by Cody Keeble

Created on: May 25, 2009   Last Updated: May 31, 2009

Global warming, like so many other things in today's topic list, is controversial. People go both ways saying it is and isn't true. Then once you've been convinced either way the debate gets deeper. If you choose to believe it then you have to listen to arguments about who, or what caused this huge disaster that is supposedly going to hurt our beautiful planet. The debates go on and on and people will fight about whether global warming is taking place or not for a long time because it is our instinct to be right, and then to prove it. But lets just put all that aside and say it is true, just for times sake. Once we've done that you can start to see why people believe in it, and what the real threat is if it is true.

Chronologically cause happens first, so we'll start there. What could have caused this huge mess? Most people come to the agreement that the airborne chemical called carbon dioxide (Co2) is responsible for what we call global warming. Carbon dioxide come from many sources, most of which are man made, and therefore this is a man made problem. Our vehicles produce Co2 emissions. After the gas we put in our cars goes through and the energy is used from it to power our movement from place to place the left overs are sent out in a smoky substance. This smoky substance is what pollutes the air. Co2 also comes from power plants, fires, and the buildings we live in. Something else to think about is how many more cars are driven now considering all the countries that are revolutionizing like China; how many power plants are being built within the U.S. alone due to the need for more power. With these things taking place more Co2 than ever is being put into our environment.

Now how does this Co2 chemical harm us exactly? Well a normal amount of the chemical isn't bad at all, but the amount we are releasing into the air regularly is far from a normal amount. With all of the Co2 in the air the chemicals are being trapped in the atmosphere causing two different things that are causing the warming of our planet. First once the chemicals are trapped they are heated because they are higher up and receive more direct heat from the sun. They are then beamed back down to earth, heated up, and contribute to heating up the ground. They continue going back and forth bringing more and more heat to the planet. The second thing Co2 does is by hitting our protective ozone layer time after time it breaks down in common places letting more, stronger sunlight into the atmosphere

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