Global Warming Exists

I am eager to debate such an experienced member of this site. For my argument I would first off like to define a few terms as it is likely that they will be used several times by both debaters. Global warming: a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth's atmosphere. Greenhouse effect: the trapping of the sun's warmth in a planet's lower atmosphere. Carbon Dioxide (CO2): a colorless, odorless gas produced by burning carbon and organic compounds and by respiration. Fossil Fuels: a natural fuel such as coal or gas, formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms. With the definitions aside, let the debating begin! How does the greenhouse effect work? Before I begin defending the premise defined in the first round, I would like to clarify how the process called the greenhouse effect works. This is essential to the topic of global warming, as the greenhouse effect is the process which warms the planet, especially during the nigh time. When sunlight reaches the earths atmosphere it changes into thermal radiation. Most of this thermal radiation is reflected off back into space due to the earth's atmosphere, however some manages to enter the planet. Once it reaches the atmosphere, it comes down to the surface, still as light, and is converted into energy through the process of photosynthesis. Eventually this energy is transferred from the plant to a primary or secondary consumer when the plant/producer is eaten by the consumer. Due to a concept called the 10% rule, almost all of the energy (90%) is lost during the transfer from producer to consumer and is radiated back into the atmosphere as heat [1]. Some of this heat manages to leave the atmosphere and goes off to space where it becomes essentially useless. A small percent of the heat, however, is trapped by the greenhouse gases (such as CO2, CH4, N2O, etc) and is kept in the atmosphere [2]. This is important because during the nigh time when the sun is not providing heat, the heat preserved by the greenhouse gases keep the planets surface warm [3]. This generally should be considered a good thing, however in this case there can be to much of a good thing. Due to the fact that there is now an abundance of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, especially carbon dioxide, too much heat is being trapped in the atmosphere and as a result global temperatures have risen. I will attempt to prove that the reason for this abundance of greenhouse gases and as a result increased global temperatures is a result of human actions, and it is not a "natural" occurrence. Graph A shows the basic process of the greenhouse effect. Graph A: Argument structureMy argument will follow this basic format: P1) The increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is a result of human actions. P2) Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere causes an increase in global temperatures. P3) Therefore human beings are responsible for global warming. P1) The increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is a result of human actions. This is not a very difficult subject to defend and consequently it is not a very controversial subject, therefore I will be brief. Since the industrial revolution in the mid 1800's more and more carbon dioxide has been released into the atmosphere. Graph B shows the rapid increase in carbon emmisions starting in 1850. Graph B: The reason for this is obvious, due to rapid increasing of industry and technology, burning of fossil fuels has become more and more frequent. Due to the fact that the burning of fossil fuels emits carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, it is also obvious that the increased amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is a result of human activity. P2) Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere causes an increase in global temperatures. This is a much more controversial subject, and therefore I will spend the majority of my argument in this section. Given that the greenhouse effect states that greenhouse gases trap heat, and re radiate it in all directions, as shown in Graph A, it would be easy to make the assumption that if there is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere there would be less long wave radiation (the type of heat that CO2 absorbs) being emitted into space and more infrared radiation being emitted back to the earth. This, as a result, would heat up the world and cause global warming. To prove this hypothesis, NASA launched the IRIS satellite in 1970 to record the amount of long wave radiation being emitted into space over a 26 year period [4]. What they found supported the hypothesis that less long wave radiation was being emitted into space and as result their was more infrared being contained in the earth. Graph C displays the results of the experiment. Graph C: This graph is an infrared spectrum and it shows the frequencies of infrared light (800 to 1600 cm-1). The graph has multiple greenhouse gases (such as CO2 and CH4) and based on their position on the graph, it determines the frequency of infrared light that they absorb. For example CO2 is at the far end of the spectrum because it absorbs lower frequency light than CH4 (methane), which is at the far end of the spectrum. The graph shows the difference of the amount of infrared radiation that is being absorbed by the various greenhouse gases between 1970 and 1996. Due to the fact that there is a greater variation in both CO2 and CH4 it shows that there is more radiation being absorbed by those two gases. In simpler terms, this shows that there is more heat being trapped by carbon dioxide and methane then there used to in the past, and therefore as a result global warming is a result of the carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere. If these gases are the cause of global warming than it can also be determined that human beings are the cause of global warming because they are the ones that are emitting the CO2 and CH4 into the atmosphere. Moving on to the next graph, Graph D is representing the amount of infrared radiation at the earth's surface. Graph D: This graph is somewhat less complex than Graph C (thankfully). What it is representing is once again the infrared radiation spectrum (600-1800 cm-1) and the greenhouse gases that trap the radiation at certain spectrums. CO2 is found and approximately 800 cm-1 and consequently there is a much higher amount of infrared radiation at 800 cm-1 at the earths surface than there is of any other wave frequency. What this means is that carbon dioxide is responsible for the majority of the heat being contained in the earth. By extension, this means that carbon dioxide is causing global warming and that it is once again human beings fault due to the fact that we are the ones emitting the CO2 into the atmosphere. Now moving on to the final graph. Graph E is showing both the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and also the global temperatures. Graph E: What Graph E is conveying is that there is a huge amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere currently, much higher than there has ever been in the past. Now there are three important things to note in this graph. One is that throughout the course of history, whenever global temperatures increased, the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere had increased as well. This allows us to reach the conclusion that the more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the higher temperatures will be. The second thing to note is that in none of the historical situations did global temperatures increase at the exact same time that the carbon dioxide levels. In every situation the temperatures took several years to rise following an increase in carbon dioxide levels. This is important because it shows global warming skeptics, like my opponent, that global temperatures will not increase right away. This is why temperatures have not increased so rapidly yet, however given the trend of this graph they are certain to increase in the near future. The final thing to note is the huge amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today. In no situation in history has their been such a high amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and the only explanation for why this is is human activity. Global warming skeptics claim that we cannot know that it is human being fault for global warming, however this chart shows the contrary. P3) Therefore humans are responsible for global warmingI have proved that carbon dioxide is the primary reason for why their has been increases in global temperatures as of late. This negates skeptics major arguments about why global warming is not human beings fault because it is clear that carbon dioxide emittions are due to human beings, and therefore it can be concluded that human beings are the cause of global warming. Sources[1] . http://en.wikipedia.org...[2] . http://www.epa.gov...[3] . http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu...[4] . http://www.skepticalscience.com...