Global warming essay

One of the most pressing issues facing the globe now is global warming. Many theories think that in the near future, the effects of climate change will be harmful for humanity. In addition to criticizing global warming, some thinkers believe that the idea of global change is unreal. There won't be such drastic changes to the globe. People who live in less developed nations will be the most impacted if global climatic shifts occur. Children and women in particular will be most at risk because they are unable to protect themselves. The countries should work together to make strategies to prevent the global climatic changes from affecting the world. Climate change is a huge threat to the existence of humanity. People all over the world be equally at the risk of the detrimental effects of climatic changes, be it the privileged ones or the underprivileged ones. However, some of us will be affected more than others. Nations that are still in the developing phases cannot protect their people from the devastating conditions. Their people are affected the most in the case of the climatic hazards. Moreover, women and children will be the ones who will be targeted the most because of their low sustainability towards such extreme conditions.





How should Nations and Individuals Address Climate Change?

The world's most vulnerable people in the poorest nations of the developing world are the hardest hit by climate change. My research outlines a proposal for an international agreement, which provides a mutual solution for the creation of a shield against climate change. The solution can be employed by almost all of the under developed countries. It would promote participation at all levels and encourage those less likely to participate in a treaty to take action. If every nation works together towards their mutual interest of saving the planet from the catastrophic and irreversible damage, the global outcome may prove to be surprisingly positive. The action is necessary, and we all have the responsibility and ability to make a difference.

It is a very common observation that the people living in the poor countries will be the easiest target for the climatic changes, and a plan to tackle the issue must take into account the human impact and the needs of all and not just a privileged few. Deniers have repeatedly stressed on the fact that climate change is not occurring and people are just trying to waste financial resources over the issue, thus, showing how the cost incurred in devising and implementing a solution will be greater than the benefits received.

Regardless of the numerous studies, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has conducted on the issue of climatic change, and how it is aggravating due to human activities, many people are still in the state of denial. The critics are commonly known as the climate change deniers. Instead of stressing on the intensity of climate changes, they are insisting on the fact that nothing is going to change so much that it will lead to problems for humans (Suzuki). The critics tend to divert attention towards other departments like the social media, the community or the policy makers, so that they do not waste time on climate change and instead spend the resources towards other issues that are of more importance to them than climate change. They repeatedly stressing on the fact that global climate change is not taking place at all and people are just exaggerating the phenomenon. Their stance has been accepted by other organizations so readily that they have been able to score massive amounts of funding from well-known coal and oil companies like ExxonMobil (Suzuki).

Similarly, Kuhnian lock-in’s Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) theory has been openly denied by the critics. The AGW theory describes how an increased level of carbon dioxide in the air is caused. It is the result of the usage of fossil fuels, which significantly aids in increasing the global temperatures. Usage of fossil fuels and increased carbon in air ultimately leads to the greenhouse effect and global warming. However, critics fail to acknowledge the backbone of AGW theory because they believe that computer machines that have been providing us with data regarding climate changes have been greatly exaggerated (Brian). They have been predicting extremely high temperatures, which fail to be in sync with the human activities associated with the high temperatures. Thus, proving that the data related to global climate that was produced by computers was excessively flawed. According to them, the corrections are to be made in the data provided to us by the computers. The corrections in the data will automatically lead to decrease in the proposed temperatures. Such allegations have only made their side of argument stronger because people have become more suspicious regarding the issue of global climate.

Even during President Barack Obama's time, he faced a lot of backlash from the Republicans for paying more attention to issues related to global warming than other significant problems that have been circling the U.S. world since a long time. Despite the fact that Obama targeted Florida for making people understand the extent of damage global warming is causing and will continue to get worse in the future, Republicans failed to acknowledge the intensity of the situation, especially the Republican Governor Rick Scott. Rick Scott has been to be such an open denier that he has even forbidden the general public to use the word "climate change." Republicans are promoting such a behavioral pattern, where their supports also refuse to understand the gravity of global warming and its threat to the existence of humanity. Their stance was still against the efforts of Obama. They believe that the president should spend the resources on increasing job opportunities for the people instead of implementing unnecessary programs for global climate changes. According to critics, Obama had begun to use global climate as a shield against dealing with more pressing problems like the economic growth and availability of high-quality jobs, so that he is not targeted for his performance and the U.S. citizens continue to believe that he is working towards the benefit of humanity. All of the programs started by the presidents are in favor of people in the long term. Not only the nation but also the people around the world can be benefitted by the policies.

Similarly, Donald Trump had also criticized Obama for diverting resources towards climatic issues rather than investing them in combating the proponents of ISIS. The majority of the Republicans believed that Obama never wanted to deal with serious issues and spend all the resources on the side projects, like global climate changes. Even the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, Carly Fiorina has criticized Obama's behavior regarding his ranking of more significant problems to address (Mccammon). Furthermore, the critics believe that implementing measures regarding climate changes will only cause things to get worse for the people because the economy is already stalled and things are not going in the right direction, so directing resources and focusing on battling climate change and its unjustified causes is the wrong decision.

Even the president of Maldives, Abdulla Yameen also shifted focus from related environmental situations to tourism and other developments linked to it. He believes that instead of wasting resources in devising measures that will fight in eliminating global warming like solar power and carbon neutrality, they should invest in mass tourism, which will automatically allow people to adapt to the changes induced by global warming. By increasing the interest of people in tourism, they will automatically develop the country in the one that has always thought of. Even though he has not failed to acknowledge the existence of climate change and how it can be detrimental for not Maldives but the whole humanity. He also continues to propose that there are more pressing issues that need to be addressed immediately by the government of Maldives like water and sanitation, waste and coastal protection (Vidal). Dealing with more serious issues will, in turn, generate more emissions, which are going to add up to global warming.

The stance of the critics remains unclear. They do believe that the changes are merely noticeable and will not be harmful to the people. Like the president of Maldives, every other nation needs to take steps to eradicate the harms of global warming from the world. The developing countries, in particular, needs to address the issue, as they will be the ones who will be affected the most. We need to understand that climatic changes are for real and all of us will be affected by it in one way or the other. To understand the situation, the AWG theory should be clear to the people.

We all know that somehow the global climate is getting warmer with the passage of every day. All of the blame cannot be put on the activities of human, only. There exist some other factors that are natural and are responsible for the climatic changes as much as the human activities. (Guggenmoos) According to Guggenmoos, it is tough to believe that the human activities cause all of the changes. She still believes that the basis of AWC theory does not significantly describe the causes and effect of global climate changes. We can rely on her opinion as for the data she has been referring to, to calculate the effect of human on climatic changes in unknown. While trying to understand the reasons behind global warming as well its origins, Guggenmoos came across a surprising observation that UN's Intercontinental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) gave a little preference to those reasons that are not related human activities. But only focus on targeting the anthropogenic causes of the increase unfavorable climate conditions (Guggenmoos). Since they have not been able to incorporate all the factors that trigger and exacerbate global warming, then their results are flawed and statistically insignificant, especially when it comes to blaming human activities and their impact on the frequency of greenhouse gases in the environment. One of the major other reasons that IPCC has failed to include is the impact clouds have on temperatures. Increased amounts of temperatures give rise to more clouds. Moreover, whenever an area experiences volcanic eruptions, they refuse to monitor what would be the eruption's impact on the greenhouse gases as well as the temperature of the whole world. They have also not acknowledged the fact that historical climate changes and the climate changes that have been observed because of the presence of greenhouse gases are all the same, which once again makes one question the increased concern that has been brought towards the issue. The idea itself contradicts the basis of the greenhouse effect. We need to understand that one of the most crucial causes of the climatic changes is the presence of increased amounts of carbon dioxide in the air. We need to control the level to deal with the havoc.

Similarly, Michael Mann’s hockey stick theory has also not proven to be scientifically authentic (Guggenmoos). The data that is used in the theory has been collected through dendroclimatology, which involves the recreation of previous climate changes derived from tree ring data figures. Now to understand the basic behind the data collection, critics have explained the issue on numerous occasions. It is evident to everyone that the increased numbers of tree rings are caused by the lack of moisture content in the soil, which ultimately leads to deforestation. Since Mickey Mann has not acknowledged the process, that allows the climate change deniers to question the authenticity of their results and allegations. Deforestation is one of the causes of increased carbon dioxide level in the air. Countries should take their steps forward to decrease the deforestation and increase plantation in the countries. These little steps can also be taken at individual levels and are proved to decrease the level of carbon dioxide in the air which ultimately controls the greenhouse effect.

The Texas Republican Ted Cruz has also been widely recognized as a person who is against the concept of global warming since the day it all has started. (Diaz). He goes on to propose that the basics of AGW Theory are flawed because they have not been taking in the record the changes in global temperatures that have been occurring in the last fifteen years. He continued to insist that during Obama's presidency, excessive funds were diverted towards climate changes instead of being invested in space exploration activities conducted by NASA. Throughout the passage of time, Cruz has been noticed to be an opener denier of climate change and sides with polluters. So, all of these theorists insist that there is no thing as climate change.

The fundamental principles of the AGW theory have been denied because they have not employed factual data and only blame human activities for the high temperatures (Guggenmoos). Similar criticism is put on the concept of the global warming yet we need to devise some strategies that can deal with the proposed havoc of global warming and increased temperatures in the world.

Despite the criticism that climate change has been facing over the years by the climate change deniers, there is still a huge number of people who have been in favor of devising new and improved strategies that would allow them to battle global warming and can make things easier for the future generations. Hence, the section aims at describing the point of view of the supporters of climate change in detail.

The momentous Paris Agreement on climate change has stirred up a lot of attention lately and has managed to keep President Trump to be a part of the Agreement (Worland). Despite Donald Trump's attempts at refusing to understand the threat climate changes pose, he had to remain a part of the agreement because he as well as the other U.S. the agreement however now has ended. Officials have realized that to keep their coal interests intact they need to divert resources towards generating a cleaner and healthier source of energy, by doing so the country will be able to rescue the coal industry. Through these efforts, they have been able to devise methods for the generation of clean fuels. By doing so, the country can generate the fuel resource that would not be releasing increased amount of carbon dioxide in the air and thus decrease temperatures. As it has repeatedly been mentioned by the supporter of climate change, usage of fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas have been proved to be detrimental towards the environment and have significantly contributed towards exacerbating climate change as well increasing the proportions of greenhouse gases in the environment. The world is still dealing with the harmful impact of the British Petroleum Deep Water Horizon spill that occurred in 2010, which caused widespread damage in the Gulf of Mexico. Moreover, increased levels of temperatures, sea levels, and unfavorable weather changes have significantly aggravated the global climatic status. The existence of widespread hurricanes, floods, hot spells, droughts and other climatic calamities has awakened a lot of people because the damage caused by them has posed a huge threat to the security of humanity as well. Recently the figures of hurricanes, floods, and hot spells have increased, thus showing that the situation is getting much worse.

Hence, it is quite evident that joint support from both developed as well as developing countries are required to combat the dangers imposed by climate change. Following the Paris talks, world leaders and other influential personalities have been meeting on numerous occasions to devise an effective measure that would reduce the existence of greenhouse gases in the environment, which ultimately lead to increased temperatures. Head of the UN's climate change convention body, Christiana Figueres is well aware of the fact how the developing countries are most affected by climate changes and require more attention as compared to the developing countries (Association). So, she has been continuously motivating officials as well as businesses to direct their attention towards developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where women and children may suffer due to the proposed threats of global warming and other climatic changes.

The idea mentioned in above openly supported my stance on the issue of climate change because it states that the head of the UN's climate change body is well aware of the fact that global warming is getting worse each minute and human activities are significantly contributing towards those devastating trends. Hence, head of UN climatic committee, actively diverts resources first towards the developing countries, because she understands that the disadvantaged people were living over there, mostly women and children will be affected by the climate changes and may require support to bear with such life-threatening conditions.

Industrial areas in developed and under developed countries that have caused most of the damage to the ozone layer, thus, leading to worsening trends of climate changes, and still, they remain so immune to it because the poorer nations are absorbing all of the detrimental effects. The policies in the under developed countries are not reliable to deal with the waste gases while in the developed countries, waste material is so much that it cannot be degraded efficiently. Many of the reports also revealed that majority of the nations who are responsible for emitting increased levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are immune to the climate changes occurred, while as much as two-thirds of the developing countries who are least involved in contributing to global warming are severely affected by it. Furthermore, studies keep on highlighting that the free rider countries who are the most engaged in increasing the number of emissions in the environment are also not safe from the life-threatening conditions that might prevail in the world (Worland). However, on the other hand, the nations that were titled as forced riders were small island countries like Kiribati. Conditions have been so unfavorable for them that researchers have predicted that there is a high possibility that Kiribati will be wiped off due the increasing possibility of rising sea levels, which is once again caused by climate changes. Since Kiribati is a small island country, so it is quite obvious that its inhabitants would not be that financially stable and are not aiding in contributing to the emissions of greenhouse gases, but are still bearing the cost. Such unfair behavior is entirely unjustified because these poor people already living in inhuman conditions. If global warming starts affecting the souls, their lives would be at stake.

Hence, policymakers have been actively involved in devising new strategies that would allow them to deal with not just climate change, but also simultaneously enabling them to quantify equality as well. Keeping the unjust treatment towards poorer nations in mind, policymakers have come up with the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities." The principle allows them to put most of the weight of fighting and devising effective strategies on the richer and greenhouse gases emitting countries like the United States so that they are aware of their actions as well. It was the mentioned principle that gave birth to the previously mentioned Paris Agreement. Similarly, another initiative is known as loss and damage also targets developed nations who are more responsible for the emissions to incur the cost of the detrimental effects caused by the developing countries (Worland). The Worland source entirely justifies my argument through the provision of studies and universal initiatives that agree on the fact that it is the developed nations who are causing most of the harm and the developing countries are absorbing all of these detrimental effects because of their inability to shield themselves against climate change.

The argument also sheds light on the fact that due to unfavorable climate conditions, the first thing is affected the economy, especially in the poorer countries. Since the rural people belonging to developing countries run their livelihood based on menial jobs, their activity is interrupted by weather conditions like floods, droughts, and hurricanes. Agricultural activities are affected the most, which has also been highlighted by the World Bank (Bullard). Being highly sensitive to climatic changes, agricultural activities have been a crucial part of poor people in the developed countries. Women and children are dependent on Men. If the men are not able to earn enough from farming, then they cannot feed their families. The inability of earning food because of the climatic changes is itself a threat to the lives of people. Moreover, when climatic calamities hamper agricultural activities, the food prices are bound to rise and due to the lack of finances; the poor people are obliged to be affected the most. Conditions are devastating to the extent a study shows that the number of impoverished people has been predicted to increase from 702 million to around 900 million by 2030. The figures excluded the impact of climate changes (Bullard). So, one can just imagine how worse things are going to get in the future. Since people are not already capable of affording food, then how does one expect them to provide healthcare for themselves as well as their families. The major threat that can be for a poor person is their health and food. Climatic changes props threats for both health and food for poor people. Developing countries need to have efficient strategies t o cope up with the future situation more than developed countries.

After getting a detailed understanding of both sides of the argument, it would be inappropriate to deny the existence of climate change and how will be affecting the poorer nations shortly. Since the wealthier countries are more financially stable, they have developed an indifferent attitude towards the topic and refuse to acknowledge it, because somehow, they are still leading their lives, while emitting increased amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. On the other hand, poorer nations, who are not even on the emitting side, will be incurring most of the cost and damage of dealing with losses. With all the proposed theories and data, we can predict that if the changes occur as proposed by the theorists, the changes will be sure life threatening for the developing countries. Many of the people will be risking their lives at the hand of severe climatic changes. Due to their lack of ability to safeguard themselves against adverse conditions, they will be affected the most.

In conclusion, we can say that the world needs to develop effective strategies that can deal with the proposed that the climatic changes that may hit the world in the near future. Developed countries need to look upon the under developed countries because they might need help with the development of such systems and strategies. It has been proposed that the emissions of CO2 and similar toxic gases should be controlled. Plantation should be increased, and deforestation should be avoided. People should start taking small steps at the individual level to stop the effects of global warming right away. If everyone put their part in the struggle, the world will surely be safe from the threats of global warming and similar climatic conditions in the future.

Annotated Bibliography

Association, Press. Universal support needed to tackle global warming, UN climate chief says. 28 June 2016. 9 August 2017. .

This article describes the insistence of the head of the UN’s climate change convention body, Christiana Figueres to gather all the nations and make them realize the detrimental impact of climate changes and how the poorer nations are getting affected by them the most. Moreover, she keeps on stressing that leaders and businesses from the wealthier countries need to invest in devising strategies to safeguard themselves as well as developing countries against the harm caused by climate changes. This is why she has made sure that businesses have become a part of the Paris Agreement as well so that they are sharing the burden in reducing harmful emissions in the atmosphere.

Brian J. L. Berry, Jayshree Bihari, and Euel Elliott. "The Limits of Knowledge and the Climate Change Debate." CATO Journal 36.3 (2016): 589-610.

This article goes on to question the fundamentals of the origins of climate changes and theories that have denied by the climate change deniers. They went on to question the Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) theory and the hockey stick theory who only take in account the human reasons that are causing the climatic changes. And fail to admit that even the environment is causing these adverse conditions, for example, eruptions of a volcano and the impact they have on increasing the temperatures. Similarly, the effect of clouds on the increasing temperatures is not incorporated as well. Hence, it goes to provide the perspective of the climate change deniers.

Bullard, Gabe. See What Climate Change Means for the World’s Poor. 1 December 2015. 9 August 2017. .

This article takes the example of India to help the readers understand the extent to which poverty gap and worsening climatic conditions are making the situation worse for the poorer nations. Backed up by statistical figures, this article goes on to show the detrimental effects of climate changes on the economic stability as well as the health care of poor people, especially women and children. Hampering of agricultural activities, which is the only mode of earning for the poor people along with the persistence of life-threatening diseases like diarrhea have increased the burden on poor people. Moreover, it stresses on wealthier nations to take responsibility for their actions and devise more effective strategies to fight global warming.

Diaz, Kevin. Cruz critics wary of his gavel on NASA and climate change panel. 12 January 2015. 8 August 2017. .

Another critic of climate change, Texas Republican Ted Cruz's stance on climate changes have been described in this article. It continues to highlight how he has been a public denier of climate changes and is distressed over the fact that resources have been diverted towards battling the effects of climate changes, instead of focusing on space exploration missions conducted by NASA. Moreover, his skepticism regarding global warming is based on the unauthentic data and does not even take in account the global temperatures that have been recorded in the last fifteen years. Along with this, he also does not agree with Obama's policies regarding climate changes and preferred if they have directed towards a more critical issue.

Guggenmoos, Sig. Critique of Climate Change Science. 12 January 2015. 9 August 2017. .

A researcher named, Sig Guggenmoos has also refused to accept to accept the fundamental principles of the AGW theory, mainly on the basis that she has not come across any convincing data yet, hence, blaming human activities for the high temperatures is not justified in her sight.While trying to understand the reasons behind global warming as well its origins, she came across a surprising observation which was that UN's Intercontinental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) gave the little preference to those reasons that are not related human activities.

Mccammon, Sarah. Republican Candidates Slam Obama's Focus On Climate Change. 1 December 2015. 9 August 2017. .

This article once again highlights the side of the climate change critics and shows how President Donald trump has criticized Obama's administration for focusing too much on climate changes, which also shows what his currents stance would be on the impact of climate changes. Along with him, other influential leaders have also stressed on the fact that instead of diverting funds towards climate changes, Obama should have invested them in combating the threats posed by ISIS as well as the social rift that existed among the citizens of the United States due to racial differences. Moreover, climate changes should have been replaced by national debt.

Suzuki, David. Climate Change. n.d. 8 August 2017. .

This article states that despite the efforts conducted by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the issue of climatic change and how it is aggravating due to human activities, critics still deny the gravity of the situation. These critics are commonly known as the climate change deniers. Instead of stressing on the intensity of climate changes and how human activities are making things worse, they tend to divert attention towards other departments like the social media, the community or the policy makers. So that they do not waste time on climate change and instead diverse resources towards other issues that are of more importance to them than climate change. They repeatedly stress on the fact that global climate is not taking place at all and people are just exaggerating this phenomenon. Well-known companies like ExxonMobil are also climate change deniers.

Vidal, John. 'We need development': Maldives switches focus from climate threat to mass tourism. 3 March 2017. 8 August 2017. .

This article shows the political mindset of Maldives’s president, Abdulla Yameenand how he also lays more weight age on improving the economy through tourism activities and other developments rather than diverting financial resources towards combating climate changes. He believes that instead of wasting resources in devising measures that will fight in eliminating global warming like solar power and carbon neutrality, they should invest in mass tourism, which will automatically allow people to adapt to the changes induced by global warming. This way they will have greater hope for future than they had before.

Worland, Justin. How Climate Change Unfairly Burdens Poorer Countries. 5 February 2016. 9 August 2017. .

This article shows how developing nations are sharing most of the burden without even contributing towards emitting those harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Incorporating numerous studies has further supported their argument. Furthermore, studies keep on highlighting that the free rider countries who are more engaged in increasing the number of emissions in the environment, while being indifferent to the impact of their action are the United States, Europe, and Australia. However, on the other hand, the countries that were titled as forced riders were small island countries like Kiribati. Since Kiribati is a small island country, so it is quite obvious that its inhabitants would not be that financially stable and are not aiding in contributing to the emissions of greenhouse gases, but are still bearing the cost. Such unfair behavior is entirely unjustified because these poor people already do not have anything and now their lives are also in danger.

Worland, Justin. The Paris Agreement on Climate Change Has Surprising New Supporters. 10 April 2017. 9 August 2017. .

This article highlights the initiation of the momentous Paris Agreement and how it has managed to keep President Trump to be a part of the Agreement. Despite Donald Trump's attempts at refusing to understand the threat climate changes pose, he had to remain a part of the agreement because he as well as the other U.S. officials have realized that to keep their coal interests intact they need to ...