Truong, Anh: 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.

 

Anh Truong

Chem 106

 

            The greenhouse effect has a vital role in our life. It is the natural phenomenon and has both positive and negative sides. However, human’s activities have pushed it to the negative side.

The Earth can be as warm as it is today is because of the greenhouse effect. The Earth receives sunlight as a form of radiant energy.  The surface absorbs most of the energy and is warmed up. Then some of the radiant energy reflects and goes through the atmosphere. The greenhouse gases let some of the energy out but it mainly keeps the energy inside. In the end, greenhouse effect heats up the Earth. The 4 most important greenhouse gases are Carbon dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), Nitrous oxide (N2O), and Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). The amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has increased and makes the radiation go out of sync. Just like an endless cycle, more radiation is absorbed and heats up the Earth. The warmer the Earth gets, the less radiation go out of space and so on. So just small concentrations of greenhouse gases can make a great impact on Earth’s temperatures.

 Scientists spend many years to do researches on the carbon atom as carbon has a very important role in the greenhouse effect. Carbon appears in a lot in nature, and it creates one of the main cause of climate change: CO2. By doing carefully measurement for years, scientists know that the atmospheric CO2 levels are rising. On September 2017, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is 403.38 parts per million (PPM). The atmospheric CO2 levels are reaching its peak in the past 800,000 years. Carbon transforms to various forms and natural reservoirs via the carbon cycle. The carbon cycle is the circulation of carbon from biological creatures to the environment and vice versa. The long-term effect now happens in rapid pace because of human’s activities since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. CO2 which comes from burning fossil fuels is hardly can dissolve because the atmosphere and oceans keep it inside. Marine energy, hydroelectric, wind, geothermal and solar power can replace fossil fuels. Solar energy is perhaps the most important because sunlight doesn't create wastes. The oceans act as a natural buffer but it won’t last forever. Too much CO2 causes the oceans to be more acidity and unbalances the acid-base equilibrium. Broken balance equals chaos and destruction.

Knowing more about the greenhouse effect can help us stop climate change. In the end, we need to take action before everything is too late. An average American household is 34.5 tons CO2/year. The CoolClimate calculated my family carbon footprint is 26.8 per year. Since we are just 4 students, we have less carbon footprint. Our most use energy is from food and energy. Since I always walking to school and everything is within walking distance, I will try to walk more. Our electricity is 10% better than the average but we are not that mindful of energy. We can use energy-saving household appliances. I have a bad habit of eating - the most energy consumed. To improve my carbon footprint, I will buy fewer snacks and fewer grains.  Our shopping is more than average, so we can try to reduce this. I will tell my roommates to eat low carbon diet, changing energy-efficient appliances and walking. 

 

 

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