“Man, it feels like a steam bath out here; it’s so hot!” That thought has probably crossed everyone’s mind with the frequent record-breaking temperatures with stifling humidity that has occurred this summer. This weather pattern of hot, hazy, and humid is consistent all over the U.S., whether it is in the normally hot south or the very mild and cold north. The question is: What is the cause of this abnormally hot weather phenomenon that seems to affect all parts of the U.S.? Folks, the abnormally hot weather is a result of a phenomenon known as the greenhouse effect!
The greenhouse effect involves an atmosphere that contains certain gases like carbon dioxide that trap the sun’s heat, which then emits its rays to the Earth’s surface. An example of the greenhouse effect may be seen with your car. For example, today is a sunny day with an outside temperature of 75 degrees. The sun’s rays hit your windshield and eventually become entrapped within your car. Now imagine your car has no air conditioning system or anyway to control temperature. Pretty soon, what you have is a car that is extremely hot since it is trapping the heat inside. Carbon dioxide performs a similar function of trapping heat onto the Earth’s surface rather than absorbing it into space.
With the above description, you might think, so what? This is a natural cycle; I cannot do anything to control the greenhouse effect. While it is true that carbon dioxide does occur naturally and in fact helps make life habitable on Earth. After all, plants would not be able to grow without carbon dioxide. The danger, however, is that excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which the greenhouse effect causes, will make life uninhabitable for us and other living things like plants.
The argument, therefore, is that humans are contributing and accelerating the impacts of the greenhouse effect through their consumption of fossil fuels via activities like driving, energy consumption, etc. The greenhouse effect, in turn, leads to the phenomena we frequently hear in the news—climate change. Among the impacts of climate change is extended periods of hot temperatures all over the U.S., making life uninhabitable for all of us.
Some questions to consider: Is the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere manmade or a natural cyclical event primarily? How much are we to fault for the increases in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere? If we are contributing at least in part to climate change, what should we do to address it from a policy standpoint? I will further discuss how we can address climate change from a public policy standpoint in my next post.
