Writing Papers about Global Warming

The humanity is and has always been connected with all the life cycles of the surrounding world. But since the emergence of highly industrialized society, the scope of damage that people do to nature has grown rapidly. Consumption of non-renewable mineral resources constantly intensifies. More and more arable lands drop out of use as cities and factories are built on them.

As a result of the population increase, intensive industrialization and urbanization of our planet, economic pressure began to exceed the ability of ecological systems to self-purification and regeneration. A natural cycle of substances in the biosphere was disrupted.The health of present and future generations of people is under threat! This is one of the most important and frequent global warming thesis statement ideas.

Ecological problems of the modern world are not only acute but also multifaceted. They are caused by virtually all branches of material production and are relevant to all regions of the planet. The Earth’s biosphere is currently exposed to serious anthropogenic impact. There is a number of processes worsening the ecological situation: in particular, the world is getting warmer and humanity is largely responsible for this, experts say. But many factors affecting climate change have not yet been studied. Scientists and students analyze this topic thoroughly. If you also got a global warming essay assignment, the facts listed below may be useful for your academic work.

Causes of warming to be described in research papers on climate change

The greenhouse effect has been a serious problem for several decades now. Without it, the temperature of the atmospheric surface layers would be on average 30 degrees lower than the actual one. However, in the last decades, the content of some greenhouse gases in the air has significantly increased: the percentage of methane has grown 2.5 times and that of carbon dioxide – by more than 1/3 of its previous volume.

There are also new harmful substances which simply did not exist earlier; primarily, these are chlorine- and fluorine-hydrocarbons including the notorious freons. The link between global warming and air composition change is quite obvious. Moreover, the reason for the rapid growth in the amount of greenhouse gases is also clear: our entire civilization, since the bonfires of primitive hunters to modern gas stoves and cars, has utilized the rapid oxidation of carbon compounds, the final product of which is CO2.

Human activity is associated with an increase in the content of methane (rice fields, livestock, leaks from gas pipelines) and nitrogen oxides. Perhaps, people do not yet have a noticeable direct effect only on the content of water vapor in the atmosphere.

CO2 problem

Among the global environmental issues facing humanity, the problem of CO2 is one of the most controversial. Many consider it to be a far-fetched one. Yet, there are real signs of global warming and forecasts by some climatologists and physicists who affirm that the situation is about to get a lot worse. In their opinion, it should happen because of the accumulation of carbon dioxide of anthropogenic origin in the atmosphere.

In the Quaternary period, which includes our time, the content of CO2 in the air is very low. But the pace of accumulation of this gas in the atmosphere is unprecedentedly high. That’s why most of the climate change essay topics revolve around this issue.

Nowadays, most researchers consider the combustion of fossil fuels as almost the single reason for the CO2 volume increase in the air in the X - XX centuries. In the XXI century however, there are deforestation, agricultural pollution, overgrazing, and a number of other factors that have negative effect on the and vegetation cover of the Earth.

Deforestation

One should pay special attention to this phenomenon when writing a reasons of global warming essay. Deforestation for the sake of building construction, mining, creation of water reservoirs, and repurposing of forest lands into agricultural ones is considered the most significant factor leading to the permanent loss of organic matter in the biosphere. Up to 25% of the carbon dioxide got to the atmosphere due to deforestation. The issue of deforestation and burning of fossil fuels are roughly equal now as for the scopes of ecological damage they do to our planet.

Degradation of forests occurs on the background of excessive recreation activities and tourism, air pollution, and a number of other cases (intensive grazing, flooding of the terrain, drainage of nearby swamps, etc.).

Through the observations it was established that even an insignificant load causes changes in the soil-vegetation cover. Soil compression carried out in forests and parks leads to a decrease in the mass of roots due to which the trees’ growth stops. As a result, they become smaller and the branches become thin and short.

Mechanical damage to forests leads to the development of diseases and increase in the population of pests. When natural territories are visited by large groups of people, the lower tiers of vegetation die, the soil litter is trampled, and the humus layer suffers. Organic matter is reduced by 50% or more in parking and recreational areas.

Significant air pollution is one of the main reasons for serious forest degradation. Fly ash together with coal and coke dust clog the pores of leaves, reduce the access of light to plants, and weaken the process of assimilation. Poisoning of the soil by the emissions of metal/arsenic dust in combination with superphosphate or sulfuric acid affects the root system slowing down its growth. Sulfurous anhydrite is toxic to plants. The vegetation is completely destroyed under the influence of smokes and gases of copper smelters in close proximity. 

Significant damage to the forests is caused by the acid precipitation connected with the spread of sulfur compounds into hundreds and thousands of kilometers. A great decrease in forest biomass is also associated with fires.

Agriculture

Nowadays, agricultural activities include processes leading to a rapid reduction of humus in soil and the release of CO2. Agriculture-provoked pollution can be considered as one of the most significant factors that lead to global warming and one of the main climate change research topics.

Most of humus is lost as a result of severe erosion and weathering. In addition, the cultivated lands lose this natural fertilizer due to its oxidation during the plowing and burning of vegetation in the framework of the slash-and-burn agriculture system. The constant loss of humus is also observed when nitrogen reserves are depleted in the soil. In developed countries, nitrogen depletion is compensated by using mineral nitrogen fertilizers and cultivation of leguminous crops.

Overgrazing

Excessive grazing in tundra, forests, and especially in meadows leads to the destruction of the land. This problem can also be discussed in a causes of global warming essay. Currently, overgrazing is particularly damaging the ecosystems of Africa, Eurasia, Latin America, and Australia. Simultaneously with the desertification, the soil with its organic matter is gradually removed.

Bogs drainage

Drainage leads to the oxidation of organic substances accumulated in peat bogs. This also leds to greenhouse effect and may be mentioned in your global climate change essay outline. When removing the 1-meter layer of marsh water from 1-hectare area, dozens of tons of dissolved organic matter are released.

Irrigation of lands

In some cases, this practice causes losses of crucial elements of soil as a result of irrigation erosion. At the same time, the correct melioration of poor desert areas increases the resources of organic matter in the soil. This is one of the most actively discussed environmental science research paper topics. Today, 0.2-0.3 million hectares of irrigated lands are annually turned into wastelands due to salinization and waterlogging. After that, they become completely damaged, uninhabitable, and unfit for agricultural use.

Construction works

Construction and growth of cities, the creation of communications, and mining generally lead to massive destruction of the soil and vegetation cover; sometimes, in order to partially lessen the damage, parks are created on the areas that have been subjected to human influence. Every year, construction works and mining operations destroy the soil and vegetation cover on an area of 5-10 million hectares that leads to a decrease in the organic matter stocks of the biosphere. Even the most approximate calculation will give the total figure of annual losses equal to several hundred million tons of organic matter.

Possible consequences: points to discuss in argumentative global warming essay

There would not be so many global warming essay examples if humanity was not afraid of the possible consequences of this phenomenon. If current tendencies remain unchanged, the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere will double by 2060 (compared to the pre-industrial level) and quadruple by the end of the century. This is an extremely disturbing fact because the life cycle of CO2-emissions in the atmosphere is more than a hundred years. For comparison, water vapor has an eight-day cycle.

Modern predictions are based on the idea of a dynamic equilibrium among all components of the natural environment and the danger of its breaking. In particular, anthropogenic warming of the climate system as well as the decrease (or even disappearance) of snow and ice masses in high latitudes and at the poles of the Earth will significantly weaken the meridional atmospheric circulation and, as a result, lead to the moistening of the continents. Over the past 250-300 years, the level of the World Ocean rises by an average of 1 mm per year.

It is worth mentioning in your effects of global warming essay that the predicted changes should be observed to the biggest extent in the Arctic and Subarctic. Degradation of permafrost and ice rocks can occur in these zones. All cities, towns, and communications built on such territories are under the threat of destruction.

There are lots of reasons to believe that radical climatic shifts and the melting of glaciers may affect the processes in the depths of the earth. Due to the redistribution of water masses from the poles to low latitudes, the Earth’s rotation speed will slow down imperceptibly. Will such impulses stimulate volcanism and earthquakes in the Сircum-Pacific belt, the Mediterranean, and other seismically active zones? In case the disintegration of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet continues at the same speed, the level of ocean water will grow rapidly by 5-7m and this may be enough to provoke volcanic processes in the most seismically active areas.

It will lead to flooding of the continental edges and change the geography of their wet and arid zones that will influence the underground hydrosphere. Will the uplifting and lowering of the Earth’s crust in the zones of growth and reduction of natural water horizons be accompanied by the seismic activity? The available data on anthropogenic subsidence and uplifts of the Earth’s surface exciting seismicity denote the possibility of such events.

The delicate balance among the Earth’s shells that is maintained by slow geological processes can be disrupted for hundreds of years. These changes will undoubtedly cause great damage to the world economy, although the technical advancements of mankind are expected to help us resist it. Therefore, the measures must be taken to counteract the increase of atmospheric CO2 concentration and provide safety for the biosphere and humanity. That’s why the investigation of climate change paper topics by scientists and students is so important.

Given the data collected from all over the world and the results of the UN Commission’s studies, the average temperature may rise by 1.4-1.8 degrees Celsius during this century. The level of the World Ocean will increase by 10 cm, jeopardizing the countries that are located lower than the sea level.

Given the influence of mankind on the environment, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) insists on increasing the number of observations to create a more precise picture of global warming.

UN report

Your global warming persuasive essay should be based on information provided by authoritative scholars and organizations. The United Nations has a great influence in various parts of the world so you have every reason to take the opinion of the UN experts into account. Unfortunately, most of the conclusions and predictions of specialists are disappointing; according to them the negative results of warming will be seen almost everywhere.

For most of Europe, the threat of floods will increase significantly. The glaciers of the Alps and large areas of permafrost will begin to melt and completely disappear by the end of this century. However, the climate change will have a positive impact on the crops harvested in Northern Europe and almost equally negative effect on the agriculture of Southern Europe. This area will suffer from constant droughts in the 21st century.

In Asia high temperatures, droughts, floods, and soil erosion will cause irrecoverable damage to the agriculture of many countries. A rise of sea level and strong tropical cyclones will force dozens of millions of people to move away from the seashores. Approximately the same conditions will be observed in Africa. Crop yields will be considerably reduced, the amount of available drinking water will decrease. There will be less precipitation, especially in the south, north, and west of the continent. As a result, the emergence of new desert areas will become a common issue. Settlements in Nigeria, Senegal, Gambia, Egypt, and the ones along the southeast coast of Africa will suffer from rising of the sea level and coastal erosion. Epidemics of infectious diseases spread by insects such as mosquitoes will occur.

In North America and Australia, some regions will benefit from warming because agricultural activities will become more profitable there. However, all the other regions may suffer from various disasters, including floods, droughts, and epidemics. The amount of rains on the whole planet may significantly decrease, but the appearance of deserts and storms may become more frequent. In a few years, we will all run the risk of getting into an unfamiliar and frightening world in which the threat of pernicious infections will loom over mankind. The warm and humid climate that will be formed on the planet during the next 20 years will help dangerous diseases such as malaria or Dengue fever (already presenting a serious threat to humanity) to conquer new frontiers.

The small island states will suffer the most. It will be difficult for the developing countries to adapt to new conditions. Nevertheless, some positive effects, such as the increased timber production, lower deaths rates because of frosts during winter time, and large grain yields in such regions as Southeast Asia and Northern Europe are also expected.

Scientists warn that the predicted climate changes can potentially lead to large-scale and irreversible transformations: a slowdown in the supply of warm water to the North Atlantic, rapid melting of ice in Greenland and western Antarctica, and an increase in the proportion of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere.

The UN report is one of the most detailed and serious works regarding the consequences of global warming. So you can safely use this data as a basis for a climate change research paper. The UN experts state that the signs of alarming processes are already visible:

• The ice cover of the Arctic decreased by 10-15%.
• Between the mid-1950s and the early 1970s, the ice on the Antarctic coasts retreated south by 2.8 degrees longitude.
• When the average temperature increases by one degree Celsius, the Alaskan forest zone shifts 100 kilometers to the North.
• The ice cover of lakes and rivers in the middle and upper longitudes of the Northern Hemisphere now holds for 2 weeks less than in 1850.
• In Europe, some mountain plants migrate upward at a speed of 1-4 meters per decade.
• Migratory birds fly north earlier and stay there longer.

Ways of solving the greenhouse effect problem to highlight in essays on global warming

Your how to prevent global warming essay should contain specific proposals aimed at helping mankind to avoid the impending danger. The main measure to prevent climate changes can be formulated as follows: to find a new type of fuel or to change the technology of using current fuels. This means that humanity needs:

• to identify the causes of climate change, monitor them and eliminate their consequences.
• to reduce fossil fuel consumption, especially coal and oil, which emit 60% more carbon dioxide per unit of produced energy than any other fossil fuel;
• to use special tools (filters, catalysts) to remove carbon dioxide from the automobile exhausts, emissions of smoke pipes of coal-burning power plants, and factory furnaces;
• to create more expedient heating and cooling systems in new houses;
• to increase the use of solar, wind, and geothermal energy;
• to stop/slow down the process of deforestation and degradation of natural territories;
• to remove storage tanks for hazardous substances from the coastal areas;
• to expand the areas of ​​existing nature reserves and parks;
• to apply regulations preventing global warming;

You can choose the measures, which are the most effective in your opinion and list them in a global warming conclusion paragraph. According to the standards of academic writing, the final words of the essay should serve as a call for action.

Protection of the atmosphere

The protection of the atmosphere from the over-saturation with carbon dioxide is one of the most popular environment research paper topics. The slowdown of global warming depends on the supporting of the balance of air composition.

The nature defense program should include effective measures to fight against air pollution by vehicles as well as agricultural and, especially, industrial sources. The ways of fix the existing situation should be clearly specified. Thus, intermediate and long-term plans as well as specific programs aimed at neutralization of adverse effects using local and national resources must be developed.

The solution of a global warming essay should involve several integrated practices. Protection of the atmosphere can’t be successful with unilateral decisions and half-measures. The best results can be obtained only with multifaceted approach to determining the causes and sources of pollution as well as realistic possibilities for limiting the harmful emissions.

It is worth pointing out that only a combination of optimal economic and technological conditions can lead to the improvement of the quality of atmosphere, especially in urban and industrial conglomerates where the concentration of pollutants is higher.

Based on these provisions, it would only be safe to use the information from an independent source that could provide the data not only on the degree of air pollution, but also on the types of technological and administrative measures that should be taken. As a result, an objective assessment will allow creating actual plans and long-term forecasts for the worst and most favorable scenarios and form a solid basis for the development and strengthening of an atmosphere protection program.

It is obvious that the most contaminated part of any city is its center and the main polluter is road traffic. Vehicle emissions account for about 60% of all harmful substances in urban air. Exhaust fumes from autos are a mix of about 200 different substances. They contain hydrocarbons (unburned or incompletely burnt fuel components) the part of which sharply increases at the moment of speed increase at the start, i.е. during a traffic jam or red signal.

There are several ways to deal with the problem of exhaust gases:

•   technical improvement of engines, fuel equipment, electronic fuel supply systems;

•   improvement of fuel quality;

•   reducing the content of toxic substances in exhaust gases as a result of the use of fuel afterburners or catalysts;

•   usage of alternative fuels.

The vehicle exhaust can be made harmless by means of special devices in the car engine exhaust system called neutralizers.

•   Flame neutralizer is a device for protecting the environment from the exhaust gases by afterburning them in an open flame.

•   Thermal neutralizer is a heat-saving device for neutralization of exhaust gases by the method of flameless combustion.

•   Liquid neutralizer is a device for nullifying the effects of exhaust gases by chemical reaction with liquid substances.

Ideas of scientists

Proposals for solving the problem of climate change from leading scientists sometimes may seem unrealistic. But experts seriously consider all the factors when developing them, because sooner or later these strategies may come in handy. You may describe some of the theories in your environmental pollution and global warming essay.

Today, the Earth absorbs 70% of all radiation received from the Sun and there is a need to reduce this amount. Astronomer Roger Ancel suggested placing millions of lenses with a diameter of 60 cm around the Earth to reflect the sun rays. It should be noted that the reduction of solar illumination by 1.6% compensates for the temperature increase by 1.75 degrees Celsius (3 degrees Fahrenheit) as there is a direct correlation between light scattering and temperature. For example, the temperature drops during the eruption of volcanoes when a huge mass of particles enters the atmosphere and as a result a smaller percentage of sunlight can reach the Earth.

According to another strategy (taken from the journal ActaAstronautica), it was proposed to create a ring of small particles or spaceships around the Earth to darken some parts of tropics and thereby to balance the climate.

The cost of these projects can be very high: $500 billion for special spacecraft design and from $6 to $200 trillion for the particles-ring construction.

Climatologist Wallace Broker proposed to scatter sulfur in the stratosphere at an altitude of more than 15 km with the help of hot-air balloons and airplanes. The bigger part of sulfur particles will stay at this level for about a year or two. This project is estimated at $50 billion.

Another theory suggests producing salted steam with the help of mechanisms that will turn the seawater into real clouds saturated with sodium chloride.

There is an idea to create artificial floating islands with a mirroring surface in the sea zones or to cover some desert regions with light colored plastic materials to reflect solar radiation.

The plan to disperse substances that catalyze the growth of water plants in order to increase the amount of carbon dioxide these plants absorb has already been implemented in some areas of Antarctica.

A famous British astrophysicist, Stephen Hawking, believed that the survival of the human race depends on our chances to find a new home elsewhere in the universe, because the destruction that global warming causes is skyrocketing. He claimed that people could have a permanent base on the Moon in the next 20 years and a colony on Mars in the next four decades.

Useful tips for writing the research paper on global warming

If we look closely at a climate change research paper example, it will be noticeable that the academic text is written according to specific rules. There is a clear structure, which makes the presentation of different opinion points clear. An essay is a short prose paper, the purpose of which is to express thoughts and ideas of the author on a particular subject. It is worth pointing out that the usage of templates in essay writing is rare and often discouraged. It is obvious that you have to strain your brain to write a good essay.

Tip 1: read the essays of other authors

Find the papers with similar global warming essay titles and read them carefully. This will help you develop your own writing style. After all, essay writing requires a sense of style. According to the opinion of specialists, a good presentation of your opinion should be emotional, expressive, and artistic.

Tip 2: study the literature on the given topic

As it has been already mentioned, an essay is a creative work, which involves the description of our own thoughts on a particular topic. But one should keep in mind that such academic papers target not only beginners but also readers who have a certain level of awareness of the topic. Therefore, in order to present the main points and ideas in the best possible way, one should have knowledge in the area.

Tip 3: think out the structure and the climate change essay outline

Such work can have an arbitrary structure, and the only formal rule is the presence of a heading. Nevertheless, the most popular structure of an essay is as follows:

1.    Title. It’s not hard to come up with good global warming essay titles since many authors have already considered this problem and lots of options can be found online. However, it is much better if the heading is unique. Many students compile the text relying on the title, although experts recommend doing vice versa. You can come up with the title after the paper is finished as it will be possible to highlight the main idea accurately.

2.    Global warming essay introduction. It depends on the introduction whether the reader will continue studying the rest of the text. This part should be bright, catchy, and closely related to the actual problems and phenomena.

3.    The main body. You’ll have to formulate the thesis and arguments supporting each point of your global warming research paper outline. A thesis should be the author’s idea and the arguments should be its rationale.

4.    Conclusion of a global warming essay. It’s necessary to sum up the answers to all the questions presented in the text and prove the statement that you have put forward at the beginning.

5.    References. If you have used the writings of other authors, conference proceedings, or scientific sources, the examiner should be aware of this. Compile a list of references at the end of the paper.

If you are looking for some directions on how to write an essay, here they are. However, you can write all the parts in random order. For example, it’s normal to compose an introduction paragraph for a global warming essay after the main block with thesis and arguments. First, you need to create a rough draft of the paper, and then it should be edited and checked for possible mistakes. Once that is done, you will be able to polish it to become the final text that completely satisfies the requirements.

Tip 4: Do not "overload" the essay

It is evident that everyone has their own writing style and wants to provide a detailed answer to each question, but too long of a construction can negatively affect the mark. The hook for global warming essay must consist of a few sentences maximum. The presentation of the arguments also should not be burdened with superfluous text.

Tip 5: be honest with readers

It is highly unethical and counterproductive to attribute someone else’s ideas to oneself. You should remember that excellence can be achieved with practice only. Working on essays develops creative thinking as well as the ability to express one’s opinion. This will help you to learn how to choose words that fit the context, highlight cause-effect relationships, and support your thesis with appropriate arguments and examples from real life.