KariAnn

Our book refers to global warming as, "The increase in the mean annual temperature of the lower atmosphere and oceans in the past 150 years, primarily as a consequence of burning fossil fuels which emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere."

There is no doubt that our Earth is warming.  We can see results of that with our own eyes.  Whether its glaciers rapidly melting or insects having a longer life cycle due to not succumbing to the cold.  The argument, however, seems to be if this rapid warming of our planet is due to the actions of humans.  That all depends on who you ask.  Some scientists testify that mankind is ruining our planet.  Others will tell you that the planet would be warming anyway.  I have studied this topic quite a bit for my own personal interest outside of our class.  I have discussed the phenomenon in great detail with an Earth scientist, watched Al Gore's theatrics, crunched numbers and looked at pathetic photographs of polar bears floating on lonely pieces of ice.  While the photographs of distraught polar bears are heart breaking, I hold firm to my opinion that global warming is real...somewhat.  Through geology, biology, archeology and other types of studies, we have learned that climate change is a natural occurrence of our Earth. At some periods of time the weather change was more gradual or rapid than others.  During this current period of time that you and I are living in, it is a rapid time.  Is man contributing to the rapid change?  Quite possibly.  But the bottom line is, I do not feel that if our human race was suddenly extinguished that the warming of our planet would stop or even slow down very much.  With that being said, I am going to continue to sleep soundly at night knowing that when I drive my car to work in the morning, I'm not destroying our planet.  Maybe I'm not necessarily making it better.  But the carbon footprint I'm leaving isn't enough to single handedly ruin Glacier National Park.  Scientific evidence suggests that the glaciers would be melting anyway.  Now don't get me wrong, I certainly don't feel that we should all go out and burn as much fossil fuels as possible and live a life of carefree gluttony.  But I honestly do not believe that we should stress so much about it.  Let's be rational about it. 

With opinion on global warming aside, the Earth is definitely getting warmer.  So what does that mean for natural hazards?  It means quite a bit, actually.  One major Earth change that occurs due to warming is the ocean levels.  As water gets warmer, it expands.  This is called thermal expansion.  With the rise of the ocean levels, natural hazards are created.  One particular hazard that comes to mind is sink holes.  When the earth fills with water underneath us, sink holes happen.  This is called Karst.  It can be very dangerous and unpredictable.  People and property can sink into these holes.  

Another natural hazard that occurs due to the Earth's warming is severe storms.  When the temperature in the ocean waters increases just a few degrees, it can create some serious weather changes.  For example, El Nino, a band of warm water that is located out in the ocean east of South America, is responsible for many different storms that we receive here in the Western United States.  When that water temperature warms just a little bit, more storms are created.  Not just are more storms created, they are also stronger storm systems.