Global Warming in the United States

Global Warming in Environmental Law

The gradual increase in the earth’s tem perature due to certain gases that trap heat and prevent it from escaping into the atmosphere. Scientists have been gathering evidence on the effect for years, but it has not yet been clearly established by those who claim that it is imminent, and other scientists strongly contest the theory.

Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) accumulate in the earth’s atmosphere, breaking down slowly and trapping heat at the earth’s surface. That effect, called the greenhouse effect, has been proven necessary to sustain life on earth. The greenhouse effect itself is not bad; it is beneficial. However, the proponents of the global warming theory caution that the atmosphere is now being pumped full of gases that hold heat in. As a result, they project temperature increases between 2 and 9 degrees in the next century

Global warming is not a new theory. The greenhouse effect was identified in 1827 and studied intermittently since that time. One scientist during the nineteenth century claimed that the increase in coal and wood burning due to the industrial revolution would cause the earth’s temperature to warm.

Warming and cooling temperatures have not, however, been limited to the time after the industrial revolution. Even the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which has been measured in core samples taken from glaciers, has varied markedly through centuries. Therefore, there is a certain amount of natural deviation that must be screened out before determining cause and effect. Some natural reasons for temperature swings include changes in the earth’s position in relation to the sun, variations in sun’s radiant energy, volcanic eruptions, meteor impacts, changes in reflectivity of the earth, differences in land and ocean area and shape, and composition of the atmosphere. These issues bring into question the validity of assumptions behind computer models.

However, some of the relevant factors have been clearly demonstrated. The rise in the earth’s population, agricultural activity, and industrial enterprise have increased the proportion of the heat trapping gases in the atmosphere, and the use of CFCs has complicated the situation. All of these influences together result in an increase in heat trapping gases.

Since the industrial revolution, the amount of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere has drastically increased. Agriculture and ranching are largely responsible for increased methane, since rice cultivation and cattle raising release large amounts. The growth in population contributes to increases in carbon dioxide, since carbon dioxide is a byproduct of breathing. Additionally, as population has expanded, reliance on carbon rich coal and other fossil fuels, as well as deforestation, have multiplied carbon dioxide output. Burning coal, particularly the lower grade coals, and the combustion of other fossil fuels contribute nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide, as well as sulfur dioxide. CFCs were added to the mix in the 1950s. The controversy among scientists focuses on these questions: Will the additional gases cause global warming? If so, how much? Has global warming already begun? Computer modeling suggests a relationship between the greenhouse effect and global warming, but the models fail to take a number of factors into consideration, such as the effect of ocean evaporation and cloud cover.

Legal Response

Given the existing evidence, Congress and past presidents have been unwilling to take a stand on this issue and have taken no direct action to deal with global warming. However, some of the measures in the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 should automatically reduce some of the greenhouse gases. For example, the Montreal Protocol, an international conference in which the United States participated, agreed to reduce CFCs. Congress implemented the agreement through a new section in the amendments to the Clean Air Act, which phase out both production and use of CFCs and totally eliminates their use by 2000. It also gave the Environmental Protection Agency the right to move the deadline forward, which it has done. Another new provision was added to the Clean Air Act to reduce acid rain but should affect global warming as well. The section places utilities under restrictions for releases of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, the two compounds primarily responsible for acid rain.

Whether these emission reductions will simply slow the process of accumulating greenhouse gases, have little effect, or somehow reverse it remains to be seen. The population of the earth continues to increase, and developing countries often resist attempts to restrict their uses of resources natural and manmade when developed countries had free use of them for so long
Based on “Environment and the Law. A Dictionary”.