Climate change exploratory essay: outline

During the twentieth century, the idea that it has become the hydrocarbon century due to the fact that fossil fuels have become one of the main contributions to human development throughout the years. Fossil fuels were formed over one million years ago through the process of decomposing remains of plants and animals under immense heat and pressure (Denchak). Through this process, new forms of energy have been discovered through fuel, coal, petroleum, and natural gas has produced a large amount of resources globally. This has paved the way for countries to utilize their resources and create a way for their economy to prosper. However, the issue of climate change has become a greater issue in the last century. With using these different forms of energy, it has led to the increase in the climate change and the earth’s temperature which has had a great impact on the earth. While the burning of fossil fuels has been an issue, there are other major factors that impact the climate and climate change as a whole. While I have explored the opportunities that fossil fuels are the main reason that climate change has rapidly increased its effects in the last century; however, issues including farming, deforestation, and human are also a major factor in the rapid increase of  climate change.

            In industrial countries, the notion that climate change exists is something that people don’t want to accept because they would have to come to the conclusion that they need to make a change from their everyday lives. However, the science has proven that gases, such as methane, carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases (“causes of climate change”) can trap heat in the earth’s atmosphere through a concept called the greenhouse effect. While this process of trapping heat in the earth’s atmosphere is important because it makes our planet habitable, however the change in the balance of the gases in the atmosphere can have negative effects. Natural gases and fossil fuel’s emissions are harmful to the environment. The way that fossil fuels and natural gases energy is released is through burning it. Fossil fuels produce large quantities of CO2 when they are burned. 

            Natural gas’s and fossil fuel’s impact on the climate is not limited to burning them but when they’re extracted and transported for use. They emit harmful air pollutants prior to being burned.  There are about “12.6 million Americans are exposed daily to toxic air pollution from active oil and gas wells and from transport and processing facilities” (denchak). The process of acquiring these harmful pollutants as well as transporting them for use has had a severe impact on the environment and on humans. These air pollutants are releasing chemicals like benzene and formaldehyde which are known to cause cancer and other medical problems.

Rest of the paper:

• Listing the alternatives
• Farming
  • Environmental impact
    • Through the documentary 
  • Livestock 
  • Fertilisers 
• Deforestation 
• My opinions

Anonymous. “Causes of Climate Change.” Climate Action – European Commission, 28 June    2017, ec.europa.eu/clima/change/causes_en.

Denchak, Melissa. “Fossil Fuels: The Dirty Facts.” NRDC, 16 July 2019, www.nrdc.org/stories/fossil-fuels-dirty-facts.

The shift in the climate in the last century has become evident  from the addition of naturally occurring greenhouse gases, like methane, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases ( “causes of climate change”) into the atmosphere.