Global Warming: A Research Paper on Environmental Concerns

This report examines the pressing issue of global warming, focusing on its current impacts and potential future scenarios. It begins with an introduction highlighting the alarming effects of global warming and the ineffectiveness of current strategies. The paper then explores the scientific basis of global warming, including the role of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane, and the acceleration of global temperature rise. It references the latest IPCC report and discusses the contributions of various factors, such as coal and oil emissions. The report also delves into the economic models related to climate change, emphasizing the underestimation of carbon emission costs. Furthermore, it addresses the future of global warming, citing the UN IPCC report's warning about the potential temperature rise within the next 12 years and the resulting consequences like extreme weather events, conflicts, and increased poverty. The paper concludes by emphasizing the urgent need for viable solutions to mitigate the dangers of global warming and the potential consequences if immediate action is not taken. The report includes cited works from various sources to support the claims and arguments made throughout the paper.

Running head: GLOBAL WARMING
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Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Introduction
The aim is to understand the issue of pollution and global warming and the affect it might
have on the earth in the next decades. The present scenario presents alarming visuals of the affect
of global warming across the globe. World leaders, environmentalists and international
organizations are making efforts to reduce the affects of global warming but the strategies are
failing to have any effect.
Global warming in the present
In the recent few years, global warming has caused the global temperature to rise
significantly and it has reached the peak in the previous millennium. The temperature has
accelerated remarkably from the 20th century witnessing an increase of one degree Celsius from
1961 to 2016. According to the latest IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report
of the United Nations, global warming is happening at a much quicker pace than everyone had
anticipated. Hansen et al. however, note that the human-influenced greenhouse gases (GHGs)
and its atmospheric amounts have caused in speeding up the growth rate of carbon dioxide
during the 1950s throughout 1970s. However, it saw a decline after 1970 implying the recent
hike in terrestrial or oceanic sinks in case of carbon dioxide that might be temporary. Amongst
the most harmful of the carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases include coal and
oil. As Robert W Howarth observes, coal is the primary source of future emissions on a large
scale. Thus, it is a concern for the environmentalists and leaders of the world to put a check to it.
On the other hand, Richard L Revesz, et al. argue that in order come up with a viable and strong
solution to global warming, it is important to improve the economic models. The author states
that the present alarming scenario of climate change is due to the underestimation of carbon

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emissions cost. According to the authors, it has been predicted that if tones of carbon dioxide is
emitted now, it will lead to harms in the future costing around US dollars 37 equivalent to
today’s dollars.
The future of global warming
As discussed in the last section, climate change could cost the world heavily if it is not
checked immediately. In 2018, the UN IPCC report warned that if unprecedented and urgent
changes are not made, the global temperature might rise beyond 1.5 degree Celsius in the next 12
years (Watts). Unless the world leaders come together to bring about radical and immediate
changes to fight the damage already created, billions of people could be affected by natural
calamities. These include drought, extreme heat, flooding and higher rate of poverty. In contrast
to the resolutions adopted at the IPCC meeting in 2016, people who matter are still complacent
about the dangers. The United States President Donald Trump is one glaring example. Trump
decided to withdraw the US from the 2016 accord (Watts). It needs mentioning that the US is the
largest source of emissions in terms of historical emissions. With the world’s most powerful
country backing out from the fight against climate change, it is evident that in the next 12 years,
the situation might be even worse. The signs have started to appear as well with many countries
experiencing extreme heat, cyclone, and cold weather at the same time. Floods and hurricanes
have devastated innumerable places across the globe with the latest being the Fani Hurricane that
affected the South Asian countries including India and Bangladesh. Carl-Friedrich Schleussner et
al. note the influence of climate change on the growing armed conflicts that are happening
throughout the world. The authors state that although every conflict results from a specific
mixture of content and specific, anthropogenic climate change is most likely to exacerbate it.
They found that during the period between 1980 and 2010, “about 23% of conflict outbreaks in

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ethnically highly fractionalized countries robustly coincide with climatic calamities”
(Schleussner et al). On the other hand however, authors Robin Leichenko and Julie A. Silva state
that climate change affects the less developed countries majorly as it contributes towards
increasing poverty. Natural disasters in these countries cause huge loss of property thus further
enhancing poverty.
Conclusion
Therefore, it could be stated that global warming or climate change is a concern for the
earth especially after the warning given by the IPCC that the earth might face grave danger in the
next 12 years. The review of literature found that the concern has been raised by numerous
experts but hardly any viable solution has been proposed. It thus remains to be seen whether the
world would face its biggest danger or whether the humans would be able to avert it.

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Works cited:
Hansen et al., James. "NASA GISS: Research Features: Global Warming In The 21St Century:
An Alternative Scenario". Giss.Nasa.Gov, 2019,
https://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/features/200111_altscenario/
Howarth, Robert W. "A bridge to nowhere: methane emissions and the greenhouse gas footprint
of natural gas." Energy Science & Engineering 2.2 (2014): 47-60.
Leichenko, Robin, and Julie A. Silva. "Climate change and poverty: vulnerability, impacts, and
alleviation strategies." Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 5.4 (2014): 539-
556.
Revesz, Richard L., et al. "Global warming: Improve economic models of climate
change." Nature News 508.7495 (2014): 173.
Schleussner, Carl-Friedrich, et al. "Armed-conflict risks enhanced by climate-related disasters in
ethnically fractionalized countries." Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences 113.33 (2016): 9216-9221.
Watts, Jonathan. "We Have 12 Years To Limit Climate Change Catastrophe, Warns UN". The
Guardian, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/08/global-
warming-must-not-exceed-15c-warns-landmark-un-report.