Global Warming/Climate Change
Global Warming/Climate Change
- Global warming and climate change refer to an increase in average global temperatures.
- Causes of global warming
- Human Caused
- Burning fossil fuels
- Deforestation
- Cars release large amounts of carbon
- livestock release methane to atmosphere
- Natural Causes
- Solar activity
- Natural forest fires
- Melting Permafrost
- The primary greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone
- The greenhouse effect is the process by which radiation from a planet's atmosphere warms the planet's surface to a temperature above what it would be without its atmosphere. The net effect is the gradual heating of Earth's atmosphere and surface, a process known as global warming
- Problems associated with global warming
- Ice is melting worldwide, especially at the Earth’s poles. This includes mountain glaciers, ice sheets covering West Antarctica and Greenland, and Arctic sea ice.
- Sea level rise became faster over the last century.
- Precipitation (rain and snowfall) has increased across the globe, on average.
- Hurricanes and other storms are likely to become stronger.
- Laws
- On August 3, 2015, the EPA issued the Clean Power Plan, which put the nation on track to cut harmful pollution from the power sector by 32 percent below 2005 levels, while also cutting smog-and soot-forming emissions that threaten public health by 20 percent.
- On May 13, 2010, EPA set greenhouse gas emissions thresholds to define when permits under the New Source Review Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) and Title V Operating Permit programs are required for new and existing industrial facilities. This final rule "tailors" the requirements of these Clean Air Act permitting programs to limit covered facilities to the nation's largest greenhouse gas emitters: power plants, refineries, and cement production facilities.
- EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are taking coordinated steps to enable the production of a new generation of clean vehicles-- from the smallest cars to the largest trucks--through reduced greenhouse gas emissions and improved fuel use. Together, the enacted and proposed standards are expected to save more than six billion barrels of oil through 2025 and reduce more than 3,100 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
- EPA is also responsible for developing and implementing regulations to ensure that transportation fuel sold in the United States contains a minimum volume of renewable fuel. By 2022, the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 138 million metric tons, about the annual emissions of 27 million passenger vehicles, replacing about seven percent of expected annual diesel consumption and decreasing oil imports by $41.5 billion.
- Things To Prevent Global Warming
- Choose energy efficient appliances when making new purchases
- Replace a regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb
- Use the washing machine or dishwasher only when they are full
- Be sure you’re recycling at home
- Plant a tree
- Reduce the number of miles you drive by walking, biking, carpooling or taking mass transit wherever possible
- the earth would become warmer and sea levels would increase due to the melting of many icecaps.