Global+Warming

Global Warming: Recycling & Chemicals //"Global warming is one of those things, not like an earthquake where there's a big bang and you say, 'Oh, my God, this is really, has hit us.' It creeps up on you. Half a degree temperature difference from one year to the next, a little bit of rise of the ocean, a little bit of melting of the glaciers, and then all of a sudden it is too late to do something about it."// //-Arnold Schwarzenegger//

By the twenty-first century, most, if not all, governments have acknowledged that global warming is a problem, and many have taken steps to help stop global warming. When people think of global warming, they think of a polar bear stranded on a floating ice patch, or the movie The Day After Tomorrow. Scientists think it is even plausible that what happened in the movie could hypothetically happen in the future. There are many groups, civilian and scientifically, that are devoting much of their time to global warming. Most fundraise and work to raise awareness and understanding of global warming and problems coming from it. The scientists research global warming to gain an understanding on how it works, what is causing it and what we can do to change it. But for many, global warming is too broad of a subject, and hence finds it difficult to categorize the many aspects and what is important to work on now. Recycling is a solution that is widely broadcasted, and can do much to help. Statistics and stories of what recycling can and has done are essential to broadcasting this statement. Many chemicals are hazardous to the environment, animals and even humans. The government is supposed to control what chemicals are released by their country, and what goes into their peoples' bodies, but many doubt their efficiency. Earth is depleting all fossil fuel sources available, and releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at record amounts. Humanity treats earth like a large garbage can. Trash is thrown from vehicles onto land and sea. Trash dumps are constantly filling up and the need for new ones are rising. Scientists are questioning whether it is possible to send trash into space. Carbon dioxide is mainly coming from oxygen breathing life forms and fossil fuel burning machines. The life forms are taking in all of the oxygen, whilst cutting down all of the plants that give off oxygen through photosynthesis. For most, the basic idea is this, not recycling and using chemicals in the environment are speeding up the global warming process. Recycling turns materials that would otherwise become waste, into valuable resources. In 1999 alone, recycling and composting activities prevented nearly 64 million tons of material from ending up in landfills and incinerators. America alone produces about 40,000 pounds of carbon dioxide each year. Today, our country only recycles 32.5 percent of its waste. That rate has almost doubled in the last fifteen years. More people are becoming aware of recycling and its benefits. Recycling has grown in general and even more so with certain materials. The numbers are getting higher: 52 percent of all paper, 31 percent of all plastic soft drink bottles, 45 percent of all aluminum beer and soft drink cans, 63 percent of all steel packaging, and 67 percent of all major appliances are now being recycled. As the world starts recycling more, the need for paper and other appliances grow as well. Recycling paper alone would save a lot of trees. Ideas, such as just using recycled paper, have been brought up, but the world's need for paper is too much to handle. Disposable packaging, such as plastic, represents a huge source of greenhouse gasses produced. The United States uses nearly one billion barrels of oil to produce enough plastic to meet America's demand each year. Sixty percent of the plastic goes to packaging each year. Sixty pounds of that plastic is thrown away immediately after use, and not recycled. Plastic packaging adds up to be one third of our landfill. Tremendous amounts of energy are put into making plastics, and they break down slowly. A simple solution that is becoming more common in stores is using canvas bags while shopping. Canvas bags, are reusable, and don't do harm like paper and plastic. Even the transportation of oil and other goods puts out carbon dioxide. There simply is no way to escape it, especially if not everyone is trying. The New York City Council recently passed a bill requiring large stores and retail chains to recycle the plastic bags they give shoppers. Many people are trying to spread the word about going green, but only a limited amount of people tend to listen. As Earth continues to warm up, and the glaciers continue to melt, people still don't seem to care. Not everyone has the time to care though. Recycling does help the environment, but it is quite time consuming. Until something huge happens, I doubt the public with open their eyes and ears. Recycling has come a long way. Twenty years ago, only one curbside recycling program existed in the United States. By 2006, about 8,660 curbside programs had sprouted up across the nation. Another problem, is packaging for food. Most times more money is spent on the packaging then the actual food itself. In many cases, electronic gear is even being recycled. Mobile phones and other mobile devices present a growing threat to the environment. As of 2007, 750 million mobile phones were either waiting to be recycled, or were already in the waste stream. Once mobile devices are put in the waste stream, chemicals such as, Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, and Arsenic could leak into the water supply. Products such as cell phones, PDA, laptops, and many other electronic appliances can be recycled. A company called CollectiveGood focuses on recycling mobile phones. Through their recycling program, the environment is protected by keeping tons of toxic waste from entering landfills every month. The use of chemicals by humans, on the earth, is speeding up the global warming process. Factories, power plants, and vehicles are some of the main contributors to the chemicals that cause pollution. In the United States and large industrial cities, the number one cause of air pollution, is factories. The chemicals used in factories produce large amounts of pollutants that get ejected into the air. Power plants burn coal and oil to produce electricity, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. All of there gases are responsible for acid rain. Most factories use fresh water to carry out the waste. The contaminated water gets dumped into lakes and carried to the ocean. In 1996, it was stated that 40% of the rivers, streams, and lakes were too polluted for people to swim, fish or drink out of. I'm sure it has risen since then.

The largest contributor to the world’s air pollution is cars. This is because of fossil fuel combustion. There are many ways to reduce air pollution from cars but no way to stop it. All the pollution produced by cars is different. There are two types of pollution that come from petrol vehicles. There is the type, that is produced when the car is running and some are even released without the car even being turned on. Exhaust emissions such as carbon monoxide, oxides from nitrogen, hydrocarbons and particulates are dangerous fumes that are released when the car turns on and is running. Evaporate emissions are vapors from fuel that can be released without even starting your car. You can reduce vapor leakage by being more careful about spilling or overfilling your tank when you get gas. Pesticides are being misused in the environment. People are using too harsh of chemicals to protect there crops from insects and weeds. After a while of using the harsh chemicals, the soil is being contaminated and isn't suitable for growing anymore. Pesticides in the food-chain are putting our wildlife in danger. When pesticides are used, the chemicals drift through the air and into the ocean. This causes water pollution and puts our marine life in great danger. Pesticides are also putting us humans in danger. The chemicals seep into the ground water and that is where our drinking water comes from. Some of the chemicals from pesticides cannot be filtered out. People are using this contaminated water to cook with, drink and bathe with. All you need to do to reduce this is to use environmentally friendly pesticides and cleaning products.

Not all of the causes of Global Warming are man made. There are some are natural as well, such as methane gas from the wetlands, and the arctic tundra. We are even contributing to the release of methane gas just by digging up the fossil fuels that we use before we can even burn them later which contributes even more to global warming. Methane also comes from manure not to mention the cows themselves. Every single year, an average dairy cow produces 19.3 pounds of gases, which is called volatile organic compounds and those gases react with other pollutants in the air to form at ground level ozone, also known as smog. There are two and a half million dairy cows and with almost 20 pounds of emissions per cow that means a lot of gas. The cattle in the San Joaquin Valley, just by themselves, produce even more organic compounds than compounds that are generated by cars, trucks, or pesticides. The San Joaquin Valley is one of the top three of the worst air pollution problems in America. The other two are Houston and Los Angeles. One big problem that involves this is that the San Joaquin Valley has violated the federal limit on ozone smog at least once if not more during the last ** SIX ** years. As more people populate the world the levels of carbon dioxide go up because we breath it out. With the current human population, more food is required to meet humanity's hunger, along with more means of transporting it. Most of the earth's population eats meat, so the amount of methane in the atmosphere increases with the increasing population of cattle. More people are driving now and so they use fuel. As the population of the world increases the more pollution we create. Because of the increasing need of more food, and the increasing population, more places' plants are cut down so there are fewer plants to go through photosynthesis to remove carbon dioxide and give off the oxygen that we need. Together these contribute a big part, causing earth to go through a climate change that lasts forty thousand years. As more people populate the world the levels of carbon dioxide go up because we breath it out. With the current human population, more food is required to meet humanity's hunger, along with more means of transporting it. Most of the earth's population eats meat, so the amount of methane in the atmosphere increases with the increasing population of cattle. More people are driving now and so they use fuel. As the population of the world increases the more pollution we create. Because of the increasing need of more food, and the increasing population, more places' plants are cut down so there are fewer plants to go through photosynthesis to remove carbon dioxide and give off the oxygen that we need. Together these contribute a big part, causing earth to go through a climate change that lasts forty thousand years. //"We simply must do everything we can in our power to slow down global warming before it is too late. The science is clear. The global warming debate is over." -Arnold Schwarzenegger//

There is many things people can do to help stop Global Warming. Most have to do with saving resources, being more productive and are general money savers. Some may be expensive to enact, but in the long run can bring a profit. Many have to do with the house, and how one may run an energy efficient household. Making the transition can be difficult, and often involves breaking long used habits, but it can and must be done to ensure our survival of the monstrosity we have unleashed upon ourselves. I shall now list a multitude of things one may do to put off Global Warming, and in time may even cause a reversal of it's effects. Using cold water for laundry, taking shorter showers, washing your vehicle with water from a bucket, and timing your sprinklers to be the most efficient in watering your lawn lowers the water heating bill and saves energy for other activities, and conserves precious water resources. Many people use either very old cars that have a very low fuel economy or buy glitzy, large SUVs to make the illusion that they can afford such gas guzzlers. A fuel saving alliterative is using public transportation or energy efficient vehicles which will help wean America off fossil fuels and reduce air pollution from gas exhaust. Using energy efficient light bulbs and turning off lights when leaving the room will also save money on the electricity bill and reduce usage of valuable resources, as well as using sun light to light rooms as much as possible. Recycling plastics, metal containers and papers is an easy way to gain money, and it saves valuable resources. Many cities have programs to pick up recyclables, but many of the smaller towns need to start these programs as well. Buying products that use as little packaging as possible is another good way to help the environment. A four foot stack of newspapers is the equivalent of saving a forty foot tree not being cut down. Recycling half of your household waste saves 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide annually. Using reusable bags for groceries and other goods can keep trees living, and plastic used for other products. The government supplies plastic makers with thousands of barrels of oil annually, because petroleum is a main ingredient of plastics. Making your house more energy efficient will raise the value of your house and lower your heating and cooling bill. Keeping the thermostat two degrees higher in the summer and two degrees cooler in the winter saves two thousand pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year. Installing solar panels on your roof can be expensive, but will quickly earn you credit with PG&E in sunny communities. Unplugging appliances with a standby setting and unneeded appliances can stop them from leeching power, adding to your bill and using valuable electricity, saving forty percent of the energy it usually uses. Planting a tree provides decoration to a lawn, shade on a hot day and takes one ton of carbon dioxide from the air in one tree's lifetime. Getting a "report card" from your utility companies can target areas of the house that may need to be upgraded, and some companies will even provide financial help in upgrades.

Beyond just easy tips for making your home and life environmentally safer, consider the political actions one could take as well. Sending letters to politicians in your state about how you feel about Global Warming and how the government is responding to the problem can cause change. Hold local meetings about Global Warming, start recycle groups and talk to the local schools and have them informed, and ask how they can start educating students about Global Warming also. Writing letters to newspapers, starting blogs, signing petitions, writing to local media about what the community can do all makes a change.

Food packaging is a large contributor to waste we can prevent. Finding companies and sites that are willing to recycle food packaging, computers, cell phones, PDAs, and other technological equipment is very difficult, and can often cost the environmentally conscience. Recycling tires and other rubbers is another problem we need to fix.

People are gradually becoming more informed about recycling and global warming, but many people still don't care. Chemicals continue to go into the earth and people are still not recycling as much as they should. If humans continue to treat earth the way we are, we either won't exist anymore, or earth will be forced to destroy itself to recover. Many think that earth will either become a desert planet or sink itself into another ice age. Truthfully, we shall never know, but we must do everything in our power to save earth and ourselves. By not recycling and using harmful chemicals the global warming process is approaching much more rapidly than previously predicted. In response to global warming, Alyssa Neilson, Christine Wyatt, Leslie Palmer and Lizzie Kaplanek are publishing a pamphlet about global warming and collecting recyclables. In the future, their essay may even be printed in newspapers and magazines. They also are starting an environmental club to inform the community and students of our current issue with global warming. Global Warming: Recycling & Chemicals user:lkaplanek, user:lilyvinetree, user:volleyn11, user:christ94

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