The Debate Over Climate Change - 1388 Words

There is a dire divide between scientists politicians in America that has potential to seriously harm the entirety of the world. Nothing represents that divide as closely as the debate over climate change. An almost unanimous amount, 97%, of climate scientists believe there is strong evidence to support global warming (nasa.gov.) In congress, over quarter of Representatives and Senators obstinately believe the opposite, no matter what evidence is presented to the contrary (thinkprogress.org.) The depth of the issue became especially apparent when Senator Jim Inhofe, chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee, brought a snowball into congress as testimony against global warming. Even after thousands of people have pointed out the†¦show more content†¦Comparatively, something relatively cool like the Earth or a human body emits a very large wavelength. When small wavelength light of the sun enters the atmosphere, most of it doesn’t interact with greenhouse gas es (such as carbon dioxide and methane) and simply passes through. Once the light hits Earth, it can either be absorbed or reflected.In the case where it is reflected, its wavelength doesn’t change and it has a relatively high chance of passing back through the atmosphere. If the light is absorbed, it will eventually be reemitted by the Earth at a comparatively longer wavelength light, which interacts with the atmosphere much more frequently. This results in more of the light becoming â€Å"trapped† in Earth’s atmosphere. If there are more greenhouse gases, it essentially increases the degree cycle’s effect. More of the light being trapped leads to the Earth having more energy, or equivalently a larger temperature. Global warming, as the name might suggest, has resulted in a rise of global temperature averages. Already, inaction over in the increase of greenhouse gases has caused the global temperature average to rise by about .7â„Æ' (1.3℉) in t he past century as shown in Figure 1.The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), predicts that it could easily rise by a further 2â„Æ' to 6â„Æ' in the coming century if nothing is done

The Levels Of Carbon Dioxide - 1560 Words

In the modern industrial era, the levels of Carbon Dioxide produced are much more significant than in years before. Due to Carbon Dioxides involvement in ocean acidification, this is a major issue. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, the pH of the ocean surface has fallen by 0.1 units. Although this may not seem significant, due to the logarithmic properties of the pH scale, this change signifies about a 30% increase in ocean acidity. If this issue isn’t addressed, there will be dire consequences for both marine organisms, as well as humans. To understand ocean acidification, some chemistry needs to be defined and understood. Co2 is a compound molecule comprising of one carbon atom bonded to two oxygen atoms through a†¦show more content†¦The molecules gain a shell of water molecules and are transformed from CO2 (g) to CO2 (aq). This is known as the dissolution process. This can be shown in the equilibrium reaction. Equilibrium is a state in a reaction in which both the reactants and the products are present in concentrations that are both constant, and will not change over time. This state results when the forward reaction is proceeding at the same rate as the reverse reaction. An example of this can be seen in the dissolution of Sodium Chloride in water. If the equilibrium equation NaCl(s) NaCl (aq) is used, we can see that the compound in the solid form is re-crystalizing at the same rate as the aqueous form is dissolving. There are 3 main disturbances that can alter equilibrium, a change in concentration of reactants or products, a change in temperature or a change in pressure. According to Le Chatelier’s principle, if any of these three is disturbed, the system compensates by shifting the equilibrium to either the left or the right. This can be seen in the equilibrium reactions associated with sea water. In the dissolution process of CO2 discussed before, not all of the CO2 molecul es remain dissolved. A small amount react with the water to form carbonic acid (H2CO3), which can be seen in the equation CO2 (aq) + H2O H2CO3 (aq). As carbonic acid is a weak acid, it can dissociate to bicarbonate or carbonate. These two equations respectfully are H2CO3 (aq H+ (aq) + HCO3- (aq),

Autobiography Adds To Public Understanding â€Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Autobiography Adds To Public Understanding? Answer: Introducation Lance Armstrong is famous for his accomplishments as four times winner of the Tour de France. His autobiography adds to public view that he overcame the challenge and struggle in his life which were dangerous than the mountains of France. Lance survived cancer and his teen mother who had no support of his biological father since Armstrong was at the age of two reared him up (Armstrong, 2001). He struggled for selection in the towns football team and meanwhile he entered triathlons, which is originator of bike racing and won it. He described in his autobiography to the public the way he first started to ride bike because he wanted to run away from his abusive stepfather and the town where he felt he was unable to fit. This feeling of being free grabbed his interest and became his passion in the journey of his life. In his autobiography, he wrote that he suffered from testicular cancer, which eventually turned into three stages and rapidly covered his lungs and brain (Armstrong, 2001). The doctors who were in charge of treating him tried to provide him hope for life but truly his chances of survival was very less. In his autobiography, Lance said that life was never easy for him; he took cancer as a challenge of travelling mountains and had to go through much painful chemotherapy and suffer largely (Armstrong, 2001). After his surgery, he slowly tried returning in his racing but when he made a came back his teammates refused to accept him thinking he will not be able to be successful and he was threatened that his contract will be opted as well. He describes in his autobiography that after going through all this he committed to racing again and joined the US postal team. He took an oath that he will win the tour de France and won it four times (Armstrong, 2001). Description and understanding of what the biography adds to public understanding of the subject of the book: The biography of Lance Armstrong highlights the doping facts in front of the public. Tyler Hamilton was a support to Armstrong during the Tour de France to help him win (Coyle, 2009). Many members of professional cycling team helps the best riders of the team to win and Hamilton did the same. He took drugs for giving himself a shot for being in a successful team. Hamilton wanted to be rich and non-sporty and after Armstrong won the Tour de France, his salary increased by15percentage (Coyle, 2009). Hamilton had the fear of not being able to make it as a good rider and taking drugs helped him with the boost, which he needed. The drug that Hamilton took was EPO and there are many risks, which come along with the drug. It makes blood healthier and thicker and many cyclists from the 1980 died in their sleep due to unmoved blood. Many cyclists were found to wake up at midnight and practice some movements too keep their blood moving. When Hamilton was asked the reason due to which the fit a thletes consumed drugs to make them unhealthy, he pointed that cycling itself is an unhealthy sport (Coyle, 2009). Cyclists need pain tolerance as they are injured suffering from crashes all the time. Tour de France is such a race that needs thick blood and extremely thin body (Coyle, 2009). Road racers feel fit when they are in their bikes and the rest of the time they remain unwell. The doping era offered Armstrong the appetite to win the Tour de France. He disproportionately got benefit from EPO and without this; he would have not been in the race. The biography of Lance Armstrong stated that he became much thinner after suffering from cancer and he tailored his drug taking process for enhancing his strength for cycling and winning (Coyle, 2009). Comparison of the autobiography and the biography on questions of factual accuracy and truthfulness: Lance Armstrongs autobiography discusses the struggle of his life and his biography highlights some facts about his doping and his journey as well. Both of them have their own area that they covered and both of them are true. His struggle of life was very true because many few people struggles through that amount of pain in their childhood where his stepfather tortured him like anything and his mother faced a lot of trouble rearing him up (Walsh, 2013). Armstrongs autobiography is written in a very straightforward tone and he has highlighted all his struggle and the role of his mother and wife by saying that without them he would not be able to compete. The book itself is a tale of struggle, love, cancer and care. It describes how his life went from a little boy who was afraid of his stepfathers torture to a man who was a champion and admired by everyone (Macur, 2014). Whereas, the biography was also in straight forward tone but had the truth of what doping is and how it was utilized by cyclists. Doping is the main theme of the book and the author reveals Tyler Hamiltons help towards Armstrong and mentions that Hamilton turned to be of great help. The biography of Armstrong mentions that he had admitted doping but he did not let his friend and doctor Michel Ferrari down and claimed that his friend was a good man (Adams, Carine Emmerson, 2014). His biography updated the fact that he turned aggressive to many people who blamed him for doping. He first failed in the retrospective test in 1999, again in 2000, and in 2012, he was finally charged for doping (Zurloni et al., 2015). Both his biography and autobiography stated the truth in two different perspectives; one of his own and the other about him. Comparison of the autobiography and the biography on literary issues such as the use of narrative voice, depiction of scenes, dialogue, and descriptions of people: Lance Armstrong is a famous figure apart from having many controversies throughout his life. It can be learned from his biography that many of the controversies that rise along with him are true and thus it can be said that both his autobiography and biography have stated true conversations. However, his autobiography was in his own voice and the biography was written on him highlighting the struggle and his controversies (Adams, Carine Emmerson, 2014). The biography is unbiased as it has both good and bad side of Lance Armstrong, whereas, his autobiography depicts his struggle and journey of life. His biography revealed his doping issues and described how he is banned for doping. In his autobiography, Armstrong highlighted that after surviving cancer, he faced rejection and his biography showed that his teammates rejected him thinking that he will not be able to race again (Hambrick, Frederick Sanderson, 2015). In his autobiography, he said that he and his wife had kids through th e in-vitro fertilization and similarly his biography claimed that he had become father through the same process. He in his autobiography marked that he had by his side his mother and wife and said that his mother struggled a lot to raise him up (Hamilton Coyle, 2013). Similarly, in his biography it is seen that his mother truly had to struggle to raise him up because she was a teen mother and her first husband left her when Armstrong was two and her second husband tortured her son regularly. Both his autobiography and biography reveals many of Armstrongs secrets yet they also highlight some important points about his life. No one can deny the fact that he has been successful on his own merits and thus it can be said that both the books has well described his life (Dimeo, 2014). References: Adams, I., Carine, J., Emmerson, D. (2014). Doping in sport: Lance Armstrong, a case study. Armstrong, L. (2001).It's not about the bike: My journey back to life. Penguin. Austin, M. W. (2017). Sport philosophy now: the culture of sports after the Lance Armstrong scandal. Coyle, D. (2009).Lance Armstrong's War: One Man's Battle Against Fate, Fame, Love, Death, Scandal, and a Few Other Rivals on the Road to the Tour de France. Harper Collins. Dimeo, P. (2014). Why Lance Armstrong? Historical context and key turning points in the cleaning upof professional cycling.The international journal of the history of sport,31(8), 951-968. Hambrick, M. E., Frederick, E. L., Sanderson, J. (2015). From yellow to blue: Exploring Lance Armstrongs image repair strategies across traditional and social media.Communication Sport,3(2), 196-218. Hamilton, T., Coyle, D. (2013).The secret race: Inside the hidden world of the Tour de France: Doping, cover-ups, and winning at all costs. Random House. Macur, J. (2014).Cycle of lies: The fall of Lance Armstrong. Best Seller. Walsh, D. (2013).Seven deadly sins: My pursuit of Lance Armstrong. Simon and Schuster. Zurloni, V., Diana, B., Cavalera, C., Argenton, L., Elia, M., Mantovani, F. (2015). Deceptive behavior in doping related interviews: The case of Lance Armstrong.Psychology of Sport and Exercise,16, 191-200.

Urban transportation alternati Essay Example For Students

Urban transportation alternati Essay Recently I went on an adventure around Europe and visited three major cities: Paris; Amsterdam; and Berlin. Throughout my travels I used many different forms of transport to get around including trains, buses, cars, ferries, and my own two feet. It was such a central theme to my adventure that I decided to research transportation within urban areas for this report. It has long been a challenge to human kind to get from point A to point B. In the early days of humanity, people were limited to there feet. With the advent of the wheel, transportation became faster and saved time, therefore leaving more time for other activities. It also enabled people to go much greater distances. However, for many hundreds of years people were limited by how fast their horse could pull them, how fast their feet could peddle or how swiftly the current of the river could push them. At the end of last century human beings overcame this limitation with the development of the combustion engine and motorised transportation which enable them to go faster as well as further. Trains, planes, automobiles, space vehicles and many variations of each of these bring human beings to every corner of the world and beyond. However, motorised transportation is not only used in long distance travel, most automobile transportation takes place within urban and suburban centres. As the rate of urbanisation increased over the last century, so did the use of automobiles. Now there are more than 540 million automobiles on the roads of the world with most of these being in the developed countries 1 . Unfortunately cars cause problems, especially when there are many cars in one area such as an urban centre. These problems include, air pollution, noise pollution, and traffic congestion to name but a few. To solve these problems there must be a shift away from car-focussed urban centres and an increase in car alternatives such as bicycles and public transportation. An understanding of the current social and e nvironmental problems in regards to cars must be achieved before feasible solutions can be offered. Cars have become a common luxury in modern cities throughout the world. Being a vehicle of convenience and status, improving economies have made it possible for families to own 2 or more cars. Within cities many people view owning a car as essential. With busy modern lifestyles, a need for conserving time and getting around faster makes the car a handy tool. As well, many people living in the suburbs make a daily commute into the city for work. This supports the statistic that 95% of all car trips in North America are less than 105 miles . Another interesting statistic shows that in 1985, the total number of miles driven in western industrialised nations was 2 trillion miles (approximately a light year) . With all this traffic many problems arise such as air pollution, noise pollution, and traffic congestion and accidents. The combustion engine, developed at the end of the 19th century, uses fossil fuels to drive its motor. This engine is present in almost every modern day vehicle including airplanes, automobiles, trains, and boats. Unfortunately the burning of fossil fuels is not a clean technology. Many different pollutants are released from these vehicles when used. As well, fossil fuels are a non-renewable resource. Due in large part to the high amount of vehicular traffic in urban centres, air pollution is greatest here. Air pollution has a negative impact on many things such as human health, damage to buildings and other structures, and harms crops and vegetation in the surrounding area . There are a few main classes of pollutants that are mainly emitted by the transport sector. The first of these is carbon oxides (both carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide). The production of carbon monoxide comes from the incomplete burning of fossil fuels and exacerbates and causes many different diseases. Up to 90% of carbon monoxide emissions from non-natural origin come from the transport sector . Catalytic converters have helped to stabilise the emissions of carbon monoxide throughout the world . Carbon dioxide is responsible for a smaller amount of car emissions. However it is the main greenhouse gas and may be contributing to global warming . Nitrogen oxides are another significant air pollutant from automobiles. In many areas nitrogen oxides are above the stated limit, which is having major impacts on human health and the environment. They are known to cause respiratory problems in humans as well as cause acid rain, which can disrupt sensitive ecosystems . Another major air pollutant is particulates. This suspended particulate matter can be in either solid or liquid form, and includes soil, soot, smoke, metals, salts, acids and pesticides . Particulates are responsible for many respiratory problems, and depending on the composition may be toxic or carcinogenic. High particle levels c an also be responsible for the general dirtiness of the surrounding environment . Other pollutants are also emitted which have negative effects on health and the environment. Overall it is the high amount of emissions from cars in a city that make urban air pollution a large problem. Another form of pollution caused by vehicles is noise pollution. Although it does not seem as consequential as air pollution, noise pollution in urban areas is actually having a great impact on human health in the form of stress induced illnesses . Another major problem with the high density of cars in the cities is traffic congestion. The large number of cars can make it difficult and slow to manoeuvre around the city extending travel time. It has been shown that driving in slow moving traffic on a regular basis increases blood pressure . Another downfall of car centred cities is land use. In an average American city approximately 40% of the land is used for roads, parking lots and alleyways . Cars are also responsible for approximately a quarter of a million deaths world wide per year which make them seem not as much the lovely convenience machines that we have come to rely upon so heavily, but rather deadly machines that are killing us both slowly and quickly. It is important at this time to look at possible alternatives or solutions to the car problem of the modern world, particularly in urban centres. The Strange Utopia of The Giver Givers Essay Haughton G. Hunter C. 1994. Sustainable Cities. London Bristol, Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Pp. 143. Ecological City (The) Swedish Report to the OECD. 1995. Karlskrona. The National Board of Housing, Building and Planning. Pp. 30. Blowers A. (ed.) 1993. Planning for a Sustainable Environment. A Report by the Town and Country Planning Association. London, Town and Country Planning Association. Pp. 113. Haughton G. Hunter C. 1994. Sustainable Cities. London Bristol, Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Pp. 138 Haughton G. Hunter C. 1994. Sustainable Cities. London Bristol, Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Pp. 145. Haughton G. Hunter C. 1994. Sustainable Cities. London Bristol, Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Pp. 139. Haughton G. Hunter C. 1994. Sustainable Cities. London Bristol, Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Pp. 156. Worldwatch Institute, http://www.bikeroute.com/Trivia.htm New Transportation Vision, http://www.bikeroute.com/Trivia.htm Worldwatch Institute, http://www.bikeroute.com/Trivia.htm Haughton G. Hunter C. 1994. Sustainable Cities. London Bristol, Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Pp. 97. Worldwatch Institute, http://www.bikeroute.com/Trivia.htm http://www.honda.com