Characterize both sides of only one aspect of the international debate Research Paper

Characterize both sides of only one aspect of the international debate concerning Global Warming - Research Paper Example Basically, global warming can be defined as the heating of the planet as a result of excessive temperature generated from green house gas emissions such as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which trap heat causing increases in temperature (Brown 1996). The greenhouse gases allow light from the sun to come into the atmosphere and trap the outward bound infrared radiation to warm up the earth. However, the more greenhouse gases are in the atmosphere, the more heat gets trapped causing extreme climatic conditions which can negatively impact on the welfare of the people. Extreme climate conditions such as floods or recurrent droughts can be witnessed as a result of the effects of global warming. The melting of ice as a result of global warming results in increases of more water to the ocean and its level rises. As a result of the rising sea level, people living in areas below that sea level will be displaced. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been studying about global warming over the past few decades. Their most recent report, issued in February 2007 entitled: â€Å"Evidence is now ‘unequivocal’ that humans are causing global warming,† shows that the activities of the human beings are responsible for the cases of increasing global warming conditions. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the earth has already been showing many signs of worldwide climate change (United Nations News 2007). An increase of about three degrees is expected this century according to this report. The report notes that surface temperature has increased by about 0.74 degrees over the last 100 years. Larger values of glacier melting of abo ut 1m are expected by about 2100. Global warming has a number of negative impacts on the welfare of human beings. â€Å"Major impacts of climate change will be on rain fed crops (other than rice and