meltingplanet

Individual Research Assignment     

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=What is Global Warming? =

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<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">The idea and the dangers surrounding global warming are nothing new to us. It’s an issue that has been debated about for the last three or four decades, and yet, the consequences of our ill-planned actions have never been clearer to us than they are today. Global warming “is the term used to describe a gradual increase in the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere and its oceans, a change that is believed to be permanently changing the Earth’s climate forever”. <span style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">    <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">The burning of fossil fuels such as coal, gas, and oil, and cutting down the forests, cause more CO2 to be released into the atmosphere. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Originally, the white surface of the snow and ice reflected the radiation from the Sun that would have otherwise been absorbed. The melting of these white surfaces at the two Poles, creates more dark surfaces that are absorbing solar radiation. When this radiation is locked in our atmosphere, it causes makes the temperature warmer<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">. <span style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">  Scientists have found that the overall temperature of the Earth has risen by 0.74°C since the 19th century and 0.13 °C in the last 50 years. That may seem insignificant to the individual, but that is enough to create dramatic effects on the planet. It is worth noting that not all parts of the planet have warmed up. The temperatures in some places in the world have actually cooled a little bit. It is areas like North America, Europe and Asia (coincidently the places that contribute the most pollution) that have warmed the most over the century. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">With global warming and climate change, comes threats of wildlife extinction, fluctuating water levels, oxygen levels, forests, agriculture, the already depleting natural resources and so much more. For this report, I will be discussing the rising sea levels caused by the **__melting of the polar ice caps__**. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">As with all sensitive topics, there are strong arguments for both sides regarding the existence of global warming and the future of the planet and humanity.

=<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">Facts  = <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"> = = <span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Where are the polar ice caps? <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·     <span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">North Pole = The Arctic Circle <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·     <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"><span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">South Pole =   <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"><span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">Antarctica <span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·  <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Antarctica is the world’s largest ice covered landmass and it contains 90% of the world’s ice and 70% of the world’s freshwater supply. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;">   If all 2133 metres of ice melted, sea levels would rise 61 metres. <span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; color: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-themecolor: text1;">. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·  <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">If the ice covering Greenland melted, another 7 metres would be added to the oceans. Greenland is more likely to melt before Antarctica because it is closer to the Equator. <span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; color: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-themecolor: text1;">. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">·     <span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The Natural Resources Defense Council argues that the Arctic polar ice cap is shrinking at a rate of 9% every decade <span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">    <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> <span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·  <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">By 2050 there will be no more ice during summers in the Arctic. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·  <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The flow of ice from glaciers in Greenland has more than doubled over the past decade. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·  <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">If all land ice melted, sea level would rise approximately 230 feet (70 meters) worldwide. <span style="font-size: 7.5pt; color: #484848; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">

=<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">Issues/Concerns  = <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">One of the biggest threats facing Earth and all of humanity is the threat of rising sea levels caused by climate change. Imagine if all that ice did melt. Just imagine what that would do to our homes? <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">All the low-lying places in the world would be threatened to be swamped. Places that lie less than 6 feet above sea level, like Florida, Shanghai, Calcutta, India, Manhattan would be flooded. <span style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"> <span style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">Island nations would be devastated. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Remember seeing pictures of the flooded New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit? Now imagine if every country looked like that. Like Al Gore said in “An Inconvenient Truth”, “think of the impact of a couple hundred thousand refugees. Now imagine a hundred million.” <span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> media type="youtube" key="wnjx6KETmi4" height="344" width="425"<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"> (Start watching from 1:40 - 2:10) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Supporters claim rising temperatures are to blame for rising sea levels and the devastation of the largest block of ice in the Arctic, the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf. This ice shelf has been around 3000 years, but it wasn’t until 2000 that it began cracking. In 2002, “it split all the way through and is now breaking into pieces.” <span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The loss of this ice shelf has already begun to affect the people, wildlife and plants in the surrounding area. The native people are forced to live in fear of being swamped and losing their cultural identity and their lives. <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">The loss of the ice shelf resulted in the loss of a freshwater lake, which is the loss of its ecosystem, which affects the wildlife and the ecosystem that polar bears, whales, walruses and seals are a part of. These species are forced to change migrant patterns which mean it will be even harder for natives to hunt. <span style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">A whole ecosystem is affected.

<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Critics against global warming argue the overall temperature of the planet has not warmed; hence global warming is a hoax. They argue that the planet is actually cooling down! The temperature in some places in the world, such as south-eastern US, and the North Atlantic have actually cooled down slightly. <span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> A notable skeptic, [|Michael Crichton], see Antarctica as contradicting global warming because it is constantly experiencing temperature drops. The average temperature in Antarctica is -37 <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN;">°C <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">, so it is argued that it will never reach above the freezing point it needs to reach to melt. <span style="font-size: 8pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-themecolor: text1;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> Using a study done by <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Doran et al, Crichton concludes that Antarctica experienced cooling temperatures during 1966 to 2000, especially during summer and fall. In his book, he wrote “ The data show that one relatively small area called the Antarctic Peninsula is melting and caving huge icebergs. That's what gets reported year after year. But the continent as a whole is getting colder, and the ice is getting thicker ”. <span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-ansi-language: EN;">However, Doran, suggested that Crichton misused his evidence as evidence of contradiction against global warming. <span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> There is no news of similar suggestions of using Antarctica to prove the falsehood of global warming. This type of contraversy seems to exist only in popular press and blogs. <span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> In the <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN;">British Antarctic Survey, it claims “ <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Antarctica seems to be both warming around the edges and cooling at the center at the same time. Thus it is not possible to say whether it is warming or cooling overall.” <span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">In the most recent study (January 2009) done about Antarctica, it was determined that the ice continent had been warming up for the last 50 years. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-ansi-language: EN;">"Antarctica is warming, and it's warming at the same rate as the rest of the planet," said study co-author Michael Mann of Penn State University. Any cooling that occurred in the eastern parts of the continent were offset by the warming from the west side <span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Another theory (that does not try to refute the rising sea levels), suggests that it is because of the warmer temperature of the water. “ <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Water is most dense at 4 degrees Celsius. Above and below this temperature, the density of water decreases (the same weight of water occupies a bigger space). So as the overall temperature of the water increases it naturally expands a little bit making the oceans rise.” <span style="font-size: 8pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-themecolor: text1;"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">  <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN;">

=<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">Possible Solutions  =

<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">There is no easy way to stop the polar ice caps from melting until the point that we are neighbours with Atlantis. There is no one way to stop all this from happening. It’s not like we can throw buckets of melted glacier in a giant refrigerator and toss ice cubes into the ocean. The first thing we must do is acknowledge the problem. “Out of 925 recent articles in peer-review scientific journals about global warming, there was no disagreement [that it is occurring]. Zero.” <span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Next, we must acknowledge the main cause of global warming. Pollution from the burning of fossil fuels. The more we burn, “the faster churns the engine of global climate   <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">change”. <span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">We have greener technologies that help reduce less waste and pollution. We have cleaner cars that use less gas, we can run our buildings with solar or wind powered plants, we have energy efficient household appliances, longer lasting light bulbs, we can even opt for tissues that are made with recyclable content. <span style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">  We can't be afraid to change our lifestyles. Here's a list of <span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;">[|ten things we can each do to help stop global warming.]  <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;">We only have one planet. We better start taking care of it. Otherwise, we'd better be prepared to swim for the rest of our lives.

=<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; text-align: center;">Is this our future? =

<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">** <span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; text-align: center;">It's really up to you. Think. Act. Change. ** <span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">media type="youtube" key="FdehOa1oWBE" height="344" width="425"<span style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">     <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">