Visual Images Expression on Global Warming

In the last few years there have been many newspaper images and cartoons that have came out that make fun of the presidents or candidates and their opinions on global warming. During the election in 2008 with Al Gore, a cartoon came out in a newspaper of Gore holding the world on a string swinging it back and forth in front of his face, saying “your feeling warmer” as the globe was swung closer to him. The artist of this image/comic is using sarcasm to show that Gore is a believer of global warming. This artist uses sarcasm to show not that Gore is not a believer but to show that the artist is not a believer in it. The use of sarcasm can be very funny to those who also feel as the artists of the cartoon and don’t belief in global warming either. Gore is also the main and only person in the cartoon showing the focus on him and his view on global warming. The cartoon also is not very colorful but does use the colors red, white, and blue to show that it is an issue in the U.S. The artist also colors the earth mainly blue and no green. These colors show that issue of global in the sense of water increasing on earth from ice melting and no Greenland because of deforestation. The newspaper and media are a very good way to express political views on issues in the world. Through mostly sarcasm they achieve this goal.

Fig 1. deeliberate.wordpress.com

Man-made Activities that Cause Global Warming

There are many who feel that controlling man-kind activities can help decrease the issue of global warming. Throughout the world we use trees for buildings, paper, and other materials we need to survive or we convert forests into farmland. Part of the problem with using so many trees and cutting trees down is that trees use our carbon dioxide to live, the more we kill the less volume of carbon dioxide they can remove.  According to National Geographics,"...forests still cover about 30 percent of the world’s land area, but an area the size of Panama is lost every year" (National). As well as deforestation throughout the globe we are burning fossil fuels at increasing rates. Expert Bob Ward from the Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at London School of Economics and Political Science says last year's data of the U.S. "also showed that the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere had reached 390 parts per million, its highest level for at least 800,000 years and almost 40 per cent higher than the level before the start of the Industrial Revolution when humans started to burn fossil fuels in increasing amounts"(2010). This trend will continue to grow at an exponential rate due to population increase and longer life spans; more people means more fuel required. So how can we decrease these issues? Trees and fossil fuels are essential items humans need to live? Can and will recycling become a bigger deal in the future? Will cars finally be able to operate without gas and without needing to be charged every few hours? These are just a few questions scientists are asking and trying to find solutions for.

Refer to Sources under Links.
Fig 1 and Fig 2: environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/

What Causes Global Warming?

There are many scientists who are studying the issue of global warming and they feel that global warming is caused by two factors; human activity and natural cycles humans have no control over. Global warming is defined as "the increase of Earth's average surface temperature due to the effect of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, which trap heat that would otherwise escape Earth" (Global). So what would be considered man-made activities that cause this to occur? Two activities I plan to research more throughout my blog that are man-made are the cutting down of rainforests, deforestation, and the burning of fossil fuels for human consumption. On the other hand I also plan to research on activities that cause global warming that naturally occur on Earth. Some examples of them would be that for over the past five million years the Earth has naturally gone through cycles of global warming and cooling. This process is due to a cycle referred to as the Milankovitch cycle which depends on how close the earth is to the sun. Another naturally occurring cycle I will research on is due to the positions of the continents. Their position determines the geometry of the oceans which influence ocean circulation; therefore, if plate tectonics are to shift it can affect both global and local patterns of climate and ocean circulation. In my next few blogs I will spend time researching these activities and finding out how they affect global warming. In the last few years we have had odd weather changes such as heat waves in Russia, floods in Australia, and even snow in Texas. These severe changes could be a result and most likely are of global warming.

Refer to sources under links.