Global Warming

V. Key Issues: Population Health > D. Environmental Health > Global Warming (last updated 12.28.15)

Topic Outline

1 Key Questions (by Christina Daniels)
2 Books
3 Links

Key Questions (by Christina Daniels)

How Much of Global Warming is Man-Made?

Ridley, Matthew. What the Climate Wars Did to Science. The Rational Optimist (7.5.15). Barack Obama says that 97 per cent of scientists agree that climate change is “real, man-made and dangerous”. That’s just a lie (or a very ignorant remark): as I point out above, there is no consensus that it’s dangerous. So where’s the outrage from scientists at this presidential distortion? It’s worse than that, actually.

The 97 per cent figure is derived from two pieces of pseudoscience that would have embarrassed a homeopath. The first was a poll that found that 97 per cent of just seventy-nine scientists thought climate change was man-made—not that it was dangerous. A more recent poll of 1854 members of the American Meteorological Society found the true number is 52 per cent.
The second source of the 97 per cent number was a survey of scientific papers, which has now been comprehensively demolished by Professor Richard Tol of Sussex University, who is probably the world’s leading climate economist. As the Australian blogger Joanne Nova summarised Tol’s findings, John Cook of the University of Queensland and his team used an unrepresentative sample, left out much useful data, used biased observers who disagreed with the authors of the papers they were classifying nearly two-thirds of the time, and collected and analysed the data in such a way as to allow the authors to adjust their preliminary conclusions as they went along, a scientific no-no if ever there was one. The data could not be replicated, and Cook himself threatened legal action to hide them. Yet neither the journal nor the university where Cook works has retracted the paper, and the scientific establishment refuses to stop citing it, let alone blow the whistle on it. Its conclusion is too useful.

What are the Main Causes and Effects of Global Warming on the Earth?

Global warming can cause many problems. Specifically, it increases the temperature of the earth, causes ozone depletion, and affects the oxygen levels and carbon dioxide levels which intern affect the way humans, animals and nature function. A good question-answer cite is, NCDC. Similarly, fact based questions are answered at NewScientist. The climate change is caused by emissions of pollutants in our environment. These can be from various sources, however most have been reported from utilities and transportation, specifically in North Carolina. (see NC Climate Report) Specifically the greenhouse effects are mentioned in detail in Greenhouse & Global warming. Also, Impacts are discussed more fully in summaries by the National Environmental Trust.

Global warming will essentially change the planet we live on to become one extremely different from what it is today. With a slight increase in temperature, the whole demographics could change in addition to the oxygen levels we breath so freely now. Specifically, the coasts could be completely gone if melting ice caps leads to ocean levels rising, various animations are available showing this at NET animations. News on how the world is reacting to such problems is shown in headlines at Global Warming International Center. More in depth effects of global warming, specifically economic damages are clearly explained and developed in a book called the “The Economics of Global Warming,” by William Cline. The causes and effects of global warming on our earth are vast and outlined in practically every source on the gateway database.

What is the Effect of Global Warming on Our Health?

Global warming can affect disease and health in the world. As the temperature of the world increases, the hotter temperature can cause increased deaths and spread of disease. However, global warming will also worsen many health problems like repertory problems, and chronic illnesses in which temp. And environmental stimulus can effect. The ozone depletion will also begin to affect healthy people without such problems in similar ways. This warming is portrayed in the website climate changes, and additionally projected effects can be extremely harmful such as damage to humans through deaths environmental changes like flooding, water resource quality, coast erosion. Etc. (Extreme Effects). This is also outlined in many other reports and synthesis’s for example, NASA-growing health effects. It is reported to cause 150,000 deaths a day from flooding, ozone pollution and temperature related diseases noted in, Medical News today. Additional studies can bee seen from countries other than the U.S. The U.K did a report on the climate effects on health, which are very useful (UK Report). However, contrary to many studies, a particular study by Moore gives reason to believe that there are possible benefits to global warming.

How Can Global Warming be Resolved?

A long list of suggestions is available (issues and recommendations), however it is important to look at brief, syntheses’ and reports to understand how this can be achieved. The Pew Report analyzes and explains ideas in which to control greenhouse gases. It looks at the legal and policy issues required to create an early action-crediting problem. In the Marsch primer, we are able to examine how much warming there has been over the century and how this is affected by our fossil fuels in developed countries. Efficient use of energy, informing businesses, and “fuel cell” vehicles, update fuel efficiency standards, expand federal funding for research, provide tax credits for purchase, and eliminate subsidies for mature technologies in order to fund new ones, are all ways in which the Republican View have proposed to slow global warming. Continuing, our executive branch has recently come up with a range of strategies to reduce global warming and green house effects in major parts of our economy such as electricity, transportation, industry, buildings and agriculture. Such actions and methods for promotion are available via U.S Addresses Climate Change. Despite the belief by many sources that global warming can be changed and effects decreased, some sources concentrate on the proximity to problems being only a few years away (factcheck.org).