ESL 91
FALL, 2001
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

Amged  Awad
ESL 91
Fall, 2001

ESSAY TOPIC: Imagine that it is the year 2050. Although governments and their citizens were warned about the dangers of the greenhouse effect as early as the 1970's, they did not take the necessary steps to prevent it from worsening. As a result, global warming and ozone depletion continued unchecked. In a well-organized essay, describe what life would be like in the year 2050 under these conditions. What would be the state of the climate? What would the nations of the world look like? What would be the day-to-day living conditions of the people of the world?

Everybody knows the importance of oxygen and air for humans and living things on this earth. Nobody can live more than a few minutes without oxygen. Today in the year 2050 air is full of pollution in all  the earth and it continues to disturb the balance of nature and keeps on destroying the ecology of the world. We have endured many changes and adaptation. For how many years will we, the plants and the earth go on at this rate of pollution? We still don’t have an answer to this question.

This problem began during the Industrial Revolution where changed agricultural and industrial practices created new chemical composition gas, carbon dioxide) and added gases that absorbed infrared radiation and were released in to the atmosphere Because of that the greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide) increased, resulting in the depletion of the ozone layer. As a result, the earth’s atmosphere kept on changing and the temperature of the planet kept on rising and now the global warming factor has no solution.

We can see these changes around the earth. Melting ice on the polar ice caps has caused the level of the sea to rise. Many countries have suffered flooding and destruction of all the life. The tropical regions lost their vegetation and this caused deforestation in the planet. In some places it didn’t rain and the crops didn’t grow, and this threatened human health and harmed birds and fish. Also precipitation and other climate conditions changed because of the depletion of the ozone layer.

The ozone layer is an umbrella of gas that protects us from the dangerous radiation that the sun produces. The ozone layer absorbs most of the dangerous ultraviolet radiation reaching the earth from the sun. Ozone is being made and broken down all the time; unfortunately, pollutants and chemicals can destroy the ozone, upsetting the balance in the atmosphere. When this happened, the ozone layer was depleted, and the amount of dangerous ultraviolet radiation reaching the earth increased. In the 1970’s scientists found a hole had appeared in the ozone over the Antarctic pole and other areas of the world, and they found high levels of the ozone depleting chemicals in these areas.

Now it is the year 2050. We can’t do anything about this problem to save the earth. This problem didn’t happen by chance, but the humans did this by their hand. It started when the people began using machines to make life easier.

It started more than 200 years ago and changed the way humans live. People started to use energy that came from the fuels, coal and oil. The climate changed by human activities. Global mean surface temperature has increased 0.5-1.0 F since the late 19th century. The 20th century’s 10 warmest years on record all occurred in the 20th century.1998 was the warmest year on record. The snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere and floating ice in the Arctic Ocean decreased. Globally, Sea levels rose 4-8 inches over the past century. Worldwide precipitation over land has increased by about one percent. The frequency of extreme rainfall events increased throughout much of the United States (EPA Global Warming Site).

After the climate changed, we couldn’t save the earth from the dangerous radiation. The chemical composition and pollution in the atmosphere destroyed all the life on the surface of the earth and the climate changed. The people suffered illnesses. Skin cancer and eye diseases increased due to the depletion of the ozone layer. We also can’t drink the water because all water became dirty due to radiation. All the green land doesn’t give food. All the animals on the land and fish in the sea are dead. All the natural resources are done, and people are beginning to die.

The ends of life are poor. Many poor countries don’t have enough food and water and they have started to borrow from the rich countries. This isn’t a problem in the money or in the economy; it’s a problem in the water, air, food and other resources to survive. It’s right. The time is up to solve this big problem. As all scientists say we are unable to determine which parts of the world will become wetter or drier. If we had taken care of this 60 years ago, we could have saved the ozone layer and reduced the air pollution, which produces greenhouse gases.

Every one is trying to protect themselves from this change that has happened in the atmosphere of the earth. As a result of the global warming and ozone layer destruction. The change in all the life and climate are exterminating our lives. Humans, animals and plants are suffering many changes. Today in the year 2050,everything is about the problem.

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