It’s time to get real about global warming

By JUSTIN WISINSKI

The Mirror reporter

Global warming is a topic many people put to the side or deny it is happening to our planet. But the horrible truth is that global warming is real and is one of the biggest problems we face today.

Global warming is caused by the emission of greenhouse gases by humans at a rapid rate. There are several greenhouse gases with each having different heat trapping abilities.

Most of our greenhouse gas emissions are from the combustion or burning of fossil fuels in cars, factories, and energy production. Other contributors are the production of methane through landfills and agriculture, nitrous oxide in fertilizers, other gases from industrial processes and deforestation.

“The Earth’s climate has changed throughout history. In the last 650,000 years there have been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat, with the abrupt end of the last ice age about 7,000 years ago marking the beginning of the modern climate era and human civilization. Most of these climate changes are attributed to very small variations in Earth’s orbit that change the amount of solar energy our planet receives,” NASA reported.

For centuries, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have never exceeded 300 parts per million. From 1950 to today our carbon dioxide levels have overcome that level with a dramatic increase from 300 parts per million to 400 parts per million. This evidence provided from atmospheric samples contained in ice cores proves atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have increased dramatically since the Industrial Revolution.

Today we are at a crisis point in climate change and our planet has been showing us that for the past two decades.

Our planet’s surface temperatures have been increasing after two decades from carbon pollution and deforestation. Scientists are recording record breaking hot months and years. 2015 is on record the hottest year but 2016 is shaping up to be even hotter. “As a whole Earth’s climate system is accumulating as astonishing four Hiroshima bomb detonations worth of heat every second,” Hunter Cutting, Director of Strategic Communications from Climate, Nexus said.

The Artic Sea has decreased dramatically in the last three decades. Artic ice measured in September was 8.5 million square kilometers and is now below 5 million square kilometers. 400 billion tons of glacier has been loss per year since 1994. 287 billion metric tons of ice is loss per year in Greenland and Iceland. 134 billion metric tons of ice is loss per year in the Antarctica.

Climate change is not a loss; we can solve this problem with many solutions but these solutions will need the cooperation and help of the governments and businesses. New research shows that we can meet our energy needs through 100 percent clean renewable sources, we just need to work for it.