Kendra Janorschke
Biology 101
Essay 1
Global Warming: Fostered by Humanity or a Natural Cycle
Global sea levels have risen about 8 inches in the last century. This rate has nearly double in the last two decades and is slightly accelerating every year. Since the 1950s, human emissions and activities have caused about 100% of global warming affects. It is no surprise that an increase in human population and our needs have had an effect on the environment and global warming, but is it that extreme? A couple of the culprits contributing to the warming affect are burning fossil fuels, deforestation, industrial farming, and vehicle use. As population rises, so does our demand for vehicles. These vehicles, and their emissions, have a powerful effect on the environment.
Collectively, vehicles account for approximately 1/5 of emissions and emit 24 pounds of CO2 for every gallon of gas. A large majority of emissions come right out of the tail pipe, which is about 19 pounds per gallon. The more CO2 emitted, the more heat will be trapped in the atmosphere. This is because CO2 allows for visible sunlight to enter through the atmosphere but does not allow for infrared heat from the land and oceans to pass through. This causes a gradual increase in global average temperatures. Though, there are a couple solutions that can be proposed to combat the problem at hand. Using less oil and avoiding unnecessary emissions from the oil that we do use could be a solution. Other solutions include: fuel-efficient vehicles, cleaner fuels, and electric cars and trucks. Vehicles are not the only things that are attributing to the release of CO2 into the environment. Industrial farming contributes to the release of CO2 along with methane and nitrous oxide.
Collected research says that contemporary agriculture is burning up our planet, and factory farms play a key role in this impending disaster. Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) contribute directly to global warming because they release a large amount of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This is more than the global transportation industry. The air in tested CAFO test sites was supposedly dirtier than in some of America’s most polluted cities. For more clarity, animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions, 37% of methane emissions, and 65% of nitrous oxide emissions. Methane is also one of the most damaging emissions given off for our environment. The methane that is released from these animals in factory farms are 70 times more damaging per ton than CO2. Factory farms also contribute to destruction because of their impact on deforestation and draining of wetlands. This is because the nitrous oxide emissions from the pesticides used to grow GMOs and soy fed to the animals raised in CAFOs. Nitrous oxide is believed to be even worse for the environment than methane, and 200 times more damaging than CO2. The pesticides and antibiotics u...
