Out+with+the+Issues

These are the the issues that global warming will cause and is causing us to address...  The problems that face us with global warming versus the economy lies in what we decide to do about global warming. At this point in time we find ourselves in a very damaged economy and it seems that we have very little money to spend on issues like global warming, rather than using it for the more seemed “important” issues such as healthcare and wars. Spending money, that we really don’t have, to reduce emissions would be tremendously expensive. Money would have to be spent on building alternate energy sources such as wind turbines and hydroelectricity sources and the price of energy would rise. According to an estimate made by the International Energy Agency, halving global emissions by 2050, which is what is needed to happen to avoid supposed environmental catastrophe, would cost 45 trillion dollars. None of these results of addressing global warming are in either corporate or the taxpayers’ immediate interests. Future interests however are at great risk if global warming is not addressed now. It is said that avoiding addressing global warming will do far more damage cost-wise than addressing it. Energy costs would still be increased, due to the fact that the fossil fuels we use are nonrenewable resources and the amount of them in decreasing. Global warming's impact on the environment could damage the production of crops and food, and increase wild-fires. Extreme weather such as hurricanes could increase, becoming more likely to occur, and the aftermaths of these events would be of great cost. [] [] [] [] One of the concerns that global warming brings about is the rise in sea level, which brings up the issue of flooding. Scientists predict that if global warming continues to rise at the rate it is going, there will be flooding globally in the future. For obvious reasons this would be a problem: Entire islands and cities could be under water, cities such as New York City which host millions of people. All of these people would have to find a place to relocate to, and with the global population growing at such a fast rate, there might not be much room. Cities would become more crowded and poverty level would rise even more. It is said that by the end of the century sea levels could rise as much as three feet. Global warming also could cause the opposite of flooding: freezing. If Greenland, a country that the majority of it is glacier and ice, melts, it could send the entire area of Europe into an Ice Age. Imagine what effect this would have on the world, they would be drastic.  Gore, Al. An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It. New York: Rodale Books. 2006. []
 * Flooding
 * Desertification
 * Ice Age in Europe
 * Global Population
 * Relocation
 * Extreme Weather
 * Consumerism and Cutting Back
 * The Endangerment of Animals
 * Alternative Energy Sources vs. Fossil Fuels
 * Economic  Problems
 * Future  Flooding?

Terry L. Root, a senior fellow with Stanford's Institute for International Studies and lead author of the Jan. 2 //Nature// study says,"Birds are laying eggs earlier than usual, plants are flowering earlier and mammals are breaking hibernation sooner, clearly, if such ecological changes are now being detected when the globe has warmed by an estimated average of only 1 degree F (0.6 C) over the past 100 years, then many more far-reaching effects on species and ecosystems will probably occur by 2100, when temperatures could increase as much as 11 F (6 C),". Animals are relocating to places where it is cooler, where they do not fit into the local ecosystem. These effects on the environment throw off ecosystems. Bugs overpopulate and get out of control when the birds move, and even mosquitoes, which can carry various different diseases, are moving up to higher altitudes, as the areas are not as cold as they used to be. With global warming impacting the environment in such a way, various issues involving agriculture arise with it. The issues of changed temperature patterns, desertification, deforestation, and weather changes all come up. If the global temperature rises and hot, dry, weather, and droughts come, global agriculture could be affected. Especially in developing countries and places with already drier climates, agriculture could be greatly harmed, as the temperature rises even more and they do not have the technology to protect their crops from the new even harsher conditions. Some people are saying that global warming will benefit agriculture in some areas because of carbon fertilization, that the increase in carbon level will //help// the growth of plants, as they need lots of carbon to grow. However, many are saying that carbon fertilization will have little effect. “World agriculture is the most basic economic resource,” William Cline, senior fellow at both the Peterson Institute for International Economics and the Center for Global Development said. “Hot, dry conditions and prolonged droughts … such as those predicted by global warming … could be potentially devastating to agriculture. This is a strong reason for concern.”
 * Problems within Agriculture and the  Environment

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<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> It seems that the most controversial issue arisen from global warming is whether human activities are even affecting the increase of global warming. According to most scientists, we are impacting the rise in global warming, however, unfortunately there has been a lot of false information that has been released, making finding the facts and the truth confusing. In order to decide what we are going to do about global warming, and actually make a change, we need to decide what is really happening, otherwise interests will continue to collide and nothing will get done. We can either chose to not do much and risk catastrophe, or take action and risk some sacrifice now, but have a better future.
 * The Decision on <span style="color: #2e5733; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">Whether or Not <span style="color: #f31616; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">Human Activities <span style="color: #2e5733; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">are <span style="color: #f80d0d; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">Impacting <span style="color: #2e5733; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"> Global Warming