Tawfik, Adel: Global Warming & Your Carbon Footprint

Individual Essay Submission             

Cut and paste your un-plagiarized essay of 250-500 words having 3 or more paragraphs into this private individual page below on or before midnight December 1st.  Be sure to save your drafts off line and cut and paste the final version. Submissions will not be accepted after that time.

Once you have made a final submission, send Dr. R. an e-mail ([e-mail]) advising him that you have done so.

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Global Warming & Your Carbon Footprint 

 

Global warming is possible the most important and critical problem the world is facing in the 21 centuries. What causes the global warming is the increase of the greenhouse gases such as water vapor, Nitrous oxide, and carbon dioxide. Greenhouse effect is sun light passes through earth atmosphere. This light hits the earth, the heat scatters back to the outer space, the greenhouse gases traps the heat and make the earth warm. Greenhouse effect is very important because without greenhouse gases the earth would be like a piece of ice. There are about seven different greenhouse gases, however the most important four gases are Carbon Dioxide, Water vapor, Methane, and Nitrous oxide. Sulfur hexafluoride is extremely strong greenhouse gas. It is very persistent, with the atmospheric, that’s why a very small amount of sulfur hexafluoride can have a large impact on global climate change.

We all know that the human beings are responsible for the increase of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, let’s see how. There is 403.38 PPM of carbon in the atmosphere. We can know that the CO2 is increasing in the atmosphere by looking at the industrial revolution, humans are burning fossil fuels and burning forested land at an unparalleled rate, and these processes convert organic carbon into CO2.The amount of the CO2 has changed over the past 200 years because of the industrial. Humans are burning fuels and burning forested land, and these processes convert organic carbon to CO2. We can look at the historical records of human activities, and we will be able to know why human activities are responsible for the increased CO₂. It’s because of industrial revolution, humans are burning fossil fuels and burning forested land at an unparalleled rate, and these processes convert organic carbon into CO₂. Calculating the amount of fossil fuel that has been combusted and the amount of fossil fuel that has been extracted, also how much land clearing has happened, will show that we have produced a lot of Carbon, even more than the carbon that remains in the atmosphere. The carbon cycle is the exchange and change of Carbon between humans, and animals. Carbon compounds can be found in plants and animals and humans, also in nonliving organism like rocks, coal, also in diamonds. Carbon compounds also can be found in liquids like, crude oil, and can be found in gases like carbon dioxide. Burning fossil fuel is the main focus because burning fossil gas creates carbon and that carbon stays in the atmosphere, humans use fossil fuel to get electricity, also to drive their cars, we need to find another source of energy that is clean not like the fossil gas to lower the gas burning and the emission. We can use turbines, it’s alternative energy recourse and it’s better than fossil because renewable and clean energy recourse. Solar energy is the most important because it’s renewable and clean energy, so it will stay forever and it will never pollute the environment. Carbon dioxide is added to the atmosphere whenever people burn fossil fuels. Oceans play an important role in keeping the Earth's carbon cycle in balance. As the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rises, the oceans absorb a lot of it.

The carbon footprint in tons of CO₂ per year for an average household in the United states is 20 tons of co2 / year. In my household, we have 36.9 tons of CO2/ year which is above the average, so my house hold need to do the following. For travel we need to buy electric car or hybrid car, sell my high consumption fuel car or drive it less, use the public transportation. For housing, we need to buy solar system panels to get electricity instead of getting electricity from burning fossil fuel. Also, we need to consume less food than the average. Also for the Goods and Services we need get less electricity consumption devices, appliances, and buy solar panel to get electricity.

            What I can do to bring attention to and improve the awareness of carbon and global warming in my house is by telling my family to turn off the devices that we aren’t using to consume less electricity and tell my classmates and my professors that we need to consume less gas and electricity and get hybrid or electric cars, and get solar system panels.