The Effects of Global Warming Will Be Beneficial Essay Example for Free

The Effects of Global Warming Will Be Beneficial Essay Even if the consensus is the Earth’s temperature is warming, it is not barren of some advantages and benefits. The first benefit is warm weather is always preferred than cold weather as there are numerous proofs to it. The fact that people from the North flock to regions that are warmer whenever they get the opportunity could attest to that. It is not only that more than 50 percent of retirees would prefer to move to warmer regions when they retire. Warmer weather is also good for the health, not to mention it brings down some of cold related deaths in some regions, although excessive heat also had proven to be deadly since many people could die from it. There is enough finding that people remain healthy in the warmer seasons, whereby in the US alone the medical cost could come down by as much as $20 billion every year if the temperature gets warmer. In the US alone there are close to 40,000 deaths related to cold weather, whereas in Britain that number is between 20,000 and 40,000. According to some findings, that number could rise by 8,000 for every 1 degree Celsius the temperature goes down. On the other hand, the number of causalities could only rise by 2000 since humans can better adapt to heat and could rely on cooling systems. When it comes to the economy there is a strongly held belief that global warming could affect it adversely, although Fred Singer in his book ‘The Impact of Climate Change† had shown that a moderate warming could have a positive impact on agriculture and forestry. The obvious reason for that is plants use carbon dioxide to help them capture and store energy, which means more carbon dioxide in the atmospheres is good for plants. It could also serve as a fertilizer as the amount in the atmosphere rises, the reason why those who are running greenhouses pump carbon dioxide in the closed environment and the result had been much higher food production. Another economic boost cited is the coming into existence of trade routes will be possible when the warm temperature melts the ice in regions such as Alaska. The Bering Strait was an example cited and compared it to Suez Canal in transforming the area inhabitants by introducing tax revenue and a boost on tourism. It will also cut down travel time between the major continents by at least one-third. Another area that might get a boost is the population of kalamari that might see a 20 percent increase. Whatever the outcome will be there is evidence that the creatures react positively to warmer weather where not only their quantity but also their size could grow. Other areas that will be benefited if the temperature rises are regions where there is snow in the winter and if the warm temperature brings down the amount of snow that falls down the roads will be much safer to drive as there are many accidents reported on a yearly basis that are related to heavy snow fall. Snow shoveling itself has a serious side effect for those who have heart condition and less snow and warmer weather would mean fewer heart attacks. Heating bills could also come down unless cooling bills replace them, which is unlikely. People spend a lot of money on winter gears and some of that money could find other use. One area that will be benefited from warmer weather is public transportation where air, road, and rail transportation would be benefited from a warmer weather and according to Department of Energy it might possible to save as much as $12 billion each year. Another benefit is if the warmer weather really comes to stay it would automatically mean more land for farming especially at the polar regions since there are large tracks of lands located in the region that are inhospitable for people because of the ice and the harsh weather. It is possible to go further and mention that croplands have a more cooling capacity when compared to the dark green leaves of the forest that absorb more heat and do not evaporate cooling moisture into the atmosphere. This by itself would have a positive effect on global warming since it brings it down. Another benefit is there is enough proof that the Earth has become more greener since the global warming took effect simply because carbon dioxide is good for plants since they can use it as a fertilizer too. It is not only that, when the weather is warmer it will extend the growing season, diminishes frosts, and there will be more precipitation. The benefit could still go much further by availing advantage to the forestry and recreation, as the weather would become more accommodating. There is also a proof that extracting natural resources in a warm weather is much easier. All this would lead to an economic growth of any country, especially for countries such as the US that could realize growth on their GDP. Overall, a considerable amount of benefit is derivable from global warming or from a warmer temperature (7). Global Warming Is not a Threat to the Polar Ice It is possible to surmise that global warming is not a threat to polar ice simply because except for observation made by the so-called prominent scientists whose number could reach 300 and are from various countries, there is no hard evidence that shows that the polar ice is affected by the current temperature change. The current temperature change itself for the most part is the outcome of observation and computer simulation. It is not complete or not yet scientifically proven. However, those who are in a position of decision-making are under pressure from various sources to look into the matter so that any kind of future disaster could be avertable. What the recent finding indicates is there is a possibility that the Polar Regions are warming faster than the other regions on Earth and this has led to the belief that the ice covering the region is thinning. The estimate is if there is no measure taken, it could disappear as 2100 approaches. Nevertheless, there had been recorded proofs that the Polar Regions had been much warmer than today and these hot temperatures occurred between 1937 and 1938 years that were early for the greenhouse gases, whose elevated use started after the Second World War. There are records showing the Polar Regions were warmer as much as twice as they are today between 1917 and 1937 revealing that even in the absence of an elevated use of greenhouse gases these regions were getting warmer than they were in the last 20 years. The records show some kind of cooling took place after the 1940s and it was around the late 1970s there was a sudden warming in the Polar Regions, especially in the Arctic region, but additional warming did not occur ever since. Accordingly, what could be causing the shift in temperature could be factors other than the global warming caused by greenhouse gases. One suspected cause is a shift in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) at around the end of 1970s. PDO is â€Å"a long-lived El Nino-like pattern of Pacific climate variability†. There are other identified oscillations that have similar effect on the weather of the North Pole, one of them is the Arctic Oscillation, and the other one is the North Atlantic Oscillation. These oscillations are spinning ring of air occurring in the Polar Regions believed to be responsible for the warmer air. This assumption leads to the fact that it is such naturally occurring winds that are causing the warm air instead of the greenhouse gas effect; the target to be responsible for causing the warm temperature that is responsible for melting the ice caps of the Polar Regions (8). The other interesting point is the time it takes to melt the polar ice, which would take centuries even if the climate get much warmer than it is now showing that it is not an immediate worry. At the same time since it is difficult to predict what will take place in the climate changing pattern in the future it is not possible to say that the currently reported global warming will cause a considerable damage to the polar caps. Because if the ice cap in Greenland area alone completely melts it is possible that the sea level could rise by seven meters and the resulting flood could claim many regions. Another interesting aspect is the temperature around regions such Greenland had been falling by 2. 2 degrees Celsius since 1987. That significant decline will whittle any worry that the current global warming whose existence not yet fully proven could pose a threat. The global warming still lacks scientific proof except in computer simulation and some observations. By doing so, scientists were able to observe some ice sheets falling into the sea raising the alarm that such incidents could take place in a large scale, but till now that had not been the case. Hence, if there is concern it is that the rate of such calamities could rise unless there is some measure in the meantime, the reason why the Koyto Protocol had come into existence. When it comes to the Antarctic, the findings are not clear even if it is possible to say that the temperature might have risen by 2. 5 degree Celsius in the last 50 years. One good measurement used was the population of Antarctic kramalli where there is a conflicting report where there are sources claiming that the population had declined by up to 90 percent. If that is not the case it would be an indication that the reported temperature rise is not real simply because the karamalli population thrives in a warmer temperature, hence the 2. 5 degree Celsius rise might not be substantiated. The reality might have been that there had been an increase in the winter sea ice starting around 1979. However, since the existing area is not equal to the amount of land covered before the declining years before 1970s, the reality is there was a decline in the ice sea that started much earlier than the current global warming, ascertaining that what is termed as global warming is not affecting the ice in the Polar Regions. What this leads to is the computer simulations the scientists are dependant upon are not correct except that they can draw some kind of pictures relying on the kind of information they are fed, which could be correct or wrong. That has led climatologist from MIT to conclude that from what everyone is getting from the simulation, there is no indication that shows the Polar Regions are warming. Some researchers had indicated in their findings that the Arctic region could be warming at 0. 39 degrees Celsius rate per decade, whereas the Antarctic is getting cold by 0. 12 degree Celsius revealing that the polar caps are not threatened by the declared current global warming, except that those who are doing the observations were alarmed when they saw a few sizeable ice sheets washing into the ocean. Others have explained such incidents as phenomenon that had been around for centuries where the edges on the ice accumulation could get thin in the summer and they will thicken back in the winter months blotting any worry of a polar cap meltdown.