...Global warming has become perhaps the most complicated issue facing world leaders. On the one hand, warnings from the scientific community are becoming louder, as an increasing body of science points to rising dangers from the ongoing buildup of human-related greenhouse gases — produced mainly by the burning of fossil fuels and forests. On the other, the technological, economic and political issues that have to be resolved before a concerted worldwide effort to reduce emissions can begin have gotten no simpler, particularly in the face of a global economic slowdown. After years of preparation for climate talks taking place in Copenhagen through Dec. 18, 2009, President Obama and other leaders announced on Nov. 15 what had already become evident — that no formal treaty could be produced anytime soon. Instead, the leaders pledged to reach a placeholder accord that would call for reductions in emissions and increased aid to help developing nations adapt to a changing climate and get access to non-polluting energy options. This would in theory give the nations more time to work out the all-important details. Negotiators would then seek a binding global agreement in 2010, complete with firm emission targets, enforcement mechanisms and specific dollar amounts to aid poorer nations. At the heart of the debate is a momentous tussle between rich and poor countries over who steps up first and who pays most for changed energy menus. Read More... Within the United States...
Words: 1940 - Pages: 8
...SKI RESORTS IN THE USA CASE STUDY Table of Contents: 1. Abstract…………………………………………………………………..3 2. Question 1: What are the most important changes in the environment that have contributed to the drop in revenues?..................................................4 3. Question 2: Why is management a more important success factor for ski resorts now, compared to 20-30 years ago?................................................5 4. Question 3: How is competitive environment of the resorts on the east coast different from that in Colorado? What should the east coast resorts pay particular attention to?..........................................................................7 5. Question 4: Possible changes in the environment in the near future…….8 6. Conclusion………………………………………………………………..9 7. List of References…………………………….…………………………10 Abstract The following paper discuss factors that have lead to changing business environment and its’ impact on ski tourism industry, concentrating especially of the ski resort performance and changes that must take place in order for this business to survive and continue its’ operation on its’ highest level. First and foremost, the economic, political and environmental factors that have been changing in the previous years have lead to the decrease in revenues of the ski resorts that have been taking place since the 1970s. Further on, the management of ski resorts and ski centers must adapt to the above...
Words: 2228 - Pages: 9
...Situation analysis Kenya’s forests are rapidly declining due to pressure from increased population and other land uses. With B of the country being arid and semi-arid, there is a lot of strain on the rest of the land since the economy is natural resource based. The productive area which forms about 20% of the country’s area falls in the medium and high potential agro-ecological zones and is under agriculture, forest and nature reserves. According to FAO Forest Resource Assessment 1990, Kenya is classified among the countries with low forest cover of less than 2% of the total land area. The dwindling forest cover has a severe effect on the climate, wildlife, streams, human population especially forest dwellers. Introduction. Deforestation is clearing Earth's forests on a massive scale, often resulting in damage to the quality of the land. Forests still cover about 30 percent of the world’s land area, but swaths the size of Panama are lost each and every year. The world’s rain forests could completely vanish in a hundred years at the current rate of deforestation. Reasons for cutting down the trees Forests are cut down for many reasons, but most of them are related to money or to people’s need to provide for their families.The biggest driver of deforestation is agriculture. Farmers cut forests to provide more room for planting crops or grazing livestock. Often many small farmers will each clear a few acres to feed their families by cutting down trees and burning them in a process...
Words: 709 - Pages: 3
...Global warming has been a heated topic of discussion for years. There are the people that believe in science and statistics, who say that is becoming more of an issue due to machine diagnostics and scientific evidence. The other side is the people that believe in religion and make choices by money, based on a plan created by god and an argument for our resources going to a cause that is inaccurate and impossible to fix. There does not seem to be a middle ground on this topic because you either believe in science or god, which has made this topic an ongoing debate with no results. The American Policy Roundtable is an organization in the United States that was founded on religion and republican views and they fund and profit from republican campaigning and success. Part of the Roundtable’s mission statement states “The objectives of the Roundtable model are built upon state-based public policy organizations, established in strategic states, all working to change America from "the bottom-up." Each state-based Roundtable organization serves under the auspices of the Board of Trustees of the American Policy Roundtable”. They state that they are a nonprofit organization, yet they have donations and contributions for radio station work and quote “Missionaries in the American field take care of their families as they serve the nation*”. The asterisk is further explained as “100% of the proceeds from books by David Zanotti, CEO, are contributed to the ministry”. Along with donations...
Words: 757 - Pages: 4
...Global Warming Global warming, an increase in the earth's temperature due to the use of fossil fuels and certain industrial and agricultural processes leading to a buildup of “greenhouse gases” (principally carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and water vapor) in the atmosphere. Since 1896 it has been known that these gases reduce the escape of the earth's infrared radiation into space and this function to maintain the earth's relatively warm temperature. This is called the greenhouse effect. Although there is broad agreement that human activity, such as burning fossil fuels has reached a scale that is beginning to influence climate, there is much uncertainty and debate over how much and how fast the climate will warm. Elevated global temperatures could result in coastal flooding and the shifting of major climatic zones and may have serious implications for agricultural productivity. Since 1850 there has been a mean rise in global temperature of approximately 1.8 Fahrenheit and a 28 percent rise in carbon dioxide levels. While most scientists think this temperature rise to the increase in carbon dioxide levels, other scientists argue that this temperature rise could just be part of a natural fluctuation; such fluctuations have been recorded for tens of thousands years and operate in short-term as well as long-term cycles. Because of the difficulty of distinguishing between emissions caused by humans and those caused by natural sources, and a number...
Words: 667 - Pages: 3
...Global Warming Global warming has become perhaps the most complicated issue facing human beans and world leaders today . Warnings from the scientific community are becoming louder, as an increasing body of science points to rising dangers from the ongoing buildup of human-related greenhouse gases — produced mainly by the burning of fossil fuels and forests. Global warming is when the temperature of the earth rises which causes the earth to heat up. This effect happens because of greenhouse gases carbon dioxide ,water vapors, nitrous oxide and methane .These gases trap heat and light from the sun in the earths atmosphere which therefore increases the temperature of the earth. This is a negative impact on the earth and it effects humans ,animals, plants, and climates. A major theory to what causes global warming is the greenhouse effect . The greenhouse effect is when heat and light is trapped in earths atmosphere as a result of this happening the temperature rises. The greenhouse effect has a positive and a negative side on the positive side the greenhouse effect makes earth adaptable for people to live on, without it the earth would be freezing, or on the other hand it would be very hot. Although the greenhouse effect makes it able for humans to function and live on this earth if there gets to be to many gases the earth can get warmer and plants,animals,and humans might die. The reason why humans would die because there would be less food,corn,wheat, vegetables and fruits...
Words: 482 - Pages: 2
...Two Urban sprawl, being one of the unavoidable adverse effects of global economic growth, means uncontrolled city expansion. It contributes to higher demand in consumption goods such as the gasoline and vehicles, which allows the economy continues to flourish in many developed countries as well as developing countries (especially in China). However, urbanization poses an acute ecological threat because it highly depends on the massive development of motorization which is a significant driver of more energy and lands consumption and more emissions of global warming gases. Furthermore, as the motorized urban sprawl means unhealthier, less affordable places for the poor to survive caused by the dispersal of their communities, on the one hand, and growing public health problems, on the other, it also creates serious social problems. To address these adverse effects of urbanization, the technological solution is recommended given that nowadays technology plays a crucial role in socio-ecological development. This essay will outline the problems driven by urbanization and argue that the technological solution is not the most fundamental one to deal with the social and ecological problem driven by urban sprawl. In terms of social problems associated with the spread of urban development, the technological solution may pose greater difficulties to cope with the social polarization in the sprawled cities. The global development of urban sprawl will lead to the explosion of motorization...
Words: 1005 - Pages: 5
...An Inconvenient Truth is an eye opening and compelling look into the future of our planet. I had heard of global warming and thought I knew about it, but this documentary really opened my eyes. If steps are not taken now to try to reverse the effects of global warming, we will be without a home in the very near future. We can all do more to reduce the amount of carbon emissions being release into the atmosphere. It is up to us or there will be no hope for future generations. Global warming is simply an increase in the average temperature of the air near earth’s surface and the temperature of the oceans. The cause of global warming is the increase in greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide, in the earth’s atmosphere. What normally happens when the sun’s rays reach the earth they are bounced back into outer space. With global warming is these greenhouse gases trap the rays from the sun and hold them in the atmosphere increasing the temperature in the air. This is known as the greenhouse effect. Why should we worry if the temperature is increasing? Well this increase in temperature is already having serious effects on the planet. Global warming causes drastic changes in normal weather patterns. Some areas are getting too much rain while other areas are in a severe drought. When the temperature in the air increases, so does the temperature of the oceans. The significance of this is huge. Hurricanes depend on warm water to form, and in 2005 we saw the largest number...
Words: 778 - Pages: 4
...Trina Poston Poston pg.1 18 November, 2012 GLOBALLY GREEN? The Effectiveness Our Attempt At Going Green. Our planet is a magnificent, wonderfully, beautiful and, totally amazing place. With the almost unreal complexities, with all the variations of life from microscopic to hundreds, even thousands of pounds. All life forms these and all those in between. We all share this planet although we don’t all have quite as devastating effect as humans have. The sad fact is that our planet is actually in very serious trouble. With the hole in the Ozone layer the very inconsistency of the weather. The oceans are warming which will have a devastating effect on every living thing, this is also causing the glaciers to melt which in turn makes the water levels to rise. The severity of the storms across the globe and they are coming more frequently every day. The many different catastrophic weather patterns and, the ever increasing number of devastating storms all over the world. Everything from hurricanes, tornados, even tsunami’s, and earth quakes. the fact that these storms are hitting more inhabited areas and much more frequently. Leaving so much destruction and devastation that follows each and every time one hits. People die and entire cities are turned to rubble in only moments. These facts alone should be opening the eyes of people, you would think, right! Maybe not, maybe it’s just me who thinks this way. I don’t really...
Words: 1559 - Pages: 7
...Peoples Attitudes towards Climate Change A group paper is presented to the faculty of Mindanao University of Science and Technology – Jasaan Campus presented by Steven Castino, Geneth Caturan, Marjohn Deleon, John Henry Mercado, Julan Aricayos, Kimbert Pacana, Joseph Sumayang, June Rey Tarpin, Richard Nacua, Joel Cabelto, and Rey Carlou Cailing. I. Introduction Climate Change or Global warming is the increase of the average temperature of earth’s atmosphere, oceans, and landmasses. Scientists believe earth is currently facing a period of rapid warming brought on by rising levels of heat-trapping gases, known as greenhouse gases, in the atmosphere (Harvey, 2012). Ironically, “It is not climate change that is our problem, but the attitude of people that should be addressing the problem” (Fernandez, 2012). Most previous studies evaluating the cause of awareness to the people towards the climate change is the effects of people’s attitude towards climate change (Gallup, 2008; Barret & Dannenberg, 2012). Most of the studies confirm the explicit and implicit attitudes towards climate change suggest targeting hidden thoughts a better way to change people’s behavior (Corner, 2010; Kormos & McIntyre, 2011). There are also findings that proved the countries to firm one another to build human activities towards climate change. This paper is intended to transport cognizance on the necessary ideas on what are the people’s perception towards climate change that have been...
Words: 3065 - Pages: 13
...they will attempt to give attribution to the warming, which now looks more and more like a natural cycle. See updates below. – Anthony ================================================================ Guest essay by Bob Tisdale The recently published climate model-based paper Recent global-warming hiatus tied to equatorial Pacific surface cooling [Paywalled] by Yu Kosaka and Shang-Ping Xie has gained a lot of attention around the blogosphere. Like Meehl et al (2012) and Meehl et al (2013), Kosaka and Xie blame the warming stoppage on the recent domination of La Niña events. The last two sentences of Kosaka and Xie (2013) read: Our results show that the current hiatus is part of natural climate variability, tied specifically to a La-Niña-like decadal cooling. Although similar decadal hiatus events may occur in the future, the multi-decadal warming trend is very likely to continue with greenhouse gas increase. Anyone with a little common sense who’s reading the abstract and the hype around the blogosphere and the Meehl et al papers will logically now be asking: if La Niña events can stop global warming, then how much do El Niño events contribute? 50%? The climate science community is actually hurting itself when they fail to answer the obvious questions. And what about the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO)? What happens to global surface temperatures when the AMO also peaks and no longer contributes to the warming? The climate science community skirts the...
Words: 1039 - Pages: 5
...MKT01760 Tourism Planning Environments Assignment 2 – Proposal for preparation of a tourism plan or policy Due Date: Week 8 Position Statement “Climate change is one of the most significant challenges facing tourism today. Australia’s tourism industry, like all sectors, contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. The industry is also susceptible to climate change impacts, with some of Australia’s most iconic natural attractions and World Heritage Areas particularly sensitive to changes in climate conditions” (Australian Government website, 2010). “Tourism is fundamental to Australia’s economy. The direct GDP contribution of the tourism industry was $38.9 billion in 2006-07. However, many of these tourism-related goods and services contribute to significant GHG emissions. (Tourism Australia, 2008). As stated by Tourism Queensland, 2009, “internationally and domestically our competitors are gearing up so they can promote themselves as climate friendly destinations. Queensland must act if we are to be competitive”. They have also stated ways to make this a reality. Some actions include: Promote environmentally responsible and safe use of your product/service to visitors; monitor the sustainability performances of main competitors; pursue a carbon neutral option for your product or service. Tourism Queensland was established in 1979 (Tourism Queensland, 2009), Tourism Queensland is a statutory body under the...
Words: 3937 - Pages: 16
...President Al Gore’s 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth: A Global Warning. Al Gore has been a long-time speaker and against global warming, and has advocated toward environmental energy efficiency and alternate fuel resources. In the years following his time in the White House, Gore focused significant time traveling throughout the world presenting the adverse effects related to global warming. This led to the creation of his documentary An Inconvenient Truth” A personal evaluation of this film considers the issue of the earth’s rising temperatures, the arguments and implications of global warming, how this topic challenged and broadened my understanding of science, and what significant elements I have taken away from viewing the film. This film is strongly connected to the Science/ Description breadth area because of its exploration of the earth’s construction and how humanity affects our planet, and many of the earth’s natural processes. According to the film, “The greatest venerable part of the Earths ecological system is the Atmosphere” (An Inconvenient Truth). One of the film’s global implications is that humans have the capability to irresponsibly damage the thin and protective layer of the Earth’s atmosphere called the Ozone. Each year, the Ozone is being thickened by pollutants causing more radiation from the sun to be trapped in the Atmosphere. In turn, the atmosphere steadily warms, hence the term, global warming. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) argues that...
Words: 690 - Pages: 3
...Ecological impact of international business on China In the last decade, China has undergone veritable economic expansion, but with great cost to its environment. Unregulated production and pollution have resulted in the existence of over 400 cancer villages in China, concentrated around areas of high economic development (Florcruz, 2013). According to the Chinese media, cancer villages are defined as villages where the number of cancer patients is extraordinarily high due to levels of water pollution from industrial activities. Outside of China, the scientific community identifies "cancer clusters" as regions where cancer is more common as a result of the density of cancer-causing pollutants. The proliferation of cancer clusters in China is higher than anywhere else in the world. Cancer is the number one cause of death in urban China, with lung cancer being the most deadly (Liu, 2010).This essay will analyse the rise of China's economy, the environmental effects it has had on present day China, and how it will continue to effect China in the future. It will also discuss several environmental, economic, and legal policies the government of China are currently looking at and changes they need to consider in the future. "China's economic transformation is one of the most dramatic economic developments of recent decades" (Greene, Dihel, Kowalski & Lippoldt, 2006, p. 5). In 2001, the Chinese economy overtook Japan to become the second largest economy in the world behind...
Words: 1636 - Pages: 7
...GLOBAL WARMING J.Cumm. American Intercontinental University Global Warming Global warming is the greatest challenge that our planet is facing. In fact the increase in the temperature of the earth’s air, several current trends clearly demonstrates that global warming is impacting our environment. Many people around the world are debating the facts about global warming. The problem of global warming has been unsolvable; researchers have various problems that we as humans have inflicted on the earth. Because of the fact that we are contributing to the global warming through our activities of burning of fossil fuels, industrial plants, farming and deforestation activities are only phases that the earth is experiencing, besides the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect which is water vapors, carbon dioxide and methane which our all gases and which water vapor accounts for “80 percent of natural greenhouse warming; the remaining 20 percent is due to the other gases that are present in very small amounts (murck, skinner and porter 488)”. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and water vapors are harmful gases that humanity helps in emitting into the atmosphere. Subsequently there are consequences that society as a whole has to deal with like the rise of sea levels, melting of snow and ice glaciers, climate changes, floods and droughts. All in which can be disastrous (absolute astronomy, 2011). With the significant changes in our climate, our...
Words: 452 - Pages: 2
