University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Man, is the Main Culprit When It Comes to Global

Warming.

Malik J. Norman
Professor Turgeon
UWRT 1101-007
21 February 2017
 The Artic is home to various kinds of plankton, fish, birds, seals, walruses, and even

whales. The beloved polar bear also roams freely and claims the Artic as its home. Imagine a

mother polar bear and her cub are evocating the icy grounds of the artic for food, looking for seal

to claim. In the distance the mother and the cub noticed a hungry male polar bear roaring and

running at the two with the means and determination as if they were his next meal. The mother

and cub ran for their lives yet the cub was falling behind the male polar bear was on their tale so

the mother polar bear turned around to defend the cub. Her attempt to defend the cub was futile

for the male cub was stronger and the blood thirst that was coming from the polar bear could be

felt from anyone who was viewing this incident. The male polar bear snatched the cub from this

reality and left the mother to watch her cub be cannibalized by the male polar bear. She soon left

in fear that she would be the next victim of the male polar bear. This horrid event was captured

during a Lindblad Expeditions trip on the National Geographic Explorer in the Arctic, crew and

passengers spotted a male polar bear hunting and then eating a polar bear cub, despite the efforts

of the cub's mother to protect it (Polar Bear Cannibalizes Cub). Experts say this cannibalistic

behavior could be occurring more regularly, because the loss of ice due to climate change makes

it harder for the bears to get to their typical food sources, such as seal who follow migratory

patterns. Climate change is a real social and environmental issue and it is all part of a greater

issue, global warming. Members of society would say that global warming does not exist but if

one places close attention to the information and the environmental effect one would notice and

see that man is the major key player in fueling global warming. Man, cannot control how the

nature contributes to global warming for it is an uncontrollable variable. The variable we can

control is our own conscientious actions we that we inflict upon our environment. Mans induced
deforestation, the burning of fossil fuels, and landfills are the top three problems result from

mans actions.

Merriam-Webster goes on to state that global warming is an increase in the earth's

atmospheric and oceanic temperatures widely predicted to occur due to an increase in the

greenhouse effect by increased levels of carbon dioxide, and other pollutants. Man-induced

deforestation has a huge impact on global warming. There are two main effects of deforestation

on global warming. The first effects is "slash and burn" technique used to clear the forest releases

carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the second is the destruction of living trees reduces the

amount of photosynthesis, which is a process that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

and stores it in the plant and converts it to oxygen after it changes it into glucose.

Large-scale conversion of tropical forests into pastures or annual crops could lead to

changes in the climate. We have used a coupled numerical model of the global

atmosphere and biosphere (Center for Ocean-Land- Atmosphere GCM) to assess the

effects of Amazonian deforestation on the regional and global climate. We found that

when the Amazonian tropical forests were replaced by degraded grass (pasture) in the

model, there was a significant increase in the mean surface temperature (about 2.5C) and

a decrease in the annual evapo-transpiration (30% reduction), precipitation (25%

reduction), and runoff (20% reduction) in the region. The differences between the two

simulations were greatest during the dry season. The deforested case was associated with

larger diurnal fluctuations of surface temperature and vapor pressure deficit; such effects

have been observed in existing deforested arms in Amazonia. The calculated reduction in

precipitation was larger than the calculated decrease in evapotranspiration, indicating a

reduction in the regional moisture convergence. There was also an increase in the length
of the dry season in the southern half of the Amazon Basin, which could have serious

implications for the reetablishment of the tropical forests following massive deforestation

since rainforests only occur where the dry season is very short or nonexistent. An

empirical bioclimatic scheme based on an integrated soil moisture stress index was used

to derive the movement of the savanna-forest boundary in response to the simulated

climate change produced by large-scale deforestation. The implications of possible

climate changes in adjacent regions are discussed.

 Works Cited

"American Meteorological Society." Amazonian Deforestation and Regional Climate Change:

Journal of Climate: Vol 4, No 10. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.

"Exclusive Video: Polar Bear Cannibalizes Cub." National Geographic. National Geographic

Society, 17 Feb. 2017. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.

"Global Warming." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.

Rinkesh. "Natural and Man-Made Causes of Global Warming." Conserve Energy Future. N.p.,

24 Dec. 2016. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.

"Tropical Deforestation and Global Warming." Union of Concerned Scientists. N.p., n.d. Web. 20

Feb. 2017.