Global Warming

The “sexy” topic in todays debates about sustainability and environmental issues certainly is global warming. Much like acid rain or overpopulation was in the past this is a topic that is based on scientific facts but is hyped up by the media. CO₂ emissions are causing the greenhouse effect and are contributing to a constant increase in temperature. While the earth has gone through different climates throughout its existence many scientists argue that our CO₂ emissions will cause a more drastic climate change that our society may not be able to withstand, a topic that has also been picked up by Hollywood and been turned into blockbuster movies, which further fueled the hype surrounding global warming. It seems that the current focus of the global warming debate is shifting towards the effect that the climate change has on the ice caps. It is argued that the average temperatures in the arctic are rising twice as fast as they are in other areas of the world and that the Polar Ice cap is shrinking due to this temperature increase. NASA satellite images have shown that the permanent ice cap is contracting by 9% a year. The arctic ice melt is already having negative impacts on its environment as the wildlife has to change their feeding and migration patterns, which also hurts the local population that is dependent on hunting and fishing. It is also being argued that the ice melt contributes to further global warning because less snow and ice means the cooling and protective impact it provides has less impact.

Sources: http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/qthinice.asp