Global Warming: Man-made, or Man-made Myth?

     I firmly believe that global warming is real and over the course of this unit, my belief of global warming has been solidified.

     There are many films and documentaries having to do with the issue of global warming; two of which being Day After Tomorrow and An Inconvenient Truth. Day After Tomorrow may seem to be a fictional film filled with Hollywood hype, but there are numerous scenes that have significant historical attributes. One example of this is the extreme drop in temperature in a rather short amount of time. This may seem impossible, but in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the temperature once dropped from 54 degrees Fahrenheit to -4 degrees Fahrenheit in a little over twenty minutes. 

     In An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore provides countless facts and statistics about how global warming is . One fact is that the “10 hottest years on record have occurred in the last 14 years.” This shows that the frequency of record-breaking years for temperature is increasing. Remember, this film was produced in 2006. Since this film came out, 2010 and 2011 have tied the previous hottest year of 2005. 2012 just ended and NASA has released that it has been the hottest year on record. Gore also explains that the US, "experiencing a record high of 1,717 tornadoes in 2004,” as well as other weather related phenomenons might also have to do with global warming. He suggests, “as water temperature increases, wind velocity increases.” This can also explain the increase of other wind related disasters like hurricanes. Not only has there been an increase in the number of hurricanes, but “in 2004, there was a hurricane in the south Atlantic that hit Brazil.” This is extremely unusual seeing that the formation of hurricanes really doesn’t allow them to make landfall in the area.

     Is global warming real? I believe it is.