Jordan Wilde
Assignment #4
Biology 1010
Carbon Dioxide and its Effect on Global Warming
By Jordan Wilde
Carbon Dioxide, what is it? The definition of Carbon Dioxide, CO2, is a colorless, odorless,
incombustible gas. Present in the atmosphere and formed during respiration (8). Without it we
wouldn’t be here today. It is essential to our surviving life. Carbon Dioxide is the chief
greenhouse gas within our atmosphere alongside methane, ozone, and fluorocarbon. The
greenhouse effect is an atmospheric heating phenomenon, caused by short-wave solar
radiation being readily transmitted inward through the earth’s atmosphere but longerwavelength heat radiation less readily transmitted outward, owing to its absorption by
atmospheric gases (8), thus keeping the earth warm. That is one essential use of CO2. It is also
used by eukaryotes like us and plants. Plants use CO2 and H2O to create food and oxygen, as a
byproduct, to survive as a species. Homo sapiens, that’s us, and animals of all kind use the food
and oxygen created by plants to create energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the
body’s energy currency, and releasing CO2 back into the atmosphere to be used by plants again.
It’s a continuous cycle. So why is it a problem today if it is essential to life? The problem with
carbon dioxide is the fact the there is too much in the atmosphere and plants aren’t able to
keep up with the rising levels to keep the gas moderate in the atmosphere. This brings up the
theory of Global Warming.
What is Global Warming? The theory is an increase in the earth’s average atmospheric
temperature that causes corresponding changes in the climate (8). What does that mean? It
simply means the temperature of the earth is getting warmer because of the daily activities of
humans. The levels of CO2 are going up due to burning of fossil fuels, like the exhaust that
Jordan Wilde
Assignment #4
Biology 1010
comes from our vehicles, deforestation, cutting down forests around the world, and raising
cattle, large corporate ranches. There are other causes of unnecessary rising of CO2 levels but
they aren’t as powerful as the three mentioned above. This is a problem because rising
temperatures causes huge effects on the land we live on. For example, if the ice glaciers start to
melt, which they are, the sea level will start to rise. That isn’t a good thing for the people that
live close to shorelines around the world. The sea will start to claim the land as its own. Killing
and relocating millions of species around the globe. Rising temperatures affect the weather as
well. More wet climates, like rain forests will start to see more and more rain, causing floods.
Dryer climates will start to see less and less water which is going to cause serious droughts.
These are just a couple of reasons why global warming is a serious problem. (1)
Some believe in global warming and some do not. The evidence of global warming is
quite relevant. The Earth’s climate has changed throughout history. Just in the last 650,000
years there have been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat with the abrupt end of the
last ice age that happened about 7,000 years ago marking the start of the modern climate era
and human cyclization (2). Scientists have been able to create a graph that shows the different
CO2 levels from the past 650,000 years ago mentioned above.
(2)
Jordan Wilde
Assignment #4
Biology 1010
As shown on the graph from the 1900’s and on, there has been an extremely huge increase of
carbon dioxide levels. From the past 1300 years ago, the CO2 levels have been above the 300
parts per million. PPM (Parts Per Million) is a unit of measure of the amount of dissolved solids
in a solution in terms of ratio between the number of parts of solids to a million parts of total
volume (8). This is a visually significant piece of evidence to help show how the levels really are.
As time goes on the levels are just going to increase. If a graph isn’t good enough
evidence, there is physical evidence of warming temperatures throughout the world. In
Patagonia, Argentina 1928, you would see vast ice lands with snowy capped mountains,
currently you will find green land with pools of water within the valley, and mountains still have
snow on the peaks but less of it.
(1) The picture on top was taken back in winter 1928 and the picture on the bottom was taken
back in spring 2004. As explained above the picture shows the physical evidence of warming
temperature. Because of this rapid climate change sea levels start to rise. Global sea level rose
about 17 centimeters in the last century. The rate from the past 20 years has been about 3.2
Jordan Wilde
Assignment #4
Biology 1010
millimeters per year (3). Global temperature rise, all three major global surface temperature
reconstructions show that the Earth has warmed since 1880. Since 1981 we have seen the
warmest years ever and they keep getting warmer (4). With warmer land temperatures comes
a warmer ocean. The oceans have absorbed much of the increased heat over time. From about
700 meters below the ocean on the equator, scientists have been able to crunch data showing
the oceans temperature has risen about 0.302 degrees Fahrenheit since 1969 (2). Glaciers are
retreating almost everywhere around the world. This Includes the Alps, Himalayas, Andes,
Alaska and Africa (5). The evidence is all around us, but some scientists don’t believe in the
theory.
The data against the theory of global warming is the Earth has stopped warming up
since 1997 (7). Support form University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit, claims they
crunched data from 30,000 different climate station around the world, that the earth has in fact
stopped warming completely and Earth is heading into a drastic cooling era (7). NASA scientists
have predicted there will be a significantly cooler “cycle 25”, cooler than the current “cycle 24”
(7). Interestingly enough NASA has a research team dedicated to the current climate change.
NASA reports daily of the different levels of CO2 within our hemisphere. There are also pseudoscience beliefs, which are irrelevant to the scientific theory. A good way to look at the standing
evidence is to take a hypothetical frog and put it in a boiling pot of water, immediately the frog
will jump out. You put the same hypothetical frog in a lukewarm pot of water and increase the
temperature, the frog will sit there, even in boiling water, until someone pulls the frog out. The
reason why, is simply because the frogs body would get used to the raising temperature. This is
how the world is today. People will be against the scientific theory because there isn’t a huge
Jordan Wilde
Assignment #4
Biology 1010
difference in temperature, nothing noticeable. Which is true, there isn’t a huge difference now.
What about in 50 years though? 100 years??? No one knows the future, but the data collect
from scientists can predict what will happen next.
What is in the future? No one will ever know until it is too late. The truth is carbon
dioxide levels are raising by the day and plants are not able to keep up with the raising levels. It
has been proven by many sources that CO2 gases do cause warmer temperatures, not
drastically but slowly and over time the temperatures may be too much to sustain life (6). This
is something we will never see in our life time, but generations to come may have a bigger
problem to deal with. There are many ways people can help reduce the carbon footprint on this
Earth. Simple everyday things can make the difference. Using vehicles less, like start riding a
bike if possible, or invest into local transportation, carpool. Planting trees and flowers help
reduce CO2 levels. Commit some time in planting trees or grow a garden. It can be beneficial to
you and the world. Start eating less fast food, meats specifically. With the major cattle industry
booming because of fast food meats, cutting the consumption of meats could cause the
industry to cut back and downsize. It would make the world-of-difference if the lands used to
store the cattle was used to plant gardens and trees. The key is to understand the world will be
good to you if you are good to it.
Jordan Wilde
Assignment #4
Biology 1010
Personal Reflection
Why do schools require Biology? It’s simple really, without Biology and science in
general we wouldn’t be able to understand what goes on with our bodies and our planet. It is
essential to our lives and helps us understand, well, everything. Without Biology I wouldn’t
have the motivation to eat healthier, or want to get into better shape. Eating food isn’t
supposed to be for pleasure it is for the body that gets you through the day. So I want to treat it
like I would with a very expensive car. Also without Biology I wouldn’t have been concerned
about the global warming and I would have continued to make a mark with my carbon
footprint. Reason why I just didn’t care is because I didn’t understand, now that I understand, I
am going to make a difference in my life to help the world I have the privilege to be a part of.
Without the education received while researching the theory of climate change, I wouldn’t
have the motivation to make any changes. So with that said, I will never forget the awesome
knowledge I have learned while taking Biology at Salt Lake Community College.
Jordan Wilde
Assignment #4
Biology 1010
Bibliography:
1. http://www.climatecrisis.net (Including Al Gores “In inconvenient truth”
documentary)
2. http://climate.nasa.gov/
3. http://co2now.org/
4. http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/
5. http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/
6. http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/
7. http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/globalwarming/index.html
8. http://dictionary.reference.com/
9. http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/critical-issues-sea-level-rise/
 Some references I didn’t take directly from the source, I just used as
supporting back up to references. Any information obtained by the
references is marked with the number located next to the web page.