Ashley Ellis

ENG 112 – Argument Paper

April 14, 2019

Why Global Warming is Harmful.

Global warming is an increase in the temperature of the surface of the Earth. The entire climate

of the world is changing on a regular basis because of the increasing global warming by the natural

means and human activities. All of these changes have such a big impact on ecosystems and people’s

lives. The Earth’s surface is made up of water and land which means that not only is temperature of the

land increasing, but the water temperature is increasing as well. There are three main factors that

scientists have identified that could push the planet closer to global warming. These factors are the

reflectivity of the Earth's atmosphere, the greenhouse effect, and radiation from the sun that is reaching

Earth.

One of the big problems with global warming is the melting of glaciers. Over the past few years

glaciers have been melting faster than scientists thought they would. Some people may not care about

it, but it is doing way more harm than good. If the glaciers continue to melt there would be a shortage of

fresh water, an excessive amount of flooding could occur, and some coral reefs would disappear

because they would not get enough sunlight. This heat can create numerous problems for all living

things such as plants, animals and humans.

Global warming could be throwing off the seasonal patterns. Angela Ledford Anderson stated

that "The science is clear: global warming isn't off in the distant future or happening somewhere else,

it's happening across the nation and it's causing our seasons to creep out of balance" ( US Fed News

Service par. 2). Studies have shown that the rhythm of some species of plants and trees are being
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thrown off to because of global warming. A few examples are honeysuckles and lilacs that are blooming

earlier than they should. Birds like robins and Canadian geese are migrating earlier. It is throwing

everything out of sync, and it is happening all over the nation. Global warming has also affected

ectotherms globally. Studies were done to show how it affects them in their early life stages. They

changed the temperature and studied how long it took for them to hatch. The warmer temperatures

decreased the development of the egg with all of the species they studied. They also examined

dragonflies and concluded that the warmer temperatures resulted in smaller hatchlings that had a

higher mortality rate than the ones that were not exposed.

Another major consequence of climate change is its effects on agriculture. “Climate change has

been described as the biggest global health threat of the 21st century” (Springmann par. 1). These

effects from climate change could eventually reduce the amount of food that is being harvested. This

will also affect people's diets and can have bad consequences for their health. It is important because so

many people can be affected by this. The effects on the food supply will lead to higher food prices then

the amount of food consumed will be reduced which will lead to an increased amount of malnourished

people. Other than disturbing the balance of the global ecosystem climate change can increase health

risks and heat related injuries or deaths.

There are a few prevention steps that people can take like the planting of trees, decreasing the

use of hazardous chemicals, using public transport, using wind and solar energy, that can reduce the

effect of global warming to an extent. There are also some key approaches to determine the effects of

climate change for different ecosystems. People in the scientific community have been working hard so

that they can provide some insight on the fate of the species and their ecosystems. They are using color

coded maps to help with this process by showing the current and future predictions of climate change.

“Understanding the impacts of these top-down processes on ecosystems is critical for determining

large-scale ecosystem response to climate change” (Schmitz par. 1). A large level of climate change can
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attract people’s attention very easily. Studies have been conducted that shows when people are

educated about climate change, they feel like they can have more of an influence with the outcomes.

There was a specific study done where a video about climate change was shown to a group of people

and it was meant to play on their emotions. This study showed that the participants also felt encouraged

to talk to other people about climate change and what they can do to help. All of the findings of this

study showed that if you can target people’s emotions it will be more effective for climate change.

All of the greenhouse gases make the temperature of the earth increase at higher rates which is

not in the favor of life of human beings, animals, and plants. Global warming is not a problem that has a

direct answer. People cannot stop global warming entirely but there are things that can slow is down.

One of the main solutions is reducing the abundance of greenhouse gasses that is released into the

atmosphere. If the human race wants to survive people may need to start changing their ways. “The real

action will have to take place on a national and global level” (Portland Press Herald par. 17). The human

race must work together to save the planet.

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Works Cited

Frances, D. N., Moon, J. Y., & McCauley, S. J. (2017). Effects of environmental warming during

early life history on libellulid odonates. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 95(6), 373.

GLOBAL WARMING IS DISRUPTING TRADITIONAL SIGNS OF SPRING; SURVEY OF LATEST

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS GLOBAL WARMING'S EFFECTS ON SEASONAL

PATTERNS. (2006, Mar 21). US Fed News Service, Including US State News.

"Global Warming is on the Agenda, so Now what?" Portland Press Herald Oct 20, 2007

ProQuest. 24 Mar. 2019 .

Jordan, S. D. (2007, May). Global climate change triggered by global warming: Part 1. The
Skeptical Inquirer, 31, 32-39.
Krauthammer, C. (1997, Dec 08). SKEPTICS NOT WELCOME AT GLOBAL-WARMING SUMMIT.
Chicago Tribune.
Luiz Inacio Lula, d. S. (2009, Dec 15). Brazil's president lula on global warming: No delay at
copenhagen. The Christian Science Monitor.
Ramkissoon, H. (., & Smith, L. D. G. (2014). THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENVIRONMENTAL

WORLDVIEWS, EMOTIONS AND PERSONAL EFFICACY IN CLIMATE CHANGE. International Journal of

Arts & Sciences, 7(1), 93-109.

Schmitz, O. J., Post, E., Burns, C. E., & Johnston, K. M. (2003). Ecosystem responses to global

climate change: Moving beyond color mapping. Bioscience, 53(12), 1199-1205.

Springmann, M., Mason-D'Croz, D., Robinson, S., Garnett, T., Godfray, H. C., Gollin, D., . . .

Scarborough, P. (2016). Global and regional health effects of future food production under

climate change: A modelling study. The Lancet, 387(10031), 1937-1946.