture has thwarted that process—even reversed it—by pulling million year old carbon deposits out of the earth (petroleum), and then burning them and releasing the free carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere.