Why government should make fossil fuel illegal Research Paper

Why government should make fossil fuel illegal - Research Paper Example The by-products of oil, along with coal, together known as ‘fossil fuels,’ are the major contributors to what is commonly referred to as ‘greenhouse gasses’ being pumped into the atmosphere at a phenomenal rate, the effects of which are causing the Earth’s climate to change. According to all peer-reviewed scientific studies, if the quantity of greenhouse gasses being spewed into the air by automobiles, power plants and factories is not greatly reduced and quickly, the earth and its inhabitants will experience catastrophic consequences in the not too distant future. Fossil fuels are doing great harms that cannot be justified therefore should be illegal much as another other product that causes death and destruction. The people of the Middle East will have to rise up, as they currently are, to dispose their leaders. The best path for other countries, in this respect, is to stop funding them. This paper will discuss the most vital reason to criminalize f ossil fuels, pollution and global warming. The greenhouse effect occurs naturally. When the sun’s light penetrates the atmosphere and strikes the earth’s surface only about two-thirds of the solar energy of the impact is absorbed by the earth. The remaining third reflects off the earth then back into space. Gases consisting primarily of nitrogen and oxygen located in the atmosphere act in the same manner as the glass roof of a greenhouse. These gases act like a bubble surrounding the earth and allow all the available sunlight to enter but trap the majority of this solar energy which, in turn, warms the earth. This is a natural yet tenuous balance which is made more unstable by man-made gases which adds to the total amount of gases. This continuing build-up of gaseous substances in the atmosphere traps more of the solar energy and reflects less. This increasing trend is the reason the earth is warming and its climate changing. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) makes up only a tiny f raction of naturally occurring gases in the atmosphere but constitute approximately half of man-made fossil fuel greenhouse gases. (Lean, Pearce, 2006). The very apparent, inarguable scientific facts regarding man-induced CO2 gases exacerbating the greenhouse effect are not apparent to some who are arguing the evidence with questionable evidence and logic. For example Anthony Lupo author of the article â€Å"Anthropogenic Global Warming: A Skeptical Point of View† postulates that CO2 is not a pollutant at all which is a short-sighted theory, at best, to anyone who has seen black plumes of CO2 smoke pouring out of factory smoke-stacks into the formerly clean air. Lupo claims CO2 is beneficial for plants and occurs naturally in the atmosphere which is true but only when considering naturally occurring amounts which are small and not the excessive quantities which have been emitted worldwide over the past 100 years. According to Lupo climate change is more a regional occurrence and does not affect the entire earth. â€Å"Regionally, climate has been shown to change rapidly in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Life on earth will adapt as it has always done. Life on earth has been shown to thrive when planetary temperatures are warmer as opposed to colder† (Lupo, 2008). Further, Lupo says that scientists will not be able to prove one way or the other if climate change is happening for many decades to come. As if the well documented rising ocean levels and melting Polar ice caps are not an indicator. Lupo believes, or at least writes that today’