Political Science - Global Warming Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Political Science - Global Warming - Essay Example The most prevalent of these gases is carbon dioxide. There has always been a natural layer of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere, but the present augmentation is widely held to be the result of human activities, primarily the burning of fossil fuels and environmental alterations, especially deforestation. The burning of fossil fuels – coal, oil and natural gas – is mainly done in industrial processes, in energy production, and also in transport. Because fossil fuel consumption is much greater in industrialized and more economically developed countries, North America, Europe and Asia are responsible for over 90% of global fossil fuel output. Deforestation, meanwhile, is most serious in South America, and especially in the Amazon basis. Furthermore, if current trends continue, fossil fuel consumption will continue to increase, especially as countries with large populations, such as India and China with a combined population of over 2 billion, rapidly indust rialize. All of this is causing the temperature of the Earth to increase at a much faster rate than is usual, and perhaps at a rate faster than it has been for thousands of years. The increasing blanket of greenhouse gases traps heat from solar radiation in the Earth’s atmosphere, and as the temperature within becomes higher, water stored as ice in glaciers or the ice caps is melting, causing sea levels to rise.