Global Warming: Addressing Its Effects

At a conference of twenty nations assembled in London on March 15, 2005, Gordon Brown, Britain's Finance Minister addressed the audience regarding the seriousness of the effects of global warming, saying, ôWe have sufficient evidence that human-made climate change is the most far-reaching and almost certainly the most threatening of all the environmental changes facing usö (Timmons).

The economic changes predicted by experts such as Mr. Brown, as well as changes to weather patterns, human property, human life, and the environment have led to the recent enactment in February 2005 of the Kyoto agreement, which places national limits on carbon emissions. The United States has refused to back the agreement, citing that the emissions limits it prescribes are, in the words of James L. Connaughton, the U.S. delegate to the agreement talks and Chairman of the Council of Environmental Quality ôunreasonableö (Timmons). Mr. Connaughton, a member of the Bush Administration says the agreement would jeopardize the American economy and furthermore that there has not yet been conclusive research outlining the extent of human contribution to global warming via the emission of greenhouse gasses (Timmons).

While the official stance of the United States is at odds with international agreement about the human contribution and logical response to global warming, the effects of global warming are not disputed. Scientists around the world are in agreement that

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e possibility of floods and topsoil erosion as well as local weather pattern changes that can in turn effect global weather patterns. This situation provides an example of how human intervention may lessen the effects of global warming on a local scale. A proposed solution to illegal logging in Africa was determined by a group of eight industrialized nations (known as ôG8ö) to lend technological expertise and training to African nations seeking to halt such logging (ôG8 meeting vowsàö). Though each country's contribution to the efforts was not determined, this agreement is an example of steps that can be taken in future situations to moderate human activities related to global warming's effects on local climate and industry. Changes in the earth's temperature related to global warming are well-documented. The earth's atmospheric temperature has risen 1¦ F over the past century and at least 0.4¦ F over the past twenty-five years. Based on paleoclimatological data, such as that taken from tree rings and ice cores, this is the largest rise and greatest acceleration in temperature change seen in past one thousand years (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). This slight increase in the earth's atmospheric temperature has
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Approximate Word count = 1257
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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