Environmental Quality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Environmental Quality - Essay Example te continues to warm, there will be important ramifications for our planet’s ecosystems, human health, agricultural production, precipitation and glacial retreat. While unanimity on the causes of global warming does not exist, there are arguably many causes of this phenomenon, both natural and human made. For some, global warming has been going on for centuries and is a natural property of the earth. Natural causes of global warming include methane gas which is released from the earth’s arctic tundra and wetlands. As a greenhouse gas, methane traps heat in the atmosphere of the earth. As the effects of global warming are being witnessed across the planet, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is acting to address this important issue. The following will explore climate change and global warming and demonstrate how the EPA is working to combat this important challenge (BBC, 2002). From a human-made perspective, there are many things that we humans do that contribute to global warming. The EPA states that the greenhouse effect is caused by the presence in the earth’s atmosphere of certain gases which transmit energy to the surface of the Earth and temporarily absorb heat, which retards the loss of energy to space. The greenhouse effect is caused by the emission of greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are an important cause of global warming and in the United States about 40% of all carbon dioxide emissions are the result of burning fossil fuels to generate electricity. Accordingly coal is accounts for approximately 93% of all emissions for the purpose of electricity generations. Power plants emit carbon dioxide as does the burning of coal. Carbon dioxide is also emitted from cars and the burning of gasoline to fuel our cars. Accordingly, the United States of America is the largest global consumer of oil, consuming 20 .4 million barrels per day. It is estimated that 33% of all US carbon dioxide