Industrial Emissions Of Carbon Dioxide example essay topic

GLOBAL WARMING IN NORTH AMERICA The vast North American continent ranges from the lush sub-tropical climate of Florida to the frozen ice and tundra of the Arctic. Within these extremes are two wealthy industrialized countries with diverse ecosystems at risk. Yet the United States and Canada are two of the largest global emitters of the greenhouse gases that contribute to a warming climate. Examples of all 10 of the "hotspot" categories can be found in this region, including changes such as polar warming in Alaska, coral reef bleaching in Florida, animal range shifts in California, glaciers melting in Montana, and marsh loss in the Chesapeake Bay. For North America we have many more hotspots than for some other regions of the world, although impact studies have been emerging in larger numbers in recent years from previously under-studied regions. This higher density of early warning signs in the US and Canada is due in part to the fact that these regions have more readily accessible climatic data and more comprehensive programs to monitor and study environmental change, in part to the disproportionate warming that has been observed over the mid-to-high-latitude continents compared to other regions during the last century, and in part to capture the attention of North Americans who need to take action now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

EVIDENCE Scientist by far and large accept that Earth's climate is changing because of the amount of so-called greenhouse gases humans are pouring into the atmosphere. Most of those gases come from fossil fuels, particularly carbon dioxide, or CO 2. And much of the scientific community thinks these gases are causing unnatural climatic warming that could have unimaginable effects on life. The consensus agrees that Earth has warmed by 1 degree Fahrenheit over the last century. That doesn't sound like much, but consider that during the last ice age Earth was just 5 to 9 degrees cooler. And what may be most dramatic in the short run is the idea that changes in climate may also be leading to more severe weather.

THEORY, FACT AND EVIDENCE In July 1997, President Bill Clinton launched a global warming awareness campaign, with headlines quoting him as saying it's "no longer a theory, but now a fact". But his full sentence reveals an important caveat: "The overwhelming balance of evidence and scientific opinion is that it is no longer a theory but now a fact that global warming is real". The key words are "overwhelming balance of evidence and scientific opinion". They summarize the issue on several levels.

1) Evidence. While evidence exists, there is no direct and definitive proof that global warming is a serious, long-term threat, or that people are a significant factor. 2) Balance. While the evidence suggests a problem, it also means that some scientists disagree. Calling themselves "contrarians", a smaller but quite vocal number of scientists have publicly taken that line, some claiming global temperatures have not been rising, others seeing a rise that is within natural variations.

The Marshall Institute, a leading group that questions "global warming", has proposed a 10-year delay on emission limits in order to gather more data. That delay, the Washington-based group estimates, would at most raise global temperatures by 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit. 3) Overwhelming. Though loud, the contrarians are outnumbered by those scientists who see a danger.

Some 2,000 scientists, experts and government officials prepared and signed off on the broadest international consensus ever on the issue: a 1995 report by what's known as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC. Based on 133 scientific publications, the report delivered a widely quoted conclusion: "The balance of evidence suggests that there is a discernible human influence on global climate". GREENHOUSE GASES Total emissions of carbon dioxide in the United States and its territories were 5,870.2 million metric tons in 2003, 45.5 million metric tons (0.8 percent) more than the 2002 total. The increase in emissions from 2002 to 2003 can be attributed in large part to an increase in overall U.S. economic growth in 2003, and colder winter weather that increased the demand for heating fuels.

The increase in emissions from 2002 to 2003 followed the same percentage increase of 0.8 percent, or 47.8 million metric tons, from 2001 to 2002. Since 1990, total U.S. carbon dioxide emissions have increased by an average of about 1.3 percent per year. In the United States, most carbon dioxide (98 percent) is emitted as the result of the combustion of fossil fuels; consequently, carbon dioxide emissions and energy use are highly correlated. Historically, economic growth, the weather, the carbon and energy intensity of the economy, and movements in energy prices have caused year-to-year fluctuations in energy consumption and resulting carbon dioxide emissions.

In addition, there was a colder winter in 2003 than in 2002, with heating degree-days up 4 percent. The colder winter led to increased demand for heating fuels, such as natural gas and distillate fuel. The increased demand for natural gas as a heating fuel can be seen in the residential and commercial sectors, where energy consumption is dominated by electricity use for air conditioning during the summer and fuel use for heating during the winter. In the residential sector, emissions of carbon dioxide increased by 1.7 percent, from 1,193.9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2002 to 1,214.8 million metric tons in 2003. In the commercial sector, carbon dioxide emissions increased by 0.6 percent (from 1,019.8 million metric tons in 2002 to 1,025.7 million metric tons in 2003).

Industrial production rose by 0.2 percent in 2003, although industrial emissions of carbon dioxide fell by 0.3 percent, from 1,671.5 million metric tons in 2002 to 1,666.2 million metric tons in 2003. Trends in industrial emissions are driven in part by growth patterns in the six most energy-intensive manufacturing industries, which account for about two-thirds of total industrial emissions of carbon dioxide. In 2003, three of those manufacturing industries (primary metals, food, and chemicals) had declines in output compared with 2002 (2.3 percent, 3.6 percent, and 1.5 percent, respectively). Output from the three other energy-intensive industries increased: paper by 5.1 percent, nonmetallic minerals by 0.9 percent, and petroleum refining by 1.5 percent. Estimates for 2003 indicate that carbon dioxide emissions in the transportation sector (Table 10) increased by 0.5 percent, from 1,866.0 million metric tons in 2002 to 1,874.7 million metric tons in 2003.

Bibliography

Sea level rise do to global warming picture- web Carbon Dioxide Chart- web Greenhouse Gases Diagram- web Polar Icecap Picture- web.