write a essay about global warming

• Biology Article
• Essay on Global Warming

Essay On Global Warming

Essay on global warming is an important topic for students to understand. The essay brings to light the plight of the environment and the repercussion of anthropogenic activities. Continue reading to discover tips and tricks for writing an engaging and interesting essay on global warming.

Essay On Global Warming in 300 Words

Global warming is a phenomenon where the earth’s average temperature rises due to increased amounts of greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and ozone trap the incoming radiation from the sun. This effect creates a natural “blanket”, which prevents the heat from escaping back into the atmosphere. This effect is called the greenhouse effect.

Contrary to popular belief, greenhouse gases are not inherently bad. In fact, the greenhouse effect is quite important for life on earth. Without this effect, the sun’s radiation would be reflected back into the atmosphere, freezing the surface and making life impossible. However, when greenhouse gases in excess amounts get trapped, serious repercussions begin to appear. The polar ice caps begin to melt, leading to a rise in sea levels. Furthermore, the greenhouse effect is accelerated when polar ice caps and sea ice melts. This is due to the fact the ice reflects 50% to 70% of the sun’s rays back into space, but without ice, the solar radiation gets absorbed. Seawater reflects only 6% of the sun’s radiation back into space. What’s more frightening is the fact that the poles contain large amounts of carbon dioxide trapped within the ice. If this ice melts, it will significantly contribute to global warming. 

A related scenario when this phenomenon goes out of control is the runaway-greenhouse effect. This scenario is essentially similar to an apocalypse, but it is all too real. Though this has never happened in the earth’s entire history, it is speculated to have occurred on Venus. Millions of years ago, Venus was thought to have an atmosphere similar to that of the earth. But due to the runaway greenhouse effect, surface temperatures around the planet began rising. 

If this occurs on the earth, the runaway greenhouse effect will lead to many unpleasant scenarios – temperatures will rise hot enough for oceans to evaporate. Once the oceans evaporate, the rocks will start to sublimate under heat. In order to prevent such a scenario, proper measures have to be taken to stop climate change.

More to Read: Learn How Greenhouse Effect works

Tips To Writing the Perfect Essay

Consider adopting the following strategies when writing an essay. These are proven methods of securing more marks in an exam or assignment.

• Begin the essay with an introductory paragraph detailing the history or origin of the given topic.
• Try to reduce the use of jargons. Use sparingly if the topic requires it.
• Ensure that the content is presented in bulleted points wherever appropriate.
• Insert and highlight factual data, such as dates, names and places.
• Remember to break up the content into smaller paragraphs. 100-120 words per paragraph should suffice.
• Always conclude the essay with a closing paragraph.

Explore more essays on biology or other related fields at BYJU’S.

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your Mobile number and Email id will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Request OTP on Voice Call

Post My Comment

Very helpful Byju’s

this app is very useful

Sample essay on global warming

Very nice and helpful⭐️

Amazing essay

This essay is very helpful to every student Thank you Byjus! 😊😊😊

This one is so helpful and easy to understand. Thank you, Byju’s!

Register with BYJU'S & Download Free PDFs

Register with byju's & watch live videos.

• EXPLORE Random Article
• Happiness Hub

How to Write an Essay About Global Warming

Last Updated: May 13, 2021

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 17 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been viewed 31,318 times.

If you've been assigned an essay about global warming, you'll be needing to focus on the burning issues this topic raises, as well as demonstrating various writing techniques. In the context of academic writing, your global warming essay may be written in three main composition genres: argumentative, problem solving and expository. This article will show you how to combine these essay types within one, allowing you to cover the topic at length.

Before you start writing…

• The greenhouse effect and global warming
• Global warming: real challenge or far-fetched issue?
• Global warming: mechanism of action
• Is it possible to reverse global warming?
• What caused global warming?
• And so forth.

• Stick to a certain number of reliable sources. Don’t confuse the essay with a research paper, where you would need to cite dozens of references. Writing a composition, limit yourself to five if possible, or a maximum of 10 sources.
• Narrow down the allowable sources. Many teachers view some websites with some skepticism and wouldn’t want you to cite them. Instead, you may be recommended to use printed sources. Ask if your teacher hasn't already made this clear.
• Choose reliable sources, scientific journals or government supported websites. For example: climate.nasa.gov, nrmsc.usgs.gov, epa.gov, etc.
• Write down facts, figures, statistics or other accurate data that will serve as strong arguments to support your statement.
• Consider the evidences that are at odds with the view you adhere to. For example, if you are aimed at expanding on the global warming problem, you can’t ignore information saying that our planet faces an opposed process – global cooling. Further, these arguments will come into play and help you reach the appropriate conclusion.
• Don’t forget to note the information needed for designing the bibliography. Doing so, bear in mind the required reference format (MLA, APA, Turabian, Chicago, etc.) assigned to you by your teacher.

• Write a mind map. Suppose you need to cover the topic “Effects of Global Warming”. Put the theme in the center and briefly list the most burning consequences.
• Proceeding from the scientific data you have collected, come up with your original ideas. For instance, if you dwell on the impact of global warming on ice caps, you may suggest a scenario provided that the ablation isn’t stopped.

• If you can incorporate all ideas within one extended sentence, you will get a powerful statement. For example: Global warming is just a fanciful problem invented to suppress substantial challenges that constitute a real threat for humanity.
• Irrespective of the way you formulate the topic, global warming is a pressing issue, and it shouldn’t leave the reader feeling indifferent. Thus, your thesis statement should provoke feedback and come across as challenging. For instance: Lifestyle change is the most considerable contribution to global warming problem treatment.

Implement your ideas in the text

• This may be a quote, such as: “We have passed the tipping points, but, we have not passed a point of no return. We can still roll things back in time, but it is going to require a quick turn in direction”, Dr. James Hansen - top climatologist of NASA. You may get a glimpse of the future and come up with a scene that depicts the potential dire consequences of global warming.
• Use the techniques applied in an expository essay to explain what global warming is about. Utilize figures and statistics that could not be bettered to speak about the seriousness of the problem.
• Be specific and don’t waffle, since the core of the matter you are to develop in the body of the essay.
• Write a thesis statement, which is the embodiment of the problem.

• Provide an explanation of the evidence you describe in the body of the text. If you are writing about factors that contribute to global warming, give specific scientific support. For example: Carbon dioxide emissions, coming from electricity production, top the list of causes for global warming. Just imagine, emissions have increased by 16 times since 1990 and have now reached a dangerous level.
• As far as global warming problem is the issue that touches all and sundry, you might have felt its impact in everyday life. Share your experience with the reader. It will definitely strengthen your arguments: Look out of the window! It is mid-January, but instead of snow banks, there is mud and drizzling rain. Isn’t it a vivid demonstration of global warming?
• Suggest solutions to the problem. People like happy endings, where the good always wins. Similarly, there are sure to be methods to reverse global warming. And they do exist. Provide the ways to handle the problem that, in the first place, are within power of every person. After all, to change the world, one should start with himself/herself.

• Go back to the thesis statement. It is known that repetition has a powerful effect, though, you shouldn’t reword thesis statement. Instead, paraphrase it, keeping its primary meaning intact. For instance, instead of saying "Lifestyle change is the most considerable contribution to global warming problem treatment", write "Having changed our social behavior and consumer attitude to nature, we can reverse global warming problem".

Summarizing the approach

• The Greenhouse effect as the main consequence of global warming
• Global warming: real challenge or far-fetched issue
• What caused global warming

• Limit number of sources
• Choose valid information
• Find and note accurate data connected with global warming issue
• Consider various approaches to global warming problem
• Adhere to particular reference format

• Make a list of global warming consequences, causes and solutions
• Generate own ideas, based on research findings

• Use one sentence to craft powerful thesis statement on global warming issue
• Make it challenging to provoke reader’s feedback

• Be specific and concise
• Utilize figures and statistics to demonstrate the seriousness of global warming problem
• Write thesis statement with the problem exposition in it

• Provide evidences of global warming and expand on them
• Suggest global warming examples from personal experience
• Suggest ways to handle the problem, with a special focus on the role of every person in prevention global warming

• Restate thesis statement for it to have a greater impact on readers
• Summarize main ideas in the last paragraph including call to action speech.

Community Q&A

• Outline all of the main ideas used in the body of the essay within one paragraph. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Make your last paragraph like a call to action: "We all have the grip of the situation! Let us be eco-friendly, not lazy–– walk a hundred meters to the store instead of taking your car, utilize alternative energy sources and buy energy-efficient appliances. Let's be conscientious and responsible for our deeds." Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming – research source
• https://www.wikihow.com/Take-Action-to-Reduce-Global-Warming – research source
• http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=64370 – research source

About this article

Did this article help you.

• About wikiHow
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Do Not Sell or Share My Info
• Not Selling Info

Talk to our experts

1800-120-456-456

• Global Warming Essay

Essay on Global Warming

The last few decades have been monumental when it comes to technological development. Humans have developed systems and machines that make our lives easier. Especially during the early modern period from the early 16th century to as far as the late 18the century, also commonly referred to as “The Scientific Revolution” or “The Enlightenment”, modern technology leapt ahead in development in such a short time frame compared to all of history.

However, with the development of society, there has been a severe detriment to the quality of Earth’s environment. One of the most massive threats to the condition of the planet is climate change. Inadequate research and reckless misuse of natural resources are some of the core reasons for the deteriorating condition of the planet.

To understand the concept of Global Warming and its causes and effects, we need to take an in-depth look into many factors that affect the temperature of the planet and what that means for the future of the world. Here is an objective look at the topic of Global Warming and other important related topics.

What is Climate Change?

Ever since the industrial and scientific revolution, Earth is slowly being used up for its resources. Moreover, the onset of the exponential increase in the world’s population is also very taxing on the environment. 

Simply put, as the need for consumption of the population increases, both the utilisation of natural resources and the waste generated from the use of said resources have also increased massively. 

One of the main results of this over the many years has become climate change. Climate change is not just the rise or fall of temperature of different areas of the world; it is also a change in the rain cycles, wind patterns, cyclone frequencies, sea levels, etc. It affects all major life groups on the planet in some way or the other.  

What is Global Warming?

Global Warming is often considered an effect of Climate change. Global Warming is the rapid increase in the temperature of the Earth’s environment that is causing many life-threatening issues to arise.

Global Warming is a dangerous effect on our environment that we are facing these days. Rapid industrialization, increase in the population growth and pollution are causing a rise in Global Warming. Global Warming refers to the increase in the average temperature of the earth's surface during the last century. One of the reasons why Global Warming is dangerous is because it disturbs the overall ecology of the planet. This results in floods, famine, cyclones and other issues. There are many causes and results of this warming and is a danger for the existence of life on earth.

The sign of Global Warming is already visible with many natural phenomena happening around globally, affecting each living species.

Here is some data that can help to give a more precise understanding of the reality of Global Warming in the last few years:

On average, the world’s temperature is about 1.5°C higher than during the start of the industrial revolution in the late 1700s. That may not seem a lot to you, but that is an average estimate. This number is only increasing. Many parts of the world face far more severe changes in temperature that affect the planet’s overall health.

In 1950, the world’s CO 2 emissions were at 6 billion tonnes which had quadrupled in volume until 1990, just 40 years later to 22 billion tonnes. Not only that, unchecked CO 2 emissions today have reached a whopping 35 billion tonnes.

The most evident causes of Global Warming are industrialization, urbanization, deforestation, and sophisticated human activities. These human activities have led to an increase in the emission of Greenhouse Gases, including CO₂, Nitrous Oxide, Methane, and others.

Causes of Global Warming

A variety of reasons causes Global Warming. Some of which can be controlled personally by individuals but others are only expected to be solved by communities and the world leaders and activists at the global level.

Many scientists believe the main four reasons for Global Warming, according to recent studies, are:

Greenhouse gases

Deforestation

Per capita carbon emissions

Global Warming is certainly an alarming situation, which is causing a significant impact on life existence. Extreme Global Warming is resulting in natural calamities, which is quite evident happening around. One of the reasons behind Global Warming is the extreme release of greenhouse gases stuck on the earth surface, resulting in the temperature increase.

Similarly, volcanoes are also leading to Global Warming because they spew too much CO₂ in the air. One of the significant causes behind Global Warming is the increase in the population. This increase in the population also results in air pollution. Automobiles release a lot of CO₂, which remains stuck in the earth.

This increase in the population is also leading to deforestation, which further results in Global Warming. More and more trees are being cut, increasing the concentration of CO₂.

The greenhouse is the natural process where the sunlight passes through the area, thus warming the earth's surface. The earth surface releases energy in the form of heat in the atmosphere maintaining the balance with the incoming energy. Global Warming depletes the ozone layer leading to the doom's day.

There is a clear indication that the increase in Global Warming will lead to the complete extinction of life from the earth surface.

Solution for Global Warming

Global Warming can not be blamed on individuals; however, it can be tackled and maintained from worsening starting at the individual level. Of course, industries and multinational conglomerates have higher carbon emissions levels than an average citizen. Still, activism and community effort are the only feasible ways to control the worsening state of Global Warming.

Additionally, at the state or government level, world leaders need to create concrete plans and step programmes to ensure that no further harm is being caused to the environment in general. 

Although we are almost late in slowing down the Global Warming rate, it is crucial to find the right solution. From individuals to governments, everyone has to work upon a solution for Global Warming. Controlling pollution, population and use of natural resources are some of the factors to consider. Switching over to the electric and hybrid car is the best way to bring down the carbon dioxide.

As a citizen, it is best to switch over to the hybrid car and to use public transport. This will reduce pollution and congestion. Another significant contribution you can make is to minimize the use of plastic. Plastic is the primary cause of Global Warming taking years to recycle.

Deforestation is another thing to consider that will help in controlling Global Warming. Planting of more trees should be encouraged to make the environment go green.

Industrialization should be under certain norms. The building of industries should be banned in green zones affecting plants and species. Hefty penalties should be levied on such sectors contributing towards Global Warming.

Effects of Global Warming

Global Warming is a real problem that many want to prove as a hoax for their political benefit. However, as aware citizens of the world, we must make sure only the truth is presented in the media.

Various parts of the environment, both flora and fauna, are directly adversely affected by the damages caused by Global Warming. Wildlife being in danger is ultimately a serious threat to the survival of humanity as we know it and its future.

The effect of Global Warming is widely seen in this decade. Glacier retreat and arctic shrinkage are the two common phenomena seen. Glaciers are melting in a fast way. These are pure examples of climate change.

Rise in sea level is another significant effect of Global Warming. This sea-level rise is leading to floods in low-lying areas. Extreme weather conditions are witnessed in many countries. Unseasonal rainfall, extreme heat and cold, wildfires and others are common every year. The number of these cases is increasing. This will indeed imbalance the ecosystem bringing the result of the extinction of species.

Similarly, marine life is also widely getting affected due to the increase in Global Warming. This is resulting in the death of marine species and other issues. Moreover, changes are expected in coral reefs, which are going to face the end in coming years.

These effects will take a steep rise in coming years, bringing the expansion of species to a halt. Moreover, humans too will witness the negative impact of Global Warming in the end.

FAQs on Global Warming Essay

1. What Global Warming will Cause?

Global warming will have a massive impact on our earth in the end. Flood, extreme weather conditions, famine, wildfire and many more will be the result. There will be hotter days, which will also increase the wildfire and famine. In the past years, many meteorological bureaus have added purple and magenta to the forecast.

Another impact of global warming will be rising sea levels. Increased ocean temperatures will lead to the melting of glaciers and ice caps. Increase in the sea level will lead to floods in many low-lying areas.

The overall ecosystem of nature will be an imbalance. This will affect nature in the long-term.

2. Why Does Global Warming Happen?

There are many reasons for the cause of global warming. There are certain gases in the atmosphere called greenhouse gases. The energy then radiates from the surface; the greenhouse gases trap longwave radiation. We humans have added to the atmospheric blanket of greenhouse affecting the living species. Warming of air, oceans, and land is how global warming happens.

Home — Essay Samples — Environment — Global Warming — Argumentative Essay On Global Warming

Argumentative Essay on Global Warming

• Categories: Climate Change Environmental Issues Global Warming

About this sample

Words: 879 |

Published: Mar 5, 2024

Words: 879 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Dr. Karlyna PhD

Verified writer

• Expert in: Environment

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

1 pages / 518 words

3 pages / 1276 words

2 pages / 958 words

4 pages / 2245 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Global Warming

ASA (American Society on Aging). 'The Effects of Climate Change on Older Adults.' Journal of Aging and Health, vol. 25, no. 6, 2013, pp. 997-1013.NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information). 'Impact of Extreme Weather [...]

Climate change is a global phenomenon that has far-reaching effects on both the environment and human life. In this essay, we will explore the concept of climate change, analyze its consequences on everyday life, and discuss the [...]

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus), the iconic arctic predators, have long captured the imagination and concern of people worldwide. Residing primarily within the circumpolar Arctic, these majestic animals are perfectly adapted to [...]

Global warming is a topic that has sparked heated debates and passionate arguments on both sides of the issue. With scientists warning of catastrophic consequences and skeptics claiming it's all a hoax, the question remains: is [...]

Preventing global warming requires a comprehensive and multifaceted approach. By reducing greenhouse gas emissions, transitioning to renewable energy sources, improving energy efficiency, protecting and restoring natural [...]

The short story “Diary of an Interesting Year” by Helen Simpson is delivered to readers in the form of a diary entries. It is the year 2040, and the main character, a 30-year-old women, writes entries regarding her decrepit [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

Essay on Effects of Global Warming for Students and Children

500+ words essay on effects of global warming.

Global warming refers to climate change that causes an increase in the average of Earth’s temperature. Natural events and human influences are believed to be top contributions towards the increase in average temperatures. Global warming is a rise in the surface and atmospheric temperature of the earth that has changed various life forms on the earth. The issues that ascertain global warming are divided into two broad categories – “natural” and “human influences” of global warming.

Natural Causes of Global Warming

The climate has been continuously changing for centuries. One natural cause of global warming is greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide . It traps the solar rays and prevents them from escaping the surface of the earth.

This causes an increase in the temperature of the earth. Volcanic eruptions are another reason for global warming. A single volcanic eruption can release a great amount of carbon dioxide and ash to the atmosphere. Increased carbon dioxide leads to a rise in the temperature of the earth.

Also, methane gas is another contributor to global warming. Methane is also a greenhouse gas. Methane is twenty times more effective in trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. Usually, methane gas is released from many areas like animal waste, landfill, natural gas, and others.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Human Influences on Global Warming

Human influence has been a very serious issue now as it is contributing more than natural causes of global warming. Since human evolution, the earth has been changing for many years until now and it is still changing because of our modern lifestyle. Human activities include industrial production, burning fossil fuel, mining of minerals, cattle rearing and deforestation.

Industries, transportation such as cars, buses, trucks burn fuel to power machines, which eventually releases carbon dioxide and monoxide from the exhaust, leading to an increase in a temperature rise of Earth’s atmosphere.

Another contributor is mining. During the process of mining, the methane gas trapped below the earth escapes. Rearing cattle also causes the release of methane from manure. Another cause is the most common but most dangerous – deforestation.

Deforestation is a human influence because human have been cutting down trees to produce paper, wood, build houses and more. Trees can absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and their absence can lead to the concentration of such gases.

The Effect of Global Warming

The impact that global warming is causing on earth is extremely serious. There are many hazardous effects that will happen in the future if global warming continues. It includes melting of polar ice caps, leading to an increase in sea level drowning coastlines and slowly submerging continents.

Recent studies by National Snow and Ice Datacenter “if the ice melted today the seas would rise about 230 feet”. Another effect is climate change leading to the extinction of various species. More hurricanes, cyclonic storms, heat waves, drought, and extreme rainfalls will occur causing disaster to humankind.

The solution to Stop Global Warming

We humans need to work together towards the prevention of global warming. To reduce global warming we can contribute by reducing the production and concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. We need to curb usage of gasoline, electricity and other activities including mining and industrialization that cause global warming.

Another way to reduce global warming is through recycling. Recycling can help reduce open burning of garbage by reusing plastic bags, bottles, papers or glass. We need to stop open burning dry leaves or burning garbage. It contributes to releasing carbon dioxide and toxins. Besides, we should reduce deforestation and start planting more trees. Trees will help improve the temperature on earth and prevent drastic climatic change.

From today’s scenario, we can derive that our earth is “sick” and we humans need to “heal” it. Global Warming has already caused many problems for human and we need to prevent disasters of the future. Our generation needs to take care of the earth with immediate effect to safeguard future generations or they will suffer the consequences of global warming.

Customize your course in 30 seconds

Which class are you in.

• Travelling Essay
• Picnic Essay
• Our Country Essay
• My Parents Essay
• Essay on Favourite Personality
• Essay on Memorable Day of My Life
• Essay on Knowledge is Power
• Essay on Gurpurab
• Essay on My Favourite Season
• Essay on Types of Sports

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Download the App

Essays About Global Warming: 6 Examples and 8 Easy Writing Prompts

Global warming is a pressing matter that is important in today’s society. See our top essays about global warming examples below, and helpful writing prompts.

Global warming occurs when the Earth’s average temperature rises due to increased greenhouse gas emissions. This phenomenon has an almost limitless number of consequences, such as extreme changes in weather patterns. These repercussions are harmful to the Earth’s organisms and inhabitants.

When writing essays about global warming, it is common to talk about its causes and effects. However, to make your essay stand out, take a different view, such as “Why do humans barely do anything about global warming?” and “Can still save planet Earth?”.

Below are 6 examples and 8 writing prompts to help you get started with your global warming essay.

If you’re looking for other interesting subjects to focus on, here are 46 different writing topics to commit to

1. Global Warming Can Change Our Lives by Rosemary Burgess

2. we need to talk about climate change, even if it’s depressing by rosemary randall, 3. global warming’s terrifying new math by bill mckibben, 4. who is really to blame for climate change by jocelyn timperley, 5. climate change and food by mashael khuda karam, 6. global warming: temperature by johnny fowler, 1. understanding global warming, 2. causes and effects of global warming, 3. the politics of global warming, 4. the future generations’ fight against global warming, 5. immigration caused by global warming, 6. impact of global warming on biodiversity, 7. global warming and sustainability, 8. effects of global warming on health.

“The weather patterns are rapidly changing in all parts of the world. The increased rainfall in certain regions affects the balance that animals and plants need to survive. Climate changes cause health problems, animal migration, and the lack of food resources.”

Bussey’s essay points out the dire fact that global warming is no longer a prediction but an ongoing crisis. She explains the adverse effects of global warming on life, including sinking territories, rapid resource depletion, and illnesses among organisms. 

“I’ve got worse things to worry about, thank you very much….In dealing with climate change, we are in the terrain that psychoanalysis calls resistance or defence — the ability to defend ourselves from too much mental and emotional pain… a rationalisation for inaction.”

In her essay, Randall used a research-based approach by providing a survey’s findings, accompanied by interviews with different professors in different universities. She also included psychoanalysis, a theory from Sigmund Freud connected to handling emotions and defensive reactions towards climate change that explains people’s underwhelming response to global warming.

“Psychology as a whole and psychoanalysis, in particular, are not solutions to climate change, but they offer an important way of thinking about the problem. They might help to shift enough people’s attitudes to give us a chance to tackle climate change itself, from a position of consensus and commitment, rather than of apathy and indecision.”

Mckibben discusses the results of various experiments in cognitive and social psychology in this essay. He notes that global warming is a disturbing problem that has helped psychologists understand the connection between emotions and nature. He also mentions a critical way to help deal with climate change – to look for ways to reduce humanity’s carbon footprints. 

“But ultimately, what is important is understanding who holds power over the choices available to everyone else. By challenging how, and for whom, that power is gained and used, and perhaps we can begin to shed light on how to truly turn things around on climate.”

Timperley chooses to approach specific acts that people can take to help alleviate global warming, explicitly directing these notions at country leaders. She also included the impacts of every country’s power consumption and overuse of energy sources. 

“It is important to solve climate change because the long-term impacts of it will put every organism on the Earth at a big risk… show others that is something that needs to be solved. Posts on social media about the dangers on the food supply from changing the weather like: climate change increasing the risk of foodborne illness, lowering the nutritional value of the food.” 

Karam’s essay concentrates on the causes and impacts of food-related problems brought by global warming, emphasizing its long-term consequences. She also presents a list of factors that influence food and water scarcity. 

“People are suffering, nature is dying, and everything is collapsing, so we need to move to prevent it immediately.”

Fowler writes that global warming exists because of natural events and only accelerates due to human activities. He advises that we need to reduce emissions via different solutions available at our disposal, such as planting trees and taking advantage of technology.

8 Interesting Prompts on Essays About Global Warming

After reading the various essays about global warming, it’s now time for you to create your own. Below are themes you can use to aid you in expanding your ideas.

Understanding why global warming exists is a fundamental subject you can focus on in your essay. However, this area may be too general, so it’s better if you choose a specific topic or angle to talk about. 

For example, you can focus on human’s role in global warming. Include facts and reliable sources, as your analysis is connected with science. Explore different authors’ perceptions to get well-grounded opinions.

For this prompt, you should be able to share the effects of global warming on health, industry, country, nature, and businesses. Make it so that your essay draws attention to pressing concerns caused by global warming. 

For a more effective essay, you can share your personal experience with the subject. For example, to give you an idea, share how many rainstorms you’ve seen in the past season, then compare it to the years before.

Politics connect to the economy, and harmful business practices sacrifice Earth for profit. Talk about how people who have political power act regarding climate change and the economy. For instance, you can discuss why they pick the country’s economic gain over preserving natural resources.

You can open your essay with a question or begin a conversation about how you think the future generations will deal with the aftermath of global warming, depending on the current generation’s schemes. Discuss the importance of change and why it is such a passionate issue amongst the younger generation.

Include data and facts about people needing to relocate because of the extreme climate changes. Use research data and statistics to back up your points. You can also incorporate other organisms that move from place to place because of the drought, destroyed ecosystems, etc.

Biodiversity is Earth’s life support, and global warming affects it adversely. You can mention how humans are a part of biodiversity. If it is destroyed because of global warming, humans will be too. Don’t forget to cite trustworthy sources. 

Sustainability means ensuring that there will be enough resources for today and the future. However, global warming and its consequences make people doubt if we will be able to maintain sustainability. 

Climate change can disrupt the ability of our ecosystem to mitigate catastrophic events, making it a massive obstacle to attaining sustainability. Therefore, creating an essay about sustainability linked with global issues can be an eye-opener on how to behave to lessen the impact of global warming on our livelihoods. This is an interesting and complex issue to discuss in your essay.

Health is essential in human life. In this section, you can write about the importance of health or how an average person can help mitigate gas emissions. In addition, you can include your experiences and perceptions on how global warming affects health, such as if you have asthma. 

Are you having problems with your essay? Check out our list of best writing applications and software .

If you’d like to learn more, in this guide our writer explains how to write an argumentative essay .

Soaring temperatures in New York, July 2010. Photo by Eric Thayer/Reuters

The melting brain

It’s not just the planet and not just our health – the impact of a warming climate extends deep into our cortical fissures.

by Clayton Page Aldern   + BIO

In February 1884, the English art critic and polymath John Ruskin took the lectern at the London Institution for a pair of lectures on the weather. ‘The Storm-Cloud of the Nineteenth Century’ was his invective against a particular ‘wind of darkness’ and ‘plague-cloud’ that, in his estimate, had begun to envelope Victorian cities only in recent years. He had been taking careful meteorological measurements, he told a sceptical audience. He railed against the ‘bitterness and malice’ of the new weather in question; and, perhaps more importantly, about how it mirrored a certain societal ‘moral gloom’. You could read in us what you could read in the weather, he suggested.

July Thundercloud in the Val d’Aosta (1858) by John Ruskin. Courtesy Wikipedia

It was easy that February, and perhaps easy today, to disregard any alleged winds of darkness as the ravings of a madman. Clouds are clouds: even if Ruskin’s existed – which was a question of some contemporaneous debate – it would be untoward to imagine they bore any relationship with the human psyche. As Brian Dillon observed of the cloud lectures in The Paris Review in 2019, it can be hard to tell where Ruskin’s ‘bad weather ends and his own ragged, doleful mood begins.’ In 1886, Ruskin suffered a mental breakdown while giving a talk in Oxford. By the end of his life at the turn of the century, he was widely considered insane. His ramblings on meteorology and the human spirit aren’t exactly treated with the same gravitas as his books on J M W Turner.

And yet, for Ruskin, the clouds weren’t just clouds: they were juiced up by a ‘dense manufacturing mist’, as he’d noted in a diary entry. The plague-clouds embodied the miasma of the Industrial Revolution; the moral gloom was specifically that which arose from the rapid societal and environmental changes that were afoot. Ruskin’s era had seen relentless transformation of pastoral landscapes into industrial hubs. Everything smelled like sulphur and suffering. Soot-filled air, chemical and human waste, the clamour of machinery – these were more than just physical nuisances. They were assaults on the senses, shaping moods and behaviour in ways that were not yet fully understood.

Mining Area (1852-1905) by Constantin Meunier. Courtesy Wikipedia

Ruskin believed that the relentless pace of industrialisation, with its cacophony of tools and sprawling factories and environmental destruction, undermined psychological wellbeing: that the mind, much like the body, required a healthy social and physical environment to thrive. This was actually a somewhat new idea. (Isaac Ray, a founder of the American Psychiatric Association, wouldn’t define the idea of ‘mental hygiene’, the precursor to mental health, until 1893.) Instability in the environment, for Ruskin, begot instability in the mind. One reflected the other.

M ore than a century later, as we grapple with a new suite of breakneck environmental changes, the plague-clouds are again darkly literal. Global average surface temperatures have risen by about 1.1°C (2°F) since the pre-industrial era, with most of this warming occurring in the past 40 years. Ice is melting; seas are steadily rising; storms are – well, you know this story. And yet, most frequently, it is still a story of the world out there: the world outside of us. The narrative of climate change is one of meteorological extremes, economic upheaval and biodiversity losses. But perhaps it is worth taking a maybe-mad Ruskin seriously. What of our internal clouds? As the climate crisis warps weather and acidifies oceans and shatters temperature records with frightening regularity, one is tempted to ask if our minds are changing in kind.

Here are some of the most concerning answers in the affirmative. Immigration judges are less likely to rule in favour of asylum seekers on hotter days. On such days, students behave as if they’ve lost a quarter-year of education, relative to temperate days. Warmer school years correspond to lower rates of learning. Temperature predicts the incidence of online hate speech. Domestic violence spikes with warmer weather. Suicide , too.

In baseball, pitchers are more likely to hit batters with their pitches on hot days

But you already know what this feels like. Perhaps you’re more ornery in the heat. Maybe you feel a little slow in the head. It’s harder to focus and easier to act impulsively. Tomes of cognitive neuroscience and behavioural economics research back you up, and it’s not all as dire as domestic violence. Drivers honk their horns more frequently (and lean on them longer) at higher temperatures. Heat predicts more aggressive penalties in sport. In baseball, pitchers are more likely to hit batters with their pitches on hot days – and the outdoor temperature is an even stronger predictor of their tendency to retaliate in this manner if they’ve witnessed an opposing pitcher do the same thing.

In other words: it would appear the plague-clouds are within us, too. They illustrate the interconnectedness of our inner and outer worlds. They betray a certain flimsiness of human agency, painting our decision-making in strokes of environmental influence far bolder than our intuition suggests. And they throw the climate crisis into fresh, stark relief: because, yes, as the climate changes, so do we.

T he London Institution closed in 1912. These days, when you want to inveigh against adverse environmental-mind interactions, you publish a paper in The Lancet . And so that is what 24 mostly British, mostly clinical neurologists did in May 2024, arguing that the ‘incidence, prevalence, and severity of many nervous system conditions’ can be affected by global warming. For these researchers, led by Sanjay Sisodiya, professor of neurology at University College London in the UK, the climate story is indeed one of internal clouds.

In their survey of 332 scientific studies, Sisodiya and his colleagues show that climatic influence extends far beyond behaviour and deep into cortical fissures. Aspects of migraine, stroke, seizure and multiple sclerosis all appear to be temperature dependent. In Taiwan, report the authors, the risk of schizophrenia hospitalisation increases with widening daytime temperature ranges. In California , too, ‘hospital visits for any mental health disorder, self-harm, intentional injury of another person, or homicide’ rise with broader daily temperature swings. In Switzerland , hospitalisations for psychiatric disorders increase with temperature, with the risk particularly pronounced for those with developmental disorders and schizophrenia.

Outside the hospital, climate change is extending the habitable range of disease vectors like ticks, mosquitoes and bats, causing scientists to forecast an increased incidence of vector-borne and zoonotic brain maladies like yellow fever, Zika and cerebral malaria. Outside the healthcare system writ large, a changing environment bears on sensory systems and perception, degrading both sensory information and the biological tools we use to process it. Outside the realm of the even remotely reasonable, warming freshwater brings with it an increased frequency of cyanobacterial blooms, the likes of which release neurotoxins that increase the risk of neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease).

Experiencing natural disasters in utero greatly increases children’s risk of anxiety, depression and ADHD

Indeed, recent studies suggest that climate change may be exacerbating the already substantial burden of neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. In countries with warmer-than-average climates, more intense warming has been linked to a greater increase in Parkinson’s cases and, as Sisodiya et al note, the highest forecasted rates of increase in dementia prevalence are ‘expected to be in countries experiencing the largest effects of climate change’. Similarly, short-term exposure to high temperatures appears to drive up emergency department visits for Alzheimer’s patients. The air we breathe likely plays a complementary role: in Mexico City, for example, where residents are exposed to high levels of fine particulate matter and ozone from a young age, autopsies have revealed progressive Alzheimer’s pathology in 99 per cent of those under the age of 30.

The risks aren’t limited to those alive today. In 2022, for example, an epidemiological study revealed that heat exposure during early pregnancy is associated with a significantly increased risk of children developing schizophrenia, anorexia and other neuropsychiatric conditions. High temperatures during gestation have long been known to delay neurodevelopment in rats. Other scientists have shown that experiencing natural disasters in utero greatly increases children’s risk of anxiety, depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and conduct disorders later in life. Such effects cast the intergenerational responsibilities of the Anthropocene in harsh new light – not least because, as Sisodiya and colleagues write, there is a tremendous ‘global disparity between regions most affected by climate change (both now and in the future) and regions in which the majority of studies are undertaken.’ We don’t know what we don’t know.

What we do know is that the brain is emerging, in study after study, as one of climate change’s most vulnerable landscapes.

It is a useful reorientation. Return to the horn-honking and the baseball pitchers for a moment. A focus on the brain sheds some potential mechanistic light on the case studies and allows us to avoid phrases like ‘wind of darkness’. Higher temperatures, for example, appear to shift functional brain networks – the coordinated behaviour of various regions – toward randomised activity. In extreme heat, scientists have taken note of an overworked dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), the evolutionarily new brain region that the neuroendocrinologist Robert M Sapolsky at Stanford University in the US calls ‘the definitive rational decider in the frontal cortex’. The dlPFC limits the degree to which people make impulsive decisions; disrupted dlPFC activity tends to imply a relatively heightened influence of limbic structures (like the emotionally attuned amygdala) on behaviour. More heat, less rational decision-making.

When extreme heat reaches into your mind and tips your scales toward violence, it is constraining your choices

The physicality of environmental influence on the brain is more widespread than the dlPFC – and spans multiple spatial scales. Heat stress in zebrafish, for example, down-regulates the expression of proteins relevant to synapse construction and neurotransmitter release. In mice, heat also triggers inflammation in the hippocampus, a brain region necessary for memory formation and storage. While neuroinflammation often plays an initially protective role, chronic activation of immune cells – like microglia and astrocytes – can turn poisonous, since pro-inflammatory molecules can damage brain cells in the long run. In people, hyperthermia is associated with decreased blood flow to this region. Psychologists’ observations of waning cognition and waxing aggression at higher temperatures makes a world of sense in the context of such findings.

The nascent field of environmental neuroscience seeks to ‘understand the qualitative and quantitative relationships between the external environment, neurobiology, psychology and behaviour’. Searching for a more specific neologism – since that particular phrase also encompasses environmental exposures like noise, urban development, lighting and crime – we might refer to our budding, integrative field as climatological neuroepidemiology. Or, I don’t know, maybe we need something snappier for TikTok. Neuroclimatology? Ecological neurodynamics?

I tend to prefer: the weight of nature.

The weight forces our hands, as in the case of the behavioural effects highlighted above. When extreme heat reaches into your mind and tips your scales toward violence, it is constraining your choices. By definition, impulsive decisions are rooted in comparatively less reflection than considered decisions: to the extent that a changing climate influences our reactions and decision-making, we should understand it as compromising our perceived free will. The weight of nature is heavy. It displaces us.

It is also a heavy psychological burden to carry. You are likely familiar with the notion of climate anxiety . The phrase, which tends to refer to a near-pathological state of worry and fear of impending environmental destruction, has never sat particularly well with me. Anxiety, as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual , is usually couched in terms of ‘excessive’ worry. I’m not convinced there’s anything excessive about seeing the climatic writing on the wall and feeling a sense of doom. Perhaps we ought to consider the climate-anxious as having more developed brains than the rest of the litter – that the Cassandras are the only sane ones left.

I ’m not exactly joking. Neuroscience has begun to study the brains in question, and not for nothing. The midcingulate cortex, a central hub in the brain’s threat-detection circuitry, may hold some clues to the condition’s biological basis: in one 2024 study , for example, researchers at Northern Michigan University in the US found that people who reported higher levels of anxiety about climate change showed distinct patterns of brain structure and function in this region, relative to those with lower levels of climate anxiety – and irrespective of base levels of anxiety writ large. In particular, the climate-anxious brain appears to play host to a smaller midcingulate (in terms of grey matter), but one that’s functionally more connected to other key hubs in the brain’s salience network, a system understood to constantly scan the environment for emotionally relevant information. In the salience network, the midcingulate cortex works hand in hand with limbic structures like the amygdala and insula to prepare the body to respond appropriately to this type of information. In people with climate anxiety, this network may be especially attuned to signals of climate-related threats.

Rather than indicating a deficiency, then, a diminutive midcingulate might reflect a more efficient, finely honed threat-detection system. The brain is well known to prune redundant connections over time, preserving only the most useful neural pathways. Selective sculpting, suggest the Michigan researchers, may allow the climate-anxious brain to process worrisome information more effectively, facilitating rapid communication between the midcingulate and other regions involved in threat anticipation and response. In other words, they write, the climate-anxious midcingulate might be characterised by ‘more efficient wiring’.

This neural sensitivity to potential dangers could be both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it may attune some people to the very real perils of the future. The midcingulate is critical for anticipating future threats, and meta-analyses have found the region to be consistently activated when people contemplate unpredictable negative outcomes. Given the looming spectre of climate catastrophe, a hair-trigger threat-detection system could be an adaptive asset.

Climate anxiety is not just a sociocultural phenomenon. It has a theoretically identifiable neural correlate

On the other hand, argue the researchers:

[T]he complexity, uncertainty, as well as temporal and geographical distance of the climate crisis, in addition to its global nature, may lead individuals to deprioritising the risks associated with climate change, or becoming overwhelmed and disengaged – a state sometimes referred to as ‘eco-paralysis’.

An overactive midcingulate has been implicated in clinical anxiety disorders, and the new findings suggest that climate anxiety shares some of the same neural underpinnings. (It’s important to recall that climate anxiety seems to be distinct from generalised anxiety, though, as the brain differences observed in the Michigan study couldn’t be explained by overall anxiety levels.)

Ultimately, while speculative, these findings suggest that climate anxiety is not merely a sociocultural phenomenon, but one with theoretically identifiable neural correlates. They provide a potential biological framework for understanding why some people may be more psychologically impacted by climate change than others. And they raise intriguing questions about whether the brains of the climate anxious are particularly well-suited for confronting the existential threat of a warming world – or whether they are vulnerable to becoming overwhelmed by it. In all cases, though, they illustrate that world reaching inward.

T here is perhaps a flipside to be realised here. A changing climate is seeping into our very neurobiology. What might it mean to orient our neurobiology toward climate change?

Such is the premise of a 2023 article in Nature Climate Change by the neuroscientist Kimberly Doell at the University of Vienna in Austria and her colleagues, who argue that the field is well positioned to inform our understanding of climate-adaptation responses and pro-environmental decision-making. In the decades since Ruskin shook his fists at the sky, environmental neuroscience has begun to probe the reciprocal dance between organisms and their ecological niches. We know now that the textures of modern environments – green spaces, urban sprawl, socioeconomic strata – all leave their mark on the brain. Climate change is no different.

Accordingly, argue Doell et al, scientists and advocates alike can integrate findings from neuroscience to improve communications strategies aimed at spurring climate action. They want to turn the tables, taking advantage of insights from neurobiology and cognitive neuroscience to more effectively design climate solutions – both within ourselves and for society as a whole.

The Anthropocene’s fever dream is already warping our wetware

We have models for this type of approach. Poverty research, for instance, has long implicated socioeconomic conditions with subpar health. In more recent years, neuroscience has reverse-engineered the pathways by which poverty’s various insults – understimulation, toxic exposures, chronic stress – can erode neural architecture and derail cognitive development. Brain science alone won’t solve poverty, yet even a limited understanding of these mechanisms has spurred research in programmes like Head Start, a family-based preschool curriculum that has been shown to boost selective attention (as evident in electrophysiological recordings) and cognitive test scores. While the hydra of structural inequity is not easily slain, neuroscientists have managed to shine some light on poverty’s neural correlates, flag its reversible harms, and design precision remedies accordingly. This same potential, argue Doell and her colleagues, extends to the neuroscience of climate change.

To realise this potential, though, we need to further understand how the Anthropocene’s fever dream is already warping our wetware. Social and behavioural science have begun cataloguing the psychological fallout of a planet in flux, but a neural taxonomy of climate change awaits. The field’s methodological and conceptual arsenal is primed for the challenge, but honing it will demand alliances with climate science, medicine, psychology, political science and beyond.

Some are trying. For example, the Kavli Foundation in Los Angeles, US, recognising a need for answers, last year put out a call for scientists to investigate how neural systems are responding to ecological upheaval. With a trial $5 million, the foundation aims to illuminate how habitat loss, light pollution and other environmental insults may be influencing the molecular, cellular and circuit-level machinery of brains, human and otherwise. The central question is: in a biosphere where change is the only constant, are neural systems plastic enough to keep pace, or will they be left struggling to adapt?

The first wave of researchers to take up Kavli’s challenge are studying a diverse array of creatures, each uniquely positioned to reveal insights about the brain’s resilience in the face of planetary disruption. Wolfgang Stein at Illinois State University in the US and Steffen Harzsch at University of Greifswald in Germany, for example, focus on crustaceans, seeking to understand how their neural thermal regulators cope with rising temperatures in shallow and deep waters. Another group has targeted the brains of cephalopods, whose RNA-editing prowess may be key to their ability to tolerate plummeting oxygen levels in their increasingly suffocating aquatic habitats. A third Kavli cohort, led by Florence Kermen at University of Copenhagen in Denmark, is subjecting zebrafish to extreme temperatures, scouring their neurons and glial cells for the molecular signatures that allow them to thrive – even as their watery world heats up.

These initial investments have sparked federal curiosity. In December 2023, the US National Science Foundation joined forces with Kavli, inviting researchers to submit research proposals that seek to probe the ‘modulatory, homeostatic, adaptive, and/or evolutionary mechanisms that impact neurophysiology in response to anthropogenic environmental influence’. We may not be in arms-race territory yet, but at least there’s a suggestion that we’re beginning to walk in the right direction.

T he brain, that spongy command centre perched atop our spinal cord, has always been a black box. As the climate crisis tightens its grip, and the ecological ground beneath our feet grows ever more unsteady, the imperative to pry it open and peer inside grows more urgent by the day. Already, we’ve begun to glimpse the outlines of a new neural cartography, sketched in broad strokes by the likes of Sisodiya and his colleagues. We know now that the brain is less a static lump of self-regulating tissue than it is a dynamic, living landscape, its hills and valleys shaped by the contours of our environment. Just as the Greenland ice sheet groans and buckles under the heat of a changing climate, so too do our synapses wither and our neurons wink out as the mercury rises. Just as rising seas swallow coastlines, and forests succumb to drought and flame, the anatomical borders of our brains are redrawn by each new onslaught of environmental insult.

But the dialogue between brain and biosphere is not a one-way street. The choices we make, the behaviours we pursue, the ways in which we navigate a world in crisis – all of these decisions are reflected back onto the environment, for good or for ill. So, I offer: in seeking to understand how a changing climate moulds the contours of our minds, we must also reckon with how the architecture of our thoughts might be renovated in service of sustainability.

Bit by bit, synapse by synapse, we can chart a course through the gathering plague-cloud

The cartographers of the Anthropocene mind have their work cut out for them. But in the hands of neuroscience – with its shimmering brain scans and humming electrodes, its gene-editing precision and algorithmic might – there is something approaching a starting point. By tracing the pathways of environmental impact to their neural roots, and by following the cascading consequences of our mental processes back out into the world, we might yet begin to parse the tangled web that binds the fates of mind and planet.

This much is clear: as the gears of the climate crisis grind on, our brains will be swept along for the ride. The question is whether we’ll be mere passengers, or whether we’ll seize the controls and steer towards something resembling a liveable future. The weight of nature – the immensity of the crisis we face – is daunting. But it need not be paralysing. Bit by bit, synapse by synapse, we can chart a course through the gathering plague-clouds. It was Ruskin, at a slightly more legible moment in his life, who offered: ‘To banish imperfection is to destroy expression, to check exertion, to paralyse vitality.’ Even if we somehow could, we ought not banish the alleged imperfections of environmental influence on the mind. Instead, we ought to read in them an intimate, vital relationship between self and world.

In this, climatological neuroepidemiology – young and untested though it may be – is poised to play an outsized role. In gazing into the black box of the climate-altered mind, in illuminating the neural circuitry of our planetary predicament, the field offers something precious: a flicker of agency in a world that often feels as if it’s spinning out of control. It whispers that the levers of change are within reach, lodged in the squishy confines of our crania, waiting to be grasped. And it suggests that, even as the weight of nature presses down upon us, we might yet find a way to press back.

Falling for suburbia

Modernists and historians alike loathed the millions of new houses built in interwar Britain. But their owners loved them

Michael Gilson

Computing and artificial intelligence

Mere imitation

Generative AI has lately set off public euphoria: the machines have learned to think! But just how intelligent is AI?

Anthropology

Your body is an archive

If human knowledge can disappear so easily, why have so many cultural practices survived without written records?

Helena Miton

Illness and disease

Empowering patient research

For far too long, medicine has ignored the valuable insights that patients have into their own diseases. It is time to listen

Charlotte Blease & Joanne Hunt

Seeing plants anew

The stunningly complex behaviour of plants has led to a new way of thinking about our world: plant philosophy

Stella Sandford

Sex and sexuality

Sexual sensation

What makes touch on some parts of the body erotic but not others? Cutting-edge biologists are arriving at new answers

David J Linden

Search the United Nations

• What Is Climate Change
• Myth Busters
• Renewable Energy
• Finance & Justice
• Initiatives
• Sustainable Development Goals
• Paris Agreement
• Climate Ambition Summit 2023
• Climate Conferences
• Press Material
• Communications Tips

Causes and Effects of Climate Change

Fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas – are by far the largest contributor to global climate change, accounting for over 75 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90 per cent of all carbon dioxide emissions. As greenhouse gas emissions blanket the Earth, they trap the sun’s heat. This leads to global warming and climate change. The world is now warming faster than at any point in recorded history. Warmer temperatures over time are changing weather patterns and disrupting the usual balance of nature. This poses many risks to human beings and all other forms of life on Earth. 

Empowering women and restoring wetlands go hand in hand

Environmentalist and Women Changemaker in the World of Wetlands Cécile Ndjebet says women are crucial for sustainable environmental conservation.

wikiHow teams up with Verified to empower people with climate information

Sacred plant helps forge a climate-friendly future in Paraguay

Facts and figures.

• What is climate change?
• Causes and effects
• Myth busters

Cutting emissions

• Explaining net zero
• High-level expert group on net zero
• Checklists for credibility of net-zero pledges
• Greenwashing
• What you can do

Clean energy

• Renewable energy – key to a safer future
• What is renewable energy
• Five ways to speed up the energy transition
• Why invest in renewable energy
• Clean energy stories
• A just transition

Adapting to climate change

• Climate adaptation
• Early warnings for all
• Youth voices

Financing climate action

• Finance and justice
• Loss and damage
• $100 billion commitment
• Why finance climate action
• Biodiversity
• Human Security

International cooperation

• What are Nationally Determined Contributions
• Acceleration Agenda
• Climate Ambition Summit
• Climate conferences (COPs)
• Youth Advisory Group
• Action initiatives
• Secretary-General’s speeches
• Press material
• Fact sheets
• Communications tips

• History & Society
• Science & Tech
• Biographies
• Animals & Nature
• Geography & Travel
• Arts & Culture
• Games & Quizzes
• On This Day
• One Good Fact
• New Articles
• Lifestyles & Social Issues
• Philosophy & Religion
• Politics, Law & Government
• World History
• Health & Medicine
• Browse Biographies
• Birds, Reptiles & Other Vertebrates
• Bugs, Mollusks & Other Invertebrates
• Environment
• Fossils & Geologic Time
• Entertainment & Pop Culture
• Sports & Recreation
• Visual Arts
• Demystified
• Image Galleries
• Infographics
• Top Questions
• Britannica Kids
• Saving Earth
• Space Next 50
• Student Center

global warming summary

Learn about the causes and effects of global warming.

global warming , Increase in the global average surface temperature resulting from enhancement of the greenhouse effect, primarily by air pollution . In 2007 the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change forecast that by 2100 global average surface temperatures would increase 3.2–7.2 °F (1.8–4.0 °C), depending on a range of scenarios for greenhouse gas emissions, and stated that it was now 90 percent certain that most of the warming observed over the previous half century could be attributed to greenhouse gas emissions produced by human activities (i.e., industrial processes and transportation). Many scientists predict that such an increase in temperature would cause polar ice caps and mountain glaciers to melt rapidly, significantly raising the levels of coastal waters, and would produce new patterns and extremes of drought and rainfall, seriously disrupting food production in certain regions. Other scientists maintain that such predictions are overstated. The 1992 Earth Summit and the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change attempted to address the issue of global warming, but in both cases the efforts were hindered by conflicting national economic agendas and disputes between developed and developing nations over the cost and consequences of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.

Causes of global warming, explained

Human activity is driving climate change, including global temperature rise.

The average temperature of the Earth is rising at nearly twice the rate it was 50 years ago. This rapid warming trend cannot be explained by natural cycles alone, scientists have concluded. The only way to explain the pattern is to include the effect of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted by humans.

Current levels of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide in our atmosphere are higher than at any point over the past 800,000 years , and their ability to trap heat is changing our climate in multiple ways .

IPCC conclusions

To come to a scientific conclusion on climate change and what to do about it, the United Nations in 1988 formed a group called the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , or IPCC. The IPCC meets every few years to review the latest scientific findings and write a report summarizing all that is known about global warming. Each report represents a consensus, or agreement, among hundreds of leading scientists.

One of the first things the IPCC concluded is that there are several greenhouse gases responsible for warming, and humans emit them in a variety of ways. Most come from the combustion of fossil fuels in cars, buildings, factories, and power plants. The gas responsible for the most warming is carbon dioxide, or CO2. Other contributors include methane released from landfills, natural gas and petroleum industries, and agriculture (especially from the digestive systems of grazing animals); nitrous oxide from fertilizers; gases used for refrigeration and industrial processes; and the loss of forests that would otherwise store CO2.

Gaseous abilities

Different greenhouse gases have very different heat-trapping abilities. Some of them can trap more heat than an equivalent amount of CO2. A molecule of methane doesn't hang around the atmosphere as long as a molecule of carbon dioxide will, but it is at least 84 times more potent over two decades. Nitrous oxide is 264 times more powerful than CO2.

Other gases, such as chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs—which have been banned in much of the world because they also degrade the ozone layer—have heat-trapping potential thousands of times greater than CO2. But because their emissions are much lower than CO2 , none of these gases trap as much heat in the atmosphere as CO2 does.

When those gases that humans are adding to Earth's atmosphere trap heat, it’s called the "greenhouse effect." The gases let light through but then keep much of the heat that radiates from the surface from escaping back into space, like the glass walls of a greenhouse. The more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the more dramatic the effect, and the more warming that happens.

Climate change continues

Despite global efforts to address climate change, including the landmark 2015 Paris climate agreement , carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels continue to rise, hitting record levels in 2018 .

Many people think of global warming and climate change as synonyms, but scientists prefer to use “climate change” when describing the complex shifts now affecting our planet’s weather and climate systems. Climate change encompasses not only rising average temperatures but also extreme weather events, shifting wildlife populations and and habitats, rising seas , and a range of other impacts.

Read next: Global Warming Effects

Related Topics

• CLIMATE CHANGE
• ENVIRONMENT AND CONSERVATION
• AIR POLLUTION

You May Also Like

Another weapon to fight climate change? Put carbon back where we found it

How global warming is disrupting life on Earth

Are there real ways to fight climate change? Yes.

What is the ozone layer, and why does it matter?

The U.S. ‘warming hole’—a climate anomaly explained

• Interactive Graphic
• Environment

History & Culture

• History & Culture
• The Big Idea
• History Magazine
• Paid Content
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Your US State Privacy Rights
• Children's Online Privacy Policy
• Interest-Based Ads
• About Nielsen Measurement
• Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
• Nat Geo Home
• Attend a Live Event
• Book a Trip
• Inspire Your Kids
• Shop Nat Geo
• Visit the D.C. Museum
• Learn About Our Impact
• Support Our Mission
• Advertise With Us
• Customer Service
• Renew Subscription
• Manage Your Subscription
• Work at Nat Geo
• Sign Up for Our Newsletters
• Contribute to Protect the Planet

Copyright © 1996-2015 National Geographic Society Copyright © 2015-2024 National Geographic Partners, LLC. All rights reserved

Global Warming Essay and the Main Types of Pollution for Writing Essays

Rising sea levels, melting glaciers, dying cloud forests, and extinction of wildlife - all these phenomena are clear signs of the global warming process that has already been launched. But, what do we know about it?

What we call global warming is actually a very broad term. In a nutshell, it means fluctuations in the climate of our planet as a whole or in its individual regions over time, caused by a variety of different factors. Apart from changes in temperatures, global warming also results in a whole range of changes in long-term weather patterns and even causes extreme weather events, which bring irreparable damage to our entire ecosystem.

For centuries, human activities have been taking us closer and closer to the point of no return, and, now, global warming is already a major problem. Today, when changes are already occurring, the entire humanity is wondering how to stop global warming. While the answer is not clear yet, this issue became a common topic for debates and even academic papers.

Pretty much every student faces the need to write my essay about global warming at least once in a lifetime. If you are studying in one of the best colleges for astrophysics working on one now, you’ve come to the right place! Our article will tell you what types of pollution there are, share handy examples, and help you choose the best topic for your essay on global warming that will be interesting for you. Let’s dive in!

Causes of Global Warming

Most of the causes are there because of people and their activities. But, it’s also worth noting that there are some natural causes of global warming. Typically, writing an environmental pollution essay, you’ll have to cover both human-caused and natural reasons. To help you get started, let’s look at the biggest ones.

• Burning fossil fuels - probably the biggest cause that leads to faster global warming is a mass burning of various fossil fuels that results in large emissions of CO2 into our atmosphere. The activities that bring the most emissions include transportation, electricity production, and industrial activity.
• Clearing of forests and woods - the next big cause is deforestation, whether natural or human-made. As you may already know, trees play a huge role in restoring the atmosphere and, respectively, regulating the climate as they absorb CO2 emitted into the air and release oxygen back to replace it.
• Farming - this may surprise you, but the biggest natural cause of global warming is animals that also release greenhouse gases. Thus, a significant percentage of emissions is caused by agriculture and farming.
• Resource extraction - another reason for climate change is the extraction of natural materials that can’t be restored naturally for human use.
• Pollution - finally, one last cause that speeds up the process of global warming is pollution. This spans air and water pollution, as well as the big share of plastic waste - all the pollution types we are going to discuss further.

Effect of Global Warming

Apart from analyzing some core causes, writing essays about global warming will also require you to delve into the effects it can have. Needless to say that the emaciation of natural resources, pollution, deforestation, and changes in the atmosphere can’t go unnoticed. But, what exactly will happen after global warming?

The primary negative effect of global warming is the drastic change in our planet’s climate. This includes rising temperatures, unpredictable weather patterns, and an increase in extreme weather events. But, this is not all that is there. Due to a changing climate and more extreme weather conditions, some side effects of global warming can include:

• Rising sea levels;
• Land degradation;
• Loss of biodiversity;
• Loss of wildlife.

These are the primary effects on our environment that can be caused by global warming.

Apart from that, there are also some possible social effects that we will feel on ourselves. The lack of natural resources and land degradation will likely lead to a significant shortage of water and food and, as a result, will trigger global hunger. Some other negative impacts on our lives can include the loss of livelihood and shorter lifespans, poverty, malnutrition, increased risks of diseases, and mass displacement of people.

Global Warming Solutions

Another important point to cover in essays on climate change and global warming is the possibility of solving the problem. So, let’s take a moment to talk about some of the solutions.

First and foremost, in an attempt to stop global warming, people are already trying to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. Some of the most common solutions include a switch to alternative energy resources, transportation methods, and alternative industrial and other activities.

Apart from that, people are becoming more conscious about their everyday consumption behavior. For example, some opt for reusable bottles, shoppers, cups, and other items to reduce the use of plastic.

Finally, we can already observe a global trend for eco-friendliness in various spheres of our lives. People strive to make their homes, offices, and lives in general “greener” to help save the planet.

At this point, the solutions we discussed earlier are all that we can do for now. However, there is still a need for more innovative and effective solutions. So let this serve you as motivation. After all, who knows, maybe while writing your essay about global warming, you will suddenly discover more innovative solutions that will help us save the planet.

Now that you know everything about the definition, causes and effects, and possible solutions for global warming, let’s move on and consider different types of pollution that can cause it and that students can use as the base for essays global warming.

Glitter Pollution Essay Sample

Water pollution essay.

The first type of pollution and, concurrently, a great topic for an essay on global warming is water pollution. It shouldn’t be a secret for you that the world ocean covers 90% of the entire surface of our planet. It also shouldn’t be a secret that every living organism needs clean water to support vital functions. Given that, we can confidently say that mass pollution of water is a huge problem that we must drive attention to. So, there is no wonder why students are often assigned to write essay for me about water pollution.

If you are wondering what you can write about in your essay on water pollution, the ideas are countless. The pollution of the world ocean has been a pressing issue for decades, so there is plenty of information and examples to cover in an essay.

One great example for your essay is a worldwide famous oil company. Not so long ago, it became known that one of the oil-production leaders has been polluting rivers in Nigeria for many decades. The pollution had affected the lives, environment, and health of many locals, which made this case so high-profile. So, be sure to use it as an example in your paper.

Another good point to cover in an essay is the process of cleaning the world’s oceans from plastic waste. You can use this idea if you are planning to write a how to prevent water pollution essay.

Air Pollution Essay

We have already said a lot about gas emissions and how it affects the quality of air. So, here you have another type of pollution.

Just like water pollution, the rapid pollution of the air is also a big problem. Apart from natural causes of gas emissions, there are also many human-made reasons that make the problem worse. Namely, if you will be writing a causes of air pollution essay, you can write about the rising number of gasoline cars that boost emissions.

Also, you can tell your readers about different manufacturing and industrial activities that also harm our environment by producing too much CO2. 

Another great idea is to write an essay for me answering the question, “how does air pollution affect our health?” Some of the negative effects include the risk of diseases and shorter lifespans. Not to mention a poor quality of life that results from air pollution.

Finally, you can write a solution of air pollution essay. With air pollution being a big issue in the modern world, we can already see humanity trying to resolve it. Some of the best-known solutions that are already there are alternative energy resources such as solar panels and alternative means of transport such as electric cars. But, you can definitely discover more solutions if you research the problem well. There are tons of helpful materials on the web, including air pollution articles for students that can be used for your essay.

Plastic Pollution Essay

Another common type of academic assignment is an essay on plastic pollution. So, this is the last type of pollution we are going to discuss here.

The issue is real. For decades, people have been trapped in the endless circle of large-scale plastic production and no-lesser plastic consumption. Each of us uses lots of plastic in our household. Not to mention that this material is generally used in all areas of our lives.

If you are planning to write my essay for me on this type of pollution, we would recommend you to write plastic pollution in the ocean essay. As for 2021, there are already over 5 trillion micro and macro pieces of plastic in the world’s oceans. The total weight of this plastic can reach 269,000 tonnes. About 8 million pieces are being thrown into the oceans every single day. And, the amount of plastic in the form of garbage is also huge. 

To beat plastic pollution, it is vital that we learn how to recycle and reuse it instead of throwing all the waste away. So, here you have another possible topic for your essay. You can write about the global campaigns on cleaning the oceans and our planet from plastic.

Finally, one more topic you can cover is the Plastic Pollution Coalition. In case you haven’t heard of it, it is an existing social organization and advocacy group that found its mission in reducing plastic pollution.

After reading this article, you should agree that global warming is one of the biggest issues we’re facing in the 21st century. After decades of pollution, thoughtless consumption of resources, and blatant disdain for our environment, humanity finally begins to recognize the issues. And that is why essays on global warming and climate change are so important to write.

Global warming essays can help us drive more attention to the problems that we are already facing and the negative effects we can have. Also, writing such papers is a great way to inform students and other people about the solutions we can adopt to make a positive change.

If you are still hesitating whether it is worth writing a pollution essay or not, leave all the doubts behind. First of all, by writing such essays, you are doing a good deed. And, secondly, writing such papers isn’t as hard as it can seem. Though we still have many unresolved problems in this area, there is lots of information on this topic. If you research it well, you can find plenty of books, articles, scientific papers, and other materials on global warming. It is also possible to find a documentary on global warming, as well as many feature films. So rest assured that you won’t face a shortage of information. So, don’t hesitate and start writing your essay on global warming, and don’t neglect the tips and examples we shared here!

Frequently asked questions

She was flawless! first time using a website like this, I've ordered article review and i totally adored it! grammar punctuation, content - everything was on point

This writer is my go to, because whenever I need someone who I can trust my task to - I hire Joy. She wrote almost every paper for me for the last 2 years

Term paper done up to a highest standard, no revisions, perfect communication. 10s across the board!!!!!!!

I send him instructions and that's it. my paper was done 10 hours later, no stupid questions, he nailed it.

Sometimes I wonder if Michael is secretly a professor because he literally knows everything. HE DID SO WELL THAT MY PROF SHOWED MY PAPER AS AN EXAMPLE. unbelievable, many thanks

New Posts to Your Inbox!

Stay in touch

Global Warming Definition, Causes, Effects, Impacts, Solutions

Global Warming is a long-term increase in average global temperature. Read about Global Warming Definition, Causes, Effects, Impact on Climate Change & Solutions for the UPSC exam.

Table of Contents

What is Global Warming?

Global Warming is a long-term increase in average global temperature. It is considered a natural phenomenon, but anthropogenic activities on earth, particularly post Industrial Revolution , have led to an increase in the rate of this temperature increase. Various Reports published by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have time and again highlighted that since 1850 human activities have led to an increase of about 1 degree Celsius in average global temperature. Most of this warming has taken place in the second half of the 20th century. The fact that 5 of the hottest recorded year have occurred since 2015 can help us better understand the calamitous impact of anthropogenic activities.

Global Warming Causes

Green House Gases also known as GHGs in the atmosphere trap the solar radiations that are reflected by the earth’s surface. Under normal circumstances, most of these radiations escape into outer space. However, the release of GHGs by anthropogenic activities has increased their concentration in the atmosphere. Thus, the earth is getting hotter and hotter. 

Some of the common GHGs include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and water vapour, among others. The global warming potential of each GHG is different. For example, methane has a 25-time warming potential than carbon dioxide. Similarly, nitrous oxide has more than 250 times the warming potential than carbon dioxide. The top  anthropogenic activities that are responsible for the release of GHGs are shown below.

Global Warming and Green House Effect

Both phenomena are related to each other. Green House Gases also known as GHGs in the atmosphere trap the solar radiations that are reflected by the earth’s surface. Under normal circumstances, most of these radiations escape into outer space. However, the release of GHGs by anthropogenic activities has increased their concentration in the atmosphere. This is the primary cause of Global Warming . 

Global Warming Effects

Increase in the average temperature of the earth.

According to IPCC reports, human-induced global warming is responsible for nearly 1 degree Celsius temperature rise vis a vis pre-industrial level. Data from NASA suggest that 2016 has been the hottest year on record.

Frequency of Extreme Weather Events is Increasing

Across the globe, extreme weather events have increased in occurrence. For example, forest fires in California have become an annual event. Also, it is increasing in frequency each year. Most recently, we have recorded the phenomena of heat waves in Antarctica. The intensity of cyclones in the Bay of Bengal region has increased. Similarly, the frequency of occurrence of El Niño and La Niña has reduced from once in 8–10 years to once in 3–4 years now. More frequent episodes of floods and drought are being recorded every year across the world.

Melting of Ice

According to IPCC, there is 10% less permafrost in North Hemisphere at present compared to the 1900s. Remote sensing data suggest Arctic ice is melting fast. Experts suggest that not only will the sea level rise with the melting of glaciers, but there is also a danger of new bacteria and viruses being released into the environment which has so far been trapped in ice sheets. This may lead to outbreaks of disease and pandemics which are beyond the control of human medical sciences.

Sea Level Rise and Acidification of Ocean

A report published by WMO, suggests that the rate of sea level rise has doubled for the period between 2013 and 2021 compared to the rate for the period between 1993 and 2002. Earth scientists are suggesting that if this phenomenon continues, many human-inhabited coastal areas will be submerged into the sea in the coming decades. Also, with the concentration of carbon dioxide rising in the atmosphere, oceans are absorbing more of it. This is leading to ocean acidification. The impact of this phenomenon can be disastrous for ocean biodiversity, particularly the coral reefs. 

Adverse Impact on Terrestrial Ecosystems of the Earth

It has been recorded that many flora and fauna species are heading northwards in Northern Hemisphere. Significant changes have been observed in the migratory movements of birds across the world. Early arrival to their summer feeding and breeding grounds is quite evident. Expert biologists suggest that rising temperatures in the tropical and subtropical regions may lead to an outbreak of new diseases, which in turn may render many floral and faunal species extinct.

Social and Economic Impact

A rising number of extreme weather events will have an adverse impact on agriculture and fisheries. Rising global temperatures will have a negative impact on the productivity of human beings, particularly in tropical and subtropical regions of the earth. The impact on life and livelihoods of indigenous people across the world will be even more pronounced. 

Global Warming Solutions

Global cooperation for reduction of emissions.

It is time that the target of containing the global average temperature rise within 1.5 degrees Celsius of pre-industrial levels is taken seriously. Also, global efforts should be based on a spirit of Common But Differentiated Responsibility. This will ensure that historical injustices done to the global south are duly acknowledged, and they have an equal chance to transform themselves into developed countries. Countries must act proactively to achieve Net Zero Emission status at the earliest. 

Transition to Cleaner and Greener Forms of Energy

Thermal power plants based on coal should be made more efficient and inefficient ones should be phased off. Also, mass adoption of renewable forms of energy like solar should be promoted. Similarly, avenues for using hydrogen as energy fuel should be looked into. We must also explore the possibility of Nuclear fusion for energy generation, in addition to making nuclear fission-based energy generation safer.

Changes in Agricultural Practices and Land Use

Agriculture based on the use of nitrogenous fertilizers must be replaced with organic farming techniques. Also, methane gas released from agricultural and cattle waste must be trapped as biogas for domestic usage. Massive afforestation drives must be organized. Urban governments must make it a point to include green spaces in urban planning.

Improving Transportation System

The advent of E-vehicles is a welcome change, but we need to make the batteries used in these vehicles more efficient. Urban planners must make public transportation systems inherent as a benchmark of good urban planning. Also, urban planning should be such that it promotes more walking and cycling habits among the residents. 

Behavioural Changes

All the above discussions will have no meaning if we as individuals are not sensitive enough. We need to make reducing, reusing and recycling a mantra of our living. It should be our civic duty to save water, and wildlife and raise awareness among others. 

Solar Geoengineering

Solar geoengineering, a proposed climate intervention method, aims to counteract global warming by reflecting a portion of the sun’s rays back into space. One prominent approach involves injecting substances like sulphur dioxide into the upper atmosphere to create reflective aerosols. These particles can scatter sunlight, reducing the Earth’s temperature. However, solar geoengineering is a topic of debate, with concerns about its side effects, such as disrupted weather patterns and potential geopolitical risks. Research in this field is ongoing, but it remains a theoretical concept with limited practical implementation.

Can Solar Geoengineering Halt Global Warming?

Solar geoengineering, specifically solar radiation management (SRM), is under scrutiny as a potential method to mitigate global warming. SRM involves reflecting sunlight away from Earth, often by injecting substances like sulphur dioxide into the upper atmosphere to create reflective aerosols. However, its effectiveness remains a subject of debate, with concerns about potential side effects and ethical implications. While research in this field is ongoing, solar geoengineering is currently in a theoretical stage, with limited practical implementation.

Global Warming Conclusion

It is rightly said that “Charity begins at home.” Climate action will be more efficient if we go by this spirit. To begin with, each individual can make sure that what is happening in their house and immediate surroundings is in harmony with the environment. If this can happen, all the policies we are making at the local, national, regional and global levels will give far better results. 

Global Warming UPSC

Each year, we read about rising global temperatures. Also, catching the headlines is the news related to disasters caused by events like cyclones, forest fires, floods and drought. All these phenomena can be attributed to one single cause which is global warming. 

Global Warming is a long-term increase in average global temperature. It is considered a natural phenomenon, but anthropogenic activities on earth, particularly post-Industrial Revolution, have led to an increase in the rate of this temperature increase.

Sharing is caring!

Why is global warming a problem?

Global Warming at present rate can lead to disastrous impacts like rising sea level, out break of new diseases, extreme weather events among others.

What are 3 causes of global warming?

Human induced green house gas emission due to activities like agriculture, industrial emissions, transportation are the top 3 causes of global warming.

What are 5 effects of global warming?

Rising sea level, out break of new diseases, extreme weather events, changes in biodiversity and melting of glaciers are top 5 effects of global warming.

Why global warming is important?

Global warming at its natural rate is important to keep up the temperature of earth within the range that makes it habitable. This makes global warming important.

Can we control global warming?

Number of mitigation measures like shifting to cleaning forms of energy and transportation can be taken to control global warming.

Who help with global warming?

Global Warming is a collective challenge for entire humanity. Citizens, civil societies, governments and businesses must act in unison to address it.

I, Sakshi Gupta, am a content writer to empower students aiming for UPSC, PSC, and other competitive exams. My objective is to provide clear, concise, and informative content that caters to your exam preparation needs. I strive to make my content not only informative but also engaging, keeping you motivated throughout your journey!

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Trending Event

• TNPSC Group 4 Result 2024
• UPSC ESIC Nursing Officer Result 2024
• UPSC EPFO PA Result 2024
• UPSC CMS Result 2024
• SSC Stenographer Apply Online 2024
• IB SA MTS Final Result 2024

Recent Posts

• UPSC Online Coaching
• UPSC Exam 2024
• UPSC Syllabus 2024
• UPSC Prelims Syllabus 2024
• UPSC Mains Syllabus 2024
• UPSC Exam Pattern 2024
• UPSC Age Limit 2024
• UPSC Calendar 2024
• UPSC Syllabus in Hindi
• UPSC Full Form
• UPPSC Exam 2024
• UPPSC Calendar
• UPPSC Syllabus 2024
• UPPSC Exam Pattern 2024
• UPPSC Application Form 2024
• UPPSC Eligibility Criteria 2024
• UPPSC Admit card 2024
• UPPSC Salary And Posts
• UPPSC Cut Off
• UPPSC Previous Year Paper

BPSC Exam 2024

• BPSC 70th Notification
• BPSC 69th Exam Analysis
• BPSC Admit Card
• BPSC Syllabus
• BPSC Exam Pattern
• BPSC Cut Off
• BPSC Question Papers

SSC CGL 2024

• SSC CGL Exam 2024
• SSC CGL Syllabus 2024
• SSC CGL Cut off
• SSC CGL Apply Online
• SSC CGL Salary
• SSC CGL Previous Year Question Paper
• SSC MTS 2024
• SSC MTS Apply Online 2024
• SSC MTS Syllabus 2024
• SSC MTS Salary 2024
• SSC MTS Eligibility Criteria 2024
• SSC MTS Previous Year Paper

SSC Stenographer 2024

• SSC Stenographer Notfication 2024
• SSC Stenographer Syllabus 2024
• SSC Stenographer Salary 2024

IMPORTANT EXAMS

• Terms & Conditions
• Return & Refund Policy
• Privacy Policy

197 Global Warming Essay Titles & Examples

A global warming essay is a popular assignment in schools and colleges. Over here, our experts came up with 191 amazing titles that you can use for practice or inspiration.

☀Top 10 Global Warming Essay Topics

📝 global warming essay structure, 🏆 best global warming research topic, 🥇 most interesting titles for global warming, 💡 good essay topics on global warming, 📌 simple & easy global warming essay titles, ❓ global warming essay questions.

• The impact of global warming on physical geography.
• The benefits and limitations of solar power.
• Contribution of deforestation to climate change.
• How successful are international climate agreements?
• Comparing the average carbon footprint across different countries.
• How individuals can fight against global warming.
• Largest contributors to the greenhouse effect.
• What are the causes of global warming?
• Changes in the sea climate over the last 20 years.
• The impact of global warming on weather patterns.

If you study science, journalism, or politics, chances are that you will need to write a global warming essay at some point.

While finding things to write about shouldn’t be an issue, your paper must be structured well to receive an excellent mark. The following step-by-step process will help you to organize ideas and ensure that your essay on global warming flows logically.

1️⃣ Choose the right topic

If your instructor didn’t provide a list of possible topics to write about, you would need to do this yourself.

Ideally, the focus of your paper should be rather narrow, as this will allow you to demonstrate your analytical and critical thinking skills. For example, you could write about global warming causes and effects or comment on national policies that aim to prevent environmental damage.

Make sure that there are plenty of resources on your chosen subject and that it sounds interesting to you. Otherwise, the writing process will be more difficult.

2️⃣ Find sample papers on global warming, climate change, and related problems

There are plenty of example essays available on the Internet, so this shouldn’t take too long. While reading other people’s work, note how they structured key points. Write down any global warming essay titles that seem interesting, and then brainstorm to find an ideal name for your piece.

3️⃣ Create a list of key points based on your thoughts and research

Once you have a title, finding resources online is easy. Be careful to select scholarly resources, such as articles from academic journals, books, and official reports.

The information contained in news articles may be biased, so try to refrain from relying on them. As you read, write out the main ideas related to your subject and any thoughts and responses you have.

4️⃣ Organize your points into a proper global warming essay outline

The introduction should have some background information. Reserve your main arguments for the body of the paper. Each paragraph should begin with one key idea, followed by an explanation and examples. The information in the next paragraph should be connected to or follow logically from the arguments you present. This will help you to create a logical flow.

5️⃣ Write a strong global warming essay thesis

A thesis statement should reflect the focus of the work and be clear and succinct. If you are struggling with this part, ask a friend to read your outline and suggest what the main idea should be.

You can also check essay samples to see how other students structured their thesis. As you write the paper, return to your thesis to see if the content fits in with it. Do not include too much irrelevant information, as this will cost you marks.

6️⃣ Create a neat conclusion

The purpose of a global warming essay conclusion is to tie together all of your points and offer the reader a proper closure. For this reason, you should write a plan for your conclusion after you’ve mapped the rest of the paper.

Repeat your thesis statement at the beginning of the final paragraph and then offer more details by returning to the main arguments. Do not include any new resources of information in the end, as this will make your paper look unfinished!

Following the steps described above will assist you in writing an excellent, well-organized student essay on global warming! Before you begin working on your paper, check our samples – they will help you to make great global warming essay titles!

• Global Warming as Serious Threat to Humanity One of the most critical aspects of global warming is the inability of populations to predict, manage, and decrease natural disruptions due to their inconsistency and poor cooperation between available resources.
• Global Warming Advantages: A New Look at the Phenomenon Global warming will become a threat to it, and will save a lot of money that may involve in clearing and keeping the ice blocks off the roads.
• Global Warming: Causes, Effects, Solutions When carbon dioxide emissions are released to the air, they remain in the atmosphere for over 100 years, and with time causing the temperature on the earth to increase, which results to global warming.
• Effects of Global Warming on Human Health The increasing global temperatures cause the level of water in the seas to rise due to the melting of sea ice and glaciers.
• Causes and Effects of Global Warming The following discussion comprises of the effects of the global warming as well as the mitigating measures to be put in place.
• Global Warming and Human Impact: Pros and Cons These points include the movement of gases in the atmosphere as a result of certain human activities, the increase of the temperature because of greenhouse gas emissions, and the rise of the oceans’ level that […]
• The Global Warming Debate: Is It Real? Regardless of the side that has the truth, it is very important to treat the issue of global warming with utmost attention given the potential it has for causing misery on the planet.
• Climate Change – Global Warming For instance, in the last one century, scientists have directly linked the concentration of these gases in the atmosphere with the increase in temperature of the earth.
• Global Warming and Increase of Global Temperature Global warming refers to the rise in the normal temperature of the earth’s near-surface atmosphere and water bodies ever since the middle of the twentieth century and its predictable continuation.
• Global Warming: Arguments for and Against In proving that global warming is not a theory but a fact, believers claim that, it impacts like: melting of arctic sea ice, rise in the sea level, surface temperature rise, melting of glaciers and […]
• A World Without Ice: Effects of Global Warming on Polar Regions The impacts of global warming in the Polar Regions are so clear and have severe repercussions that they led to the institution of the International Polar Year. Global warming is leading to a reduction of […]
• ‘The Global Warming Myth’ by David Bellamy The argument against the occurrence of global warming, as highlighted by Bellamy who depicts it to be more of a myth in the general public instead of a reality, is based on the dubious nature […]
• Global Warming and Effects Within 50 Years Global warming by few Scientists is often known as “climate change” the reason being is that according to the global warming is not the warming of earth it basically is the misbalance in climate.
• Global Warming Is Real: Fundamentals of the Phenomenon So, first of all, there is a need to point out that global warming seems to be not only an environmental and climatic issue, but also one of the most important mechanisms of evolution.
• Global Warming Causes, Effects and Solutions This paper is an in-depth evaluation of the facts surrounding global warming, and it seeks to establish the causes and effects of the phenomenon, and proposes solutions for mitigating the effects of global warming.
• Global Warming: Causes and Effects | Essay Example Although people are not only aware but have also have tasted the impacts of these effects, very few individuals have taken the required action to save the earth from destruction, as most people still embrace […]
• Aviation Impact on Air Quality and Global Warming The United Kingdom’s aviation sector is the largest, most mature, yet the fastest expanding source of CO2 emissions compared to any other industry in the country.
• Major Impacts of Global Warming In Human Health Global warming is a rise in average temperatures on the earth surface due to human activities such as burning of coal and oil refining, eventually the activities cause emission of greenhouse gases in the air […]
• Global Warming: “An Inconvenient Truth” The main effect of increased carbon dioxide emission in the atmosphere is the high ice melting on different mountains. The recent occurrence of Hurricanes, tornados and typhoons is due to high temperatures in the oceans […]
• Global Warming: Fact or Fiction According to, global warming is the average persistent increase in the atmospheric temperature near the earth’s surface leading to changes in global climate patterns over a given period of time.
• Ways to Reduce Global Warming The objectives of this report are to identify the causes of global warming, to highlight the expected effects of global warming and to identify ways of reducing global warming.
• The Great Global Warming Swindle: Different Views on the Issue According to the film, the main aim of the scientific organizations is to get funding for the research of this problem and attract additional attention to global warming, while in reality, the climate is changing […]
• Global Warming Threat and Scientific Evidence For example, one of the latest articles by The Guardian talks about the effect of the global warming on the Arctic ice, which melts and causes local animals to suffer from the lack of food.
• Global Warming and Agriculture The first and the most obvious result of the global warming is the decrease of the harvest in the majority of regions all over the world.
• Global Warming Causes and Adverse Effects Human activities which are referred to as anthropogenic factors are the major causes of global warming which have resulted into some effects such as sea level rise as natural factors are not known to account […]
• Global Warming: Justing Gillis Discussing Studies on Climate Change Over the years, environmental scientists have been heavily involved in research regarding the changes in climate conditions and effects that these changes have on the environment.
• Global Warming – The Biggest Threat in the 21st Century According to Solomon “global warming has become a question for citizens and not only for scientists”.”Global warming has implications on our quality of life-it affects our nutrition, and brings about adverse changes in natural phenomena […]
• Impact of Global Warming on Arctic Wildlife High surface temperatures lead to “the melting of ice in Polar Regions such as the Arctic and Antarctic regions causing a rise in the ocean and sea levels, which affects the amount and pattern of […]
• The Global Warming Problem and Solution Therefore, it is essential to make radical decisions, first of all, to reduce the use of fossil fuels such as oil, carbon, and natural gas. One of the ways of struggle is to protest in […]
• Global Warming and Climate Change The author shows the tragedy of the situation with climate change by the example of birds that arrived too early from the South, as the buds begin to bloom, although it is still icy.
• Global Warming in the “Soylent Green” Movie The future of humanity and of the entire universe is determined, most significantly, by the power of man, which can be made use for the growth or the destruction of the world.
• Global Warming Threats and Solutions The threat is real and unless we act appropriately, almost half of all earth will be under the sea at the turn of the century.
• Global Warming: Speculation and Biased Information For example, people or organizations that deny the extent or existence of global warming may finance the creation and dissemination of incorrect information.
• The Dangers of Global Warming: Environmental and Economic Collapse Global warming is caused by the so-called ‘Greenhouse effect’, when gases in Earth’s atmosphere, such as water vapor or methane, let the Sun’s light enter the planet but keep some of its heat in.
• Aspects of Global Warming Global warming refers to the steadily increasing temperature of the Earth, while climate change is how global warming changes the weather and climate of the planet.
• Global Warming: Moral and Political Challenge That is, if the politicians were to advocate the preservation of the environment, they would encourage businesses completely to adopt alternative methods and careful usage of resources.
• Climate Change: Global Warming Intensity Average temperatures on Earth are rising faster than at any time in the past 2,000 years, and the last five of them have been the hottest in the history of meteorological observations since 1850.
• Challenges to Global Warming Control The fourth Conference of the Parties (COP) in Buenos Aires, in Argentina, saw US join over 150 nations in signing the Kyoto Protocol.
• Global Warming Challenges and Potential Solutions Some of the recent encounters exemplifying the presence of global warming include the aspects of climate change which resulted in wildfires in forests such as those witnessed in the Amazon Rainforest alongside other evidence of […]
• Effects of Global Warming on Marine Life Global warming has adverse effects on the marine life. It has led to the extinction of some of the animals and living things and has been necessitated by human activities.
• Energy Sector and Effects of Global Warming In an interview that was conducted with some of the experts in this field, one of the respondents stated that “the government has the financial capacity to support the growth and development of renewable energy […]
• Global Warming: Separation of CO2 The process of CO2 absorption has diverse advantages and disadvantages. The proper combination of solvent, packing, and conditions will reduce the costs of absorption of CO2.
• Contributions of Methane to Global Warming This is because the amount of methane produced by ruminant animals is proportional to the ratio of nutrients that are available in the animal feeds.
• Global Warming and Health & Emergency Sectors It is important to stress that ambulance service work in various communities is based on the quality of medical supplies and work of qualified specialists being the members of emergency team.
• Sylvain Fleury: Global Warming Heats up Need for Malaria Vaccine The central thesis of the author, Sylvain Fleury, is that global warming is one of the major, if not the major, causes of this high spread rage of infectious diseases.
• Global Warming: Cause and Mitigation However, most researchers agree that global warming is in fact taking place, based on three main pieces of evidence: the average temperature increase, the sea level increase, and the melting of glaciers.
• Global Warming: Negative Effects to the Environment The effect was the greening of the environment and its transformation into habitable zones for humans The second system has been a consequence of the first, storage.
• Phenomenon of the Global Warming and the Increase in the Temperatures of the Earth’s Global warming is the increase in the temperatures of the earth’s air surface and the subsequent increase in the water levels that is, oceans and sea levels increase.
• Effects on Society From Global Warming In future books on history, the last decades of 20th century are going to be referred to as the time of ‘environmental/politically correct craze’, because during the course of this historical period, the enforces of […]
• GIS Project: Global Warming and Its Causes For the GIS project, it is necessary to study the main aspects and problems of global warming and the way it affects the geographic presentation of the planet.
• Global Warming Problem Overview: Significantly Changing the Climate Patterns The government is not in a position to come up with specific costs that are attached to the extent of environmental pollution neither are the polluters aware about the costs that are attached to the […]
• Al Gore and Global Warming: Hurricane Katrina Was Avoidable The essay seeks to explore the roles played by the 21 irrefutable laws of leadership in the tragedy The terrible and devastating incidences of hurricane Katrina still linger in the minds of Americans and the […]
• Global Warming: Reality or Hoax? The scope of this concern can be evident in the fact that the position on global warming was an issue in the US presidential election, and still an issue of dispute between the leading parties […]
• Global Warming Positive Aspects A sustained increase in the surface temperatures of land will lead to the melting of the Arctic Ice. This will lead to the formation of a new trade route that will cut the cost of […]
• Global Warming: Physical and Economic Impacts In a bid to mitigate possible risks to the ecosystem as well as humankind due to the aftermath of global warming, a majority of the countries have thus far implemented various policies designed in such […]
• Global Change Biology in Terms of Global Warming A risk assessment method showed that the current population could persist for at least 2000 years at hatchling sex ratios of up to 75% male.
• Global Warming and Environmental Refugees Moreover, since environmental refugees have to leave their homelands, the developed countries are responsible for their relocation; thus, have to provide refugees with all the necessary financial and emotional support to ease their adaptation process […]
• Global Warming Issues Review and Environmental Sustainability Whether it is the melt down of Arctic ice, the damage of the Ozone layer, extra pollution in developing countries; all sums up to one thing in common and that is global warming.
• The Inconvenient Truth About Global Warming The film illustrates to a great degree how it was the greed of the oil and gas tycoons that have led to the dismantling of the electric car idea, but that they were not alone […]
• Global Warming: Ways to Help End Global Warming An innovative understanding of global warming has included it in the agenda of firms and governments. 5 trillion dollars are shouldering the responsibility of collecting and distributing information on the firms’ exposure to carbon emission-related […]
• The Influence of Global Warming and Pollution on the Environment This essay is going to address global warming from a psychological point of view with an emphasis on the psychological and social reasons that make it important to tackle this problem which is threatening the […]
• How Global Warming Has an Effect on Wildlife? According to one of the most detailed ecological studies of climate change, global warming is already directly affecting the lives of animals and plants living in various habitats across the world.
• Global Warming Concepts Analysis In a grim and powerful assessment of the future of the planet, the leading international network of climate scientists has concluded for the first time that global warming is ” unequivocal”.
• Global Warming: “An Inconvenient Truth” by D. Guggenheim It is natural to feel overwhelmed by the intricacies and complexities of the many environmental problems confronting society and by the belief that an individual is at the mercy of all the variables that threaten […]
• Business vs. Global Warming: Discussion The temperature of the globe is rising and its consequences are knocking at the door of humanity. High temperature will increase the rate of evaporation of vast water reservoirs in sea, oceans, and rivers.
• Atmospheric Pollution and Global Warming Green forests help in soaking the suspended particles in the air and thus clean the air for all of us to breathe.
• Global Warming: Causes and Consequences Other definitions of global warming are “the increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s near-surface air and oceans since the mid-twentieth century and its projected continuation”.
• Medical Anthropology: Global Warming and Health According to Singer and Baer, corporate globalization has the most negative effect on human health as it influences the creation of global warming and contributes to the spread of severe diseases such as cancer and […]
• The Paris Agreement: Solution to Global Warming The Paris Agreement of December 2015 in France marked a significant milestone in the history of global environmental work since the majority of world leaders under the United Nations have gathered to prevent the future […]
• Masdar City: A Step to Solving Global Warming According to Mezher, Dawelbait, and Tsaia, the UAE is a country in which the influence of negative environmental impacts is acute due to the industrial features of development in the state and intensive oil refining.
• “Merchants of Doubt” Documentary on Global Warming When applying some of Rawls’ concepts of justice to the situation described in Merchants of Doubt, it becomes clear that the actions of tobacco companies and such public figures and scientists as Frederick Singer who […]
• Global Warming and Possible Solutions The effects of Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Harvey on the United States and surrounding areas have caught a lot of attention from the media due to the size of the affected area.
• The Paris Agreement and Next Steps in Limiting Global Warming The article outlined the findings of the research by Rose et al, who investigated the short-term implications of the agreement and argued that it was capable of bringing a meaningful change to the world.
• Global Warming, Its Consequences and Prevention The main point of this research is to identify various possibilities and consequences that might be caused by global warming and to discuss theories of this phenomenon’s prevention.
• Advertisement Analysis: Global Warming This instigates the interest to try to understand the essence of the advertisement message. Immediately after viewing the advertisement, a vivid person would develop a desire to associate with the advertisement since the setting of […]
• The Visions of the Global Warming It is possible to note that the overall warming of the environment is evident. It is important to observe the recent trends to be able to understand the cause and effect relations between them.
• Gender Views on Global Warming in McCright’s Study He supports his point by stating that even though the female gender tends to believe the scientific consensus more, the men, on the other hand, have a better understanding when it comes to the issues […]
• Global Warming From a Social Ecological Perspective It is logical to assume that the more people participate in solving the issue, the greater the chances of success will be.
• Polar Transformations as a Global Warming Issue Changes in vegetation due to global warming will be varying as the regions are covered with three main vegetation types: polar desert, boreal forest, and the tundra.
• Global Warming and Anthropocene in Anthropology One of the most notable aspects of today’s living in the West is that, along with making possible the invention of new technologies, the ongoing scientific process also results in encouraging people to choose in […]
• Global Warming and Alternative Energy Awareness Therefore, it is essential for life cycle managers to consider how the design and the development of the database will affect its disposal.
• Global Warming and Climate Change: Fighting and Solutions The work will concentrate on certain aspects such as the background of the problem, the current state of the problem, the existing literature on the problem, what has already been attempted to solve the problem, […]
• “Making Sense of Global Warming” by Eugene Sadler-Smith Thus, the article suggests a tool for approaching the issue of global warming, but Sadler-Smith highlights the fact that this aspect does not exhaust the possible ways in which the HRD can contribute to the […]
• Global Warming in the Film “Politics of Doubt” Many scientists say that the menace of global warming is tremendous as the climate statistics show that the planet atmosphere temperature has been increasing since the 1980’s.
• Global Warming and Man-Made Carbon Dioxide Factor It is a proved fact that carbon dioxide is one of the gasses that contribute to the creation of the greenhouse effect.
• Global Warming: People Impact on the Environment One of the reasons for the general certainty of scientists about the effects of human activities on the change of climate all over the globe is the tendency of climate change throughout the history, which […]
• Are the Effects of Global Warming Really That Bad? Regarding the thesis statement, the author indicated that global warming is a critical issue and the further changes in the temperatures could cause further detrimental effects to the environment and the lives of people.
• Global Warming in “The Island President” Documentary Jon Shenk’s 2011 documentary The Island President depicts the tragedy of the small island nation of the Maldives endangered by the global rise in sea level.
• Meat Consumption and Its Input on Global Warming However, reduction, shift to other sources of protein, and consumption of organically manufactured proteins, are some of the alternatives that environmentalists suggest to save the environment and reduce global warming.
• Global Warming Impacts on Canadian Arctic Security The onset of global warming has resulted in a significant rise in temperatures and the melting of ice in the Arctic region.
• Energy Development and Global Warming It is based on these factors that this paper will delve into the various factors that prove the existence of global warming and will attempt to create a method by which such a problem can […]
• Global Warming and Melting of Polar Ice Sheets The collaboration of the different scientists allowed them to make the claim that due to global warming, there is an average increase in temperatures in recent decades.
• Global Warming Results for Economics Thus, two articles in The Economist magazine recently that offer a slightly revisionist view of climate change and climate change models are very relevant to the operation of national economies.
• The Ability of People Handling Global Warming On the other hand, opponents of global warming squabble that global warming is harmful to all the living creatures in the world.
• Global Warming and Climate Change Transportation processes have led to the prevalence of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as the fuels used to power most modern forms of transport are carbon-based.
• Power Plants Role in Escalating Global Warming It shall highlight the extent to which global warming is caused by power plants and delineate the consequences it has had on the world as well as the potential dangers it poses to the world.
• Impact of Global Warming on Wine Makers This paper will consider the ways in which the wine industry can adjust to the global warming phenomenon and continue producing high quality wines for the market.
• On Why Global Warming Is a Reality Some of the debated issues include “the causes of global warming and whether the increase in the earth’s atmospheric temperature is normal or exceptional”. However, scientific research indicates that the temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere […]
• Global Warming and Its Effects on the Environment This paper explores the impacts of global warming on the environment and also suggests some of the measures that can be taken to mitigate the impact of global warming on the environment.
• Global Warming Refugees: A Reality of the Twenty-First Century It is necessary to understand particular causes of migration to be able to develop efficient measures to help people. Therefore, it is clear that people are unlikely to come up with an efficient solution and […]
• Potential Causes of Global Warming A greenhouse effect refers to the phenomena where water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other major gases in Earth help in sustaining the atmospheric temperatures near the surface of the Earth.
• An Analysis of the Global Warming Phenomenon Based on the First Law of Thermodynamics In addition, this energy must be equal in magnitude to that leaving the earth’s atmosphere since the earth is an open system. Therefore, the overall energy in the universe must be equal to the energy […]
• Global Warming: Impacts, Adaptations and Mitigation In addition, the use of efficient energy methods also leads to a reduction and control of global emission and concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
• The Role of the Arctic in Increasing the Effect of Global Warming Changes in climatic conditions in the Arctic affect the rest of the world because they increase global warming and contribute to the rising of the sea level.
• Differing Views on Global Warming Issues It is crucial to bring on board the views of those who view global warming as a myth that need not to be addressed.
• China and Global Warming Bearing in mind that global warming is such a threat to livelihood, it is imperative for China to start looking into ways of reducing its industrial activities for the sake of others living on planet […]
• What Is The Scientific Consensus On The Rate Of Global Warming And Its Causes? Thus, basing on the scientific information at hand, it means that the more the quantity of gases emitted into the atmosphere the thicker the layer of the blanket and the warmer the earth.
• Global Warming Effects on the Cayman Islands The effects of global warming are the social and ecological changes because of increment of global temperature. Causes of the greenhouse gases due to the human activities are shown below: On the other hand, human […]
• Global Warming and Excess Carbon in the Atmosphere The changes in climate that have occurred are not sufficient to make the assertions that the world is in danger. The challenge is that the climate change supporters have gone to extents of politicizing the […]
• The Seriousness of Global Warming The problem touches upon the rise of temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere as well as the influence of gaseous emissions and combustion gases, which are the reasons for the ecologists and scientists’ concern.
• Concepts of Global Warming: Survival of Living Organisms This is because; the backbone of most global economies is agriculture and industrialization, factors that depend on the stability of the existing environmental conditions.
• Global Warming Causes and Unfavorable Climatic Changes Others believe that the reason behind the occurrence of global warming is the negligence of people in the release of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.
• Global Warming and Coral Reefs The frightening evidence of the devastating tendencies in coral reef reduction can be illustrated by the case of the coral cover of the Rio Bueno, a coral reef site on the North East of Jamaica […]
• Global Warming Effects: Greenhouse Gas and the Earth’s Atmosphere The burning of these fuels release tones of green house gases into the atmosphere which significantly contribute to the sustained increase in the surface temperature of the earth.
• Climate Change, Coming Home: Global Warming’s Effects on Populations To add to all the problems is the fact that the Earth is seeing a major depletion in the natural resources and fossil fuels which are the established source of energy that must be greatly […]
• Climate Change: The Complex Issue of Global Warming By definition, the greenhouse effect is the process through which the atmosphere absorbs infrared radiation emitted from the Earth’s surface once it is heated directly by the sun during the day.
• Is Global Warming Good or Bad? In my opinion, global warming causes adverse effects that outweighs the positives and therefore, efforts should be invested to manage it through mitigation in order to lessen greenhouse gases emissions, adapting to its effects and […]
• Climate Changes: Human Activities and Global Warming Thus, in regard to reduced ranges of temperatures, it is evident that the region experienced some of the harshest conditions in the wake of 1970s as well as the dawn of 1980s.
• Global Warming Should Not Cause Panic From the above evidence provided by different scholars it evident that global warming is something that should not cause a lot of worries and panic to the people.
• Global Warming: Causes, Effects and the Future Science of the greenhouse effect has been known for quite a long time where the similarity between the radioactive properties of the earth’s atmosphere and of the glass in a green-house has been pointed out […]
• Can a Switch to Renewable Energy Sources Help Combat Global Warming? This paper will argue that since fossil fuels have been the primary contributors to the global warming problem, a switch to renewable energy sources will help to mitigate global warming and possibly even reverse the […]
• Global Warming: Facts and Arguments In fact, the argument is that human activities are not substantial to cause global warming. They believe that changing human economic activities to reduce the impact of global warming is very expensive and is not […]
• Global Warming Impact on International Business: Apple and HP The author posits that many nations in Europe perceive the upsides of global warming to include warmer summer and winters an attraction for more tourists, a favorable weather for growing Blueberries for local and international […]
• Global Warming: Consequences and Effects As a result of man’s increased activities such as the burning of fossil fuels, global temperatures are increasing rapidly, with severe consequences to climate patterns, the wildlife, flora and fauna, and the health of mankind […]
• Effects of Global Warming on Human Health, Human Welfare, and Human Settlements Populations that live in risk prone areas are more likely to suffer loss of land to the increasing sea level and risks of dangerous waves; when the temperatures increase; they lead to melting of the […]
• Are Human Activities Behind the Exacerbating Level of Global Warming? Despite this controversy, reliable research has shown that the production of greenhouse gases by the activities of humans is the leading cause of global warming.
• Global Warming: Since the Middle of the Twentieth Century and Next Global warming refers to the rise in the normal temperature of the earth’s near-surface atmosphere and water bodies ever since the middle of the twentieth century and its predictable continuation.
• Causes of Global Warming Global warming is the increase in the earth’s atmospheric temperatures due to a corresponding increase in the emissions of greenhouse gases, for example carbon dioxide and chlorofluorocarbons, which creates a ‘greenhouse’ effect: the retention of […]
• Global Warming Outcomes and Sea-Level Changes The outcome of global warming has been exhibited by the melting of ice and snows in areas such as the Antarctic which has changed the average sea level of the whole world because the ice […]
• Global Warming Exploration and Its Facts Despite the controversy that surrounds the causes of global warming, human beings are slowly beginning to appreciate the fact that much of the heating up of the earth’s surface is attributable to their activities.
• Effects of Global Warming: Currently and Future One of the effects is the rise of the seal level due to the melting of the ice at the poles.
• ESD Plan as a Mitigation Strategy and Solution for Global Warming The balance of input of energy into the earth and its eventual loss control the earth’s temperature. Support segments will also avail their insights of the plan and comment on its closure or extension.
• Effects of Global Warming on the Environment Global warming refers to the increase in the mean temperature of the air near the surface of the earth and oceans, which started in mid-20th century as well as its anticipated prolongation.
• Health Effects of Global Warming Studies which have been conducted in the United States about the effects of global warming on human health and mortality have mainly concentrated on either the rise in days with extremely hot weather or the […]
• Human Factor in Global Warming This has brought out the need of examining the link between global warming and radiation of the earth, factors which manipulate the conversion of the sun rays on the earth and the effects of human […]
• Possible Causes and Solutions to Global Warming It provides an investigation of possible causes of the occurrence and particularly forms a critical view of the effects of population growth to global warming.
• Global Warming: Accumulation of Greenhouse Gases The increase in plant growth triggered by the global warming stimulates reduction of carbon dioxide and thus decreases the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
• Global Warming: Reasons, Outcomes, and How to Prevent It One of the first signs of global warming is changes, noticeable to ordinary people: winters become milder and milder, lots of glaciers start melting, and the level of seas starts rising.
• How Could Global Warming Impact Miami and Surrounding Areas?
• How Aesthetic but Non-eco Friendly Choices Influence Global Warming?
• Does Global Warming Exist?
• How Do Anthropogenic Aerosols Have an Impact on Global Warming?
• Does Air Pollution Help Reduce Global Warming?
• How Are Human Activities the Primary Sources Contributing to Global Warming That Has Occurred Over the Past 50 Years?
• Can Earth End Because of Global Warming?
• How Can the Problem of Global Warming Be Solved?
• Does Fossil Fuel Combustion Lead to Global Warming?
• How Will China’s Options Determine Global Warming?
• Are Humans Responsible for Global Warming?
• How Could Global Warming Affect Our Health?
• Does Global Warming Effect Hurricane Frequency and Intensity?
• How Does Deforestation Cause Global Warming and Negatively Impact the Environment?
• Can China Contribute More to the Fight Against Global Warming?
• How Does Global Warming Affect Alaska?
• Does Global Warming Mean the End of the World?
• How Does Global Warming Affect Modern Day?
• Where Is the Evidence for Dangerous Human-Caused Global Warming?
• How Does Global Warming Affect the Environment?
• Does Human-Produced Carbon Dioxide Contribute to Global Warming?
• How Does Global Warming Affect Tropical Rainforest?
• Can Nuclear Power Solve the Global Warming Problem?
• How Did Globalization Go Bad From Terrorism to Global Warming?
• Does Increased Carbon Dioxide Emissions Cause Global Warming?
• How Does Global Warming Affect Climate Change?
• Did Global Warming and Climate Change Cause the Degradation of Lake Chad?
• How Will Global Warming and Building Envelope Change Buildings Energy Use in Central Europe?
• Can Subsidize Alternative Energy Technology Development Lead To Faster Global Warming?
• How Could Global Warming Cause an Ice Age?
• Deforestation Research Ideas
• Extinction Research Topics
• Greenhouse Gases Research Ideas
• Desert Research Ideas
• Ecosystem Essay Topics
• Global Issues Essay Topics
• Wildlife Ideas
• Environmentalism Essay Topics
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2023, October 26). 197 Global Warming Essay Titles & Examples. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/global-warming-essay-examples/

"197 Global Warming Essay Titles & Examples." IvyPanda , 26 Oct. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/topic/global-warming-essay-examples/.

IvyPanda . (2023) '197 Global Warming Essay Titles & Examples'. 26 October.

IvyPanda . 2023. "197 Global Warming Essay Titles & Examples." October 26, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/global-warming-essay-examples/.

1. IvyPanda . "197 Global Warming Essay Titles & Examples." October 26, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/global-warming-essay-examples/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "197 Global Warming Essay Titles & Examples." October 26, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/global-warming-essay-examples/.

How Close Are the Planet’s Climate Tipping Points?

Earth’s warming could trigger sweeping changes in the natural world that would be hard, if not impossible, to reverse.

By Raymond Zhong and Mira Rojanasakul

Right now, every moment of every day, we humans are reconfiguring Earth’s climate bit by bit. Hotter summers and wetter storms. Higher seas and fiercer wildfires. The steady, upward turn of the dial on a host of threats to our homes, our societies and the environment around us.

We might also be changing the climate in an even bigger way.

For the past two decades, scientists have been raising alarms about great systems in the natural world that warming, caused by carbon emissions, might be pushing toward collapse. These systems are so vast that they can stay somewhat in balance even as temperatures rise. But only to a point.

Once we warm the planet beyond certain levels, this balance might be lost, scientists say. The effects would be sweeping and hard to reverse. Not like the turning of a dial, but the flipping of a switch. One that wouldn’t be easily flipped back.

Mass Death of Coral Reefs

Tipping point possible

Degrees of warming

When corals go ghostly white, they aren’t necessarily dead, and their reefs aren’t necessarily gone forever. Too much heat in the water causes the corals to expel the symbiotic algae living inside their tissues. If conditions improve, they can survive this bleaching. In time, the reefs can bounce back. As the world gets warmer, though, occasional bleaching is becoming regular bleaching. Mild bleaching is becoming severe bleaching.

Scientists’ latest predictions are grim. Even if humanity moves swiftly to rein in global warming, 70 percent to 90 percent of today’s reef-building corals could die in the coming decades. If we don’t, the toll could be 99 percent or more. A reef can look healthy right up until its corals start bleaching and dying. Eventually, it is a graveyard.

This doesn’t necessarily mean reef-building corals will go extinct. Hardier ones might endure in pockets. But the vibrant ecosystems these creatures support will be unrecognizable. There is no bouncing back anytime soon, not in the places corals live today, not at any scale.

When it might happen: It could already be underway.

Abrupt Thawing of Permafrost

In the ground beneath the world’s cold places , the accumulated remains of long-dead plants and animals contain a lot of carbon, roughly twice the amount that’s currently in the atmosphere. As heat, wildfires and rains thaw and destabilize the frozen ground, microbes get to work, converting this carbon into carbon dioxide and methane. These greenhouse gasses worsen the heat and the fire and the rain, which intensifies the thawing.

Like many of these vast, self-propelling shifts in our climate, permafrost thaw is complicated to predict. Large areas have already come unfrozen, in Western Canada, in Alaska, in Siberia. But how quickly the rest of it might defrost, how much that would add to global warming, how much of the carbon might stay trapped down there because the thawing causes new vegetation to sprout up on top of it — all of that is tricky to pin down.

“Because these things are very uncertain, there’s a bias toward not talking about it or dismissing the possibility, even,” said Tapio Schneider, a climate scientist at the California Institute of Technology. “That, I think, is a mistake,” he said. “It’s still important to explore the risks, even if the probability of occurrence in the near future is relatively small.”

When it might happen: The timing will vary place to place. The effects on global warming could accumulate over a century or more.

Collapse of Greenland Ice

The colossal ice sheets that blanket Earth’s poles aren’t melting the way an ice cube melts. Because of their sheer bigness and geometric complexity, a host of factors shapes how quickly the ice sheds its bulk and adds to the rising oceans. Among these factors, scientists are particularly concerned about ones that could start feeding on themselves, causing the melting to accelerate in a way that would be very hard to stop.

In Greenland, the issue is elevation. As the surface of the ice loses height, more of it sits at a balmier altitude, exposed to warmer air. That makes it melt even faster.

Scientists know, from geological evidence, that large parts of Greenland have been ice-free before. They also know that the consequences of another great melt could reverberate worldwide, affecting ocean currents and rainfall down into the tropics and beyond.

When it might happen: Irreversible melting could begin this century and unfold over hundreds, even thousands, of years.

Breakup of West Antarctic Ice

At the other end of the world from Greenland, the ice of western Antarctica is threatened less by warm air than by warm water.

Many West Antarctic glaciers flow out to sea, which means their undersides are exposed to constant bathing by ocean currents. As the water warms, these floating ice shelves melt and weaken from below, particularly where they sit on the seafloor. Like a dancer holding a difficult pose, the shelf starts to lose its footing. With less floating ice to hold it back, more ice from the continent’s interior would slide into the ocean. Eventually, the ice at the water’s edge might fail to support its own weight and crack into pieces.

The West Antarctic ice sheet has probably collapsed before, in Earth’s deep past. How close today’s ice is to suffering the same fate is something scientists are still trying to figure out.

“If you think about the future of the world’s coastlines, 50 percent of the story is going to be the melt of Antarctica,” said David Holland, a New York University scientist who studies polar regions. And yet, he said, when it comes to understanding how the continent’s ice might break apart, “we are at Day Zero.”

When it might happen: As in Greenland, the ice sheet could begin to recede irreversibly in this century.

Sudden Shift in the West African Monsoon

Around 15,000 years ago, the Sahara started turning green. It began when small shifts in Earth’s orbit caused North Africa to be sunnier each summer. This warmed the land, causing the winds to shift and draw in more moist air from over the Atlantic. The moisture fell as monsoon rain, which fed grasses and filled lakes, some as large as the Caspian Sea. Animals flourished: elephants, giraffes, ancestral cattle. So did humans, as engravings and rock paintings from the era attest. Only about 5,000 years ago did the region transform back into the harsh desert we know today.

Scientists now understand that the Sahara has flipped several times over the ages between arid and humid, between barren and temperate. They are less sure about how, and whether, the West African monsoon might shift or intensify in response to today’s warming. (Despite its name, the region’s monsoon unleashes rain over parts of East Africa as well.)

Whatever happens will matter hugely to an area of the world where many people’s nutrition and livelihoods depend on the skies.

When it might happen: Hard to predict.

Loss of Amazon Rainforest

Besides being home to hundreds of Indigenous communities, millions of animal and plant species and 400 billion trees; besides containing untold numbers of other living things that have yet to be discovered, named and described; and besides storing an abundance of carbon that might otherwise be warming the planet, the Amazon rainforest plays another big role. It is a living, churning, breathing engine of weather.

The combined exhalations of all those trees give rise to clouds fat with moisture. When this moisture falls, it helps keep the region lush and forested.

Now, though, ranchers and farmers are clearing the trees, and global warming is worsening wildfires and droughts. Scientists worry that once too much more of the forest is gone, this rain machine could break down, causing the rest of the forest to wither and degrade into grassy savanna.

By 2050, as much as half of today’s Amazon forest could be at risk of undergoing this kind of degradation, researchers recently estimated.

When it might happen: Will depend on how rapidly people clear, or protect, the remaining forest.

Shutdown of Atlantic Currents

Sweeping across the Atlantic Ocean, from the western coasts of Africa, round through the Caribbean and up toward Europe before heading down again, a colossal loop of seawater sets temperatures and rainfall for a big part of the globe. Saltier, denser water sinks to the ocean depths while fresher, lighter water rises, keeping this conveyor belt turning.

Now, though, Greenland’s melting ice is upsetting this balance by infusing the North Atlantic with immense new flows of freshwater. Scientists fear that if the motor slows too much, it could stall, upending weather patterns for billions of people in Europe and the tropics.

Scientists have already seen signs of a slowdown in these currents, which go by an unwieldy name: the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC. The hard part is predicting when a slowdown might become a shutdown. At the moment, our data and records are just too limited, said Niklas Boers, a climate scientist at the Technical University of Munich and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

Already, though, we know enough to be sure about one thing, Dr. Boers said. “With every gram of additional CO2 in the atmosphere, we are increasing the likelihood of tipping events,” he said. “The longer we wait” to slash emissions, he said, “the farther we go into dangerous territory.”

When it might happen: Very hard to predict.

Read More on Earth’s Tipping Points

Heat Raises Fears of ‘Demise’ for Great Barrier Reef Within a Generation

A new study found that temperatures in the Coral Sea have reached their highest levels in at least four centuries.

By Catrin Einhorn

A Collapse of the Amazon Could Be Coming ‘Faster Than We Thought’

A new study weighed a range of threats and variables in an effort to map out where the rainforest is most vulnerable.

By Manuela Andreoni

In the Atlantic Ocean, Subtle Shifts Hint at Dramatic Dangers

A warming atmosphere is causing a branch of the ocean’s powerful Gulf Stream to weaken, some scientists fear.

By Moises Velasquez-Manoff and Jeremy White

How Much Ice Is Greenland Losing? Researchers Found an Answer.

The island is shedding 20 percent more than previously estimated, a study found, potentially threatening ocean currents that help to regulate global temperatures.

By Delger Erdenesanaa

Rapid Antarctic Melting Looks Certain, Even if Emissions Goals Are Met

It may be too late to halt the decline of the West Antarctic ice shelves, a study found, but climate action could still forestall the gravest sea level rise.

By Raymond Zhong

Methodology

The range of warming levels at which each tipping point might potentially be triggered is from David I. Armstrong McKay et al., Science .

The shaded areas on the maps show the present-day extent of relevant areas for each natural system. They don’t necessarily indicate precisely where large-scale changes could occur if a tipping point is reached.

• Share full article

Advertisement

Climate Change: Evidence and Causes: Update 2020 (2020)

Chapter: conclusion, c onclusion.

This document explains that there are well-understood physical mechanisms by which changes in the amounts of greenhouse gases cause climate changes. It discusses the evidence that the concentrations of these gases in the atmosphere have increased and are still increasing rapidly, that climate change is occurring, and that most of the recent change is almost certainly due to emissions of greenhouse gases caused by human activities. Further climate change is inevitable; if emissions of greenhouse gases continue unabated, future changes will substantially exceed those that have occurred so far. There remains a range of estimates of the magnitude and regional expression of future change, but increases in the extremes of climate that can adversely affect natural ecosystems and human activities and infrastructure are expected.

Citizens and governments can choose among several options (or a mixture of those options) in response to this information: they can change their pattern of energy production and usage in order to limit emissions of greenhouse gases and hence the magnitude of climate changes; they can wait for changes to occur and accept the losses, damage, and suffering that arise; they can adapt to actual and expected changes as much as possible; or they can seek as yet unproven “geoengineering” solutions to counteract some of the climate changes that would otherwise occur. Each of these options has risks, attractions and costs, and what is actually done may be a mixture of these different options. Different nations and communities will vary in their vulnerability and their capacity to adapt. There is an important debate to be had about choices among these options, to decide what is best for each group or nation, and most importantly for the global population as a whole. The options have to be discussed at a global scale because in many cases those communities that are most vulnerable control few of the emissions, either past or future. Our description of the science of climate change, with both its facts and its uncertainties, is offered as a basis to inform that policy debate.

A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The following individuals served as the primary writing team for the 2014 and 2020 editions of this document:

• Eric Wolff FRS, (UK lead), University of Cambridge
• Inez Fung (NAS, US lead), University of California, Berkeley
• Brian Hoskins FRS, Grantham Institute for Climate Change
• John F.B. Mitchell FRS, UK Met Office
• Tim Palmer FRS, University of Oxford
• Benjamin Santer (NAS), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
• John Shepherd FRS, University of Southampton
• Keith Shine FRS, University of Reading.
• Susan Solomon (NAS), Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Kevin Trenberth, National Center for Atmospheric Research
• John Walsh, University of Alaska, Fairbanks
• Don Wuebbles, University of Illinois

Staff support for the 2020 revision was provided by Richard Walker, Amanda Purcell, Nancy Huddleston, and Michael Hudson. We offer special thanks to Rebecca Lindsey and NOAA Climate.gov for providing data and figure updates.

The following individuals served as reviewers of the 2014 document in accordance with procedures approved by the Royal Society and the National Academy of Sciences:

• Richard Alley (NAS), Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University
• Alec Broers FRS, Former President of the Royal Academy of Engineering
• Harry Elderfield FRS, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge
• Joanna Haigh FRS, Professor of Atmospheric Physics, Imperial College London
• Isaac Held (NAS), NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory
• John Kutzbach (NAS), Center for Climatic Research, University of Wisconsin
• Jerry Meehl, Senior Scientist, National Center for Atmospheric Research
• John Pendry FRS, Imperial College London
• John Pyle FRS, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge
• Gavin Schmidt, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• Emily Shuckburgh, British Antarctic Survey
• Gabrielle Walker, Journalist
• Andrew Watson FRS, University of East Anglia

The Support for the 2014 Edition was provided by NAS Endowment Funds. We offer sincere thanks to the Ralph J. and Carol M. Cicerone Endowment for NAS Missions for supporting the production of this 2020 Edition.

F OR FURTHER READING

For more detailed discussion of the topics addressed in this document (including references to the underlying original research), see:

• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2019: Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate [ https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc ]
• National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), 2019: Negative Emissions Technologies and Reliable Sequestration: A Research Agenda [ https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25259 ]
• Royal Society, 2018: Greenhouse gas removal [ https://raeng.org.uk/greenhousegasremoval ]
• U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), 2018: Fourth National Climate Assessment Volume II: Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States [ https://nca2018.globalchange.gov ]
• IPCC, 2018: Global Warming of 1.5°C [ https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15 ]
• USGCRP, 2017: Fourth National Climate Assessment Volume I: Climate Science Special Reports [ https://science2017.globalchange.gov ]
• NASEM, 2016: Attribution of Extreme Weather Events in the Context of Climate Change [ https://www.nap.edu/catalog/21852 ]
• IPCC, 2013: Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) Working Group 1. Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis [ https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1 ]
• NRC, 2013: Abrupt Impacts of Climate Change: Anticipating Surprises [ https://www.nap.edu/catalog/18373 ]
• NRC, 2011: Climate Stabilization Targets: Emissions, Concentrations, and Impacts Over Decades to Millennia [ https://www.nap.edu/catalog/12877 ]
• Royal Society 2010: Climate Change: A Summary of the Science [ https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/publications/2010/climate-change-summary-science ]
• NRC, 2010: America’s Climate Choices: Advancing the Science of Climate Change [ https://www.nap.edu/catalog/12782 ]

Much of the original data underlying the scientific findings discussed here are available at:

• https://data.ucar.edu/
• https://climatedataguide.ucar.edu
• https://iridl.ldeo.columbia.edu
• https://ess-dive.lbl.gov/
• https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/
• https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/
• http://scrippsco2.ucsd.edu
• http://hahana.soest.hawaii.edu/hot/

Climate change is one of the defining issues of our time. It is now more certain than ever, based on many lines of evidence, that humans are changing Earth's climate. The Royal Society and the US National Academy of Sciences, with their similar missions to promote the use of science to benefit society and to inform critical policy debates, produced the original Climate Change: Evidence and Causes in 2014. It was written and reviewed by a UK-US team of leading climate scientists. This new edition, prepared by the same author team, has been updated with the most recent climate data and scientific analyses, all of which reinforce our understanding of human-caused climate change.

Scientific information is a vital component for society to make informed decisions about how to reduce the magnitude of climate change and how to adapt to its impacts. This booklet serves as a key reference document for decision makers, policy makers, educators, and others seeking authoritative answers about the current state of climate-change science.

READ FREE ONLINE

Welcome to OpenBook!

You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

Show this book's table of contents , where you can jump to any chapter by name.

...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

Switch between the Original Pages , where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter .

Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

View our suggested citation for this chapter.

Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

Get Email Updates

Do you enjoy reading reports from the Academies online for free ? Sign up for email notifications and we'll let you know about new publications in your areas of interest when they're released.

More From Forbes

College admissions trends: ai, college essays and going international.

• Share to Facebook
• Share to Twitter
• Share to Linkedin

Arush Chandna is the co-founder of Quad Education .

Last year was a landmark year for college admissions. The Supreme Court’s end on affirmative action took center stage and conjured up the most confusion and uncertainty among colleges and students alike. But the year was also marked by other key developments—the first-ever rise in undergraduate enrollment since the pandemic, a dramatic bump in early admissions, finally ending the year with a thud—a series of events leading to the ousting of Harvard University President Claudine Gay on January 2, 2024.

With these developments at the altar, 2024 is looking no less than a beast of a year for college admissions. After all, it will be the first year where applications go through the admissions process without affirmative action. And other trends too will either make an entry or continue to have a significant impact this year. Let’s find out what’s in store in 2024.

Colleges And Universities Warming Up To AI

With the onset of AI, one of the biggest concerns was students using it to whip up their college application essays. But at the other end of the spectrum, we are seeing an increasing number of colleges and universities using AI in their admissions review process. In 2023, 50% of admissions offices in higher education reported using AI for reviewing applications, according to a survey from Intelligent . For 2024, 80% of officials in higher education said they would integrate AI into their review process this year. What’s AI being used for? Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Pennsylvania developed a “ series of artificial intelligence tools that can scan through essays in college applications, picking out evidence of key personal traits.” These may include leadership and perseverance. According to the co-author of the study, these tools are not currently deployed at any institution but when done under the right conditions, have the potential to recognize applications that might have all the required traits but can still go unnoticed when evaluated by humans.

Those currently using AI, according to the Intelligent survey, report using it for reviewing transcripts and recommendation letters. Other popular reasons for using AI are reviewing personal statements, weeding out student essays written by AI, and conducting preliminary interviews with applicants. This confidence in using AI in admissions grew even in the short time between early and late 2023. So, it might be safe to say that admissions officials will continue to get comfortable with using AI while still having some reasonable ethical concerns.

New Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Price Lands As Pixel 9 Releases

Why fans think ‘it ends with us’ stars blake lively, justin baldoni are feuding—as baldoni reportedly hires crisis pr, today’s nyt mini crossword clues and answers for wednesday, august 14.

Universities can include an ethical component in the AI courses/curriculum, using an interdisciplinary method to ensure some semblance of rigor and an organized approach to this relatively new technology. Universities can partner with the government and industry to incorporate federal/industrial guidelines that should be implemented across all AI developments in the education space.

Students Striving To Write More Authentic Essays

The Supreme Court’s ruling to end affirmative action has caused a great deal of consternation among people of color in the nation. While there is no box to tick on applications anymore, students are left wondering if they should talk about race at all in their essays. As for university leaders, it means that they have to work harder to ensure a diverse campus—one that is reflective of real-time America. One way to do this for universities is to focus on varied aspects of the application to get a holistic picture—leadership, extracurricular activities, academics, community service and so on. At my company, even before the Supreme Court’s decision, we have encouraged students to represent their most authentic selves in their essays. What that means is if a student’s race, religion or culture has influenced who they are today, they should write about it but never lean on it as a sole indicator of any trait or quality. For example, if a student did not learn English in school and took the onus of teaching themselves to the level where they are an award-winning debater today, they must talk about it without worrying whether it provides an insight into their race because it highlights magnificent qualities valued by admissions officials.

Colleges and universities should consider including supplemental questions that spur this thinking among students and allow them to evaluate students holistically.

American Students Looking Outward

Many of our admissions consultants have recently observed an increased interest among students to explore destinations like Europe for their higher education—the reasons being a parallel academic experience at a fraction of the cost, reach and the added element of adventure. For example, while an undergraduate degree at Harvard costs a whopping $54,269 annually, Cambridge University’s tuition ranges from £25,734 to £39,162 annually . Students also save one year’s worth of tuition, as programs are typically three years long compared to four years in the U.S. Cambridge’s acceptance rate is also higher than Harvard’s 3% at 10%.

U.S. higher education must address the numbers of students who are defecting to colleges and graduate programs outside of the U.S. by determining if it is due to the higher costs of education or due to the perceived quality of higher education in the U.S. This research should/must include an assessment of relative cost to value: What is a degree worth when compared with the cost of paying off loans, etc. And how are global institutions keeping their costs competitive. Second, if the deflection is due to high costs, our U.S. campuses must work with the government to subsidize the cost of public colleges and universities while also ensuring that the degrees granted at each institution will provide a career path that will make students self-sufficient upon graduation.

Final Thoughts

In my experience as the founder of an ed tech business, I can say that college admissions never fails to excite. Tasked with the job of shaping students’ futures, this industry is constantly developing and presenting exhilarating challenges. Since the pandemic, many developments in this space have been monumental and will most likely continue to be so in the coming years. This year is promising to be another mega year with trends like a deeper integration of AI, thought-provoking college essays, the many implications of the end of affirmative action, students’ ever-intriguing aspirations around what they seek from the college experience and many more. It’s a year to watch out for.

Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?

• Editorial Standards
• Reprints & Permissions

‘Ghostwriting, in every sense’: Rebecca Godfrey died writing a novel. Her friend finished it

• Copy Link URL Copied!

On the Shelf

By Rebecca Godfrey and Leslie Jamison Random House: 384 pages, $29 If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org , whose fees support independent bookstores.

How does one put aside grief to finish their late friend’s book? That was the conundrum Leslie Jamison faced when completing Rebecca Godfrey’s novel following her death from lung cancer in 2022.

Jamison is best known for her essay collections “The Empathy Exams” and “Make It Scream, Make It Burn” and her unflinching memoirs “The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath” and “Splinters,” published earlier this year. Godfrey was the author of the novel “The Torn Skirt” and the harrowing nonfiction book “Under the Bridge,” which was adapted this year into a Hulu limited series starring Lily Gladstone and Riley Keough — playing a dramatized version of Godfrey. “Peggy,” a fictionalization of heiress and gallerist Peggy Guggenheim’s life, is Godfrey’s third and final book, which she wrote during the final decade of her life. She died before she could complete the last act. That’s where Jamison stepped in.

The two met at Columbia University School of the Arts, where Jamison directs the Master of Fine Arts nonfiction concentration and Godfrey taught a unit on anti-heroines.

Jamison describes the class as an “institution” within Columbia. “An anti-institutional institution,” she laughs.

It’s for this reason that Godfrey was drawn to Guggenheim.

“Rebecca was interested in women who disrupted things. Peggy was a bit of a disrupter. She liked artists that a lot of people didn’t like. She lived as she pleased.

“Part of what makes an anti-heroine an anti-heroine is that they’re not implicated in the same kinds of marriage plots that other heroines are implicated in,” Jamison continues. “They find their intimacies not necessarily in the stability and resolution of marriage but in love affairs and chosen family and friendships with women.”

Greg Iles almost died writing his latest book: ‘This might be the last thing I ever do’

Greg Iles expects backlash from some white readers for his latest book, ‘Southern Man,’ set 15 years after the events of the ‘Natchez Burning’ trilogy.

May 23, 2024

Their admiration of unconventional women who prioritized sisterhood is what connected Jamison and Godfrey too.

“There was a way that friendship and intimacies with women in this novel [were] connected to Rebecca’s conception of an anti-heroine and how Rebecca lived her life,” Jamison says.

Though the two knew each other for less than five years, Godfrey and Jamison’s friendship was an intense one that spanned many “radio channels,” as Jamison puts it. “There was a kind of urgency and fervor to our friendship in those early days that had to do with the fact that she was already sick.” Godfrey was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer in 2018 and given six months to a year to live. Godfrey survived for another four years, which Jamison, in a New Yorker essay , attributed to Godfrey’s “continual fight to steal another few months of life.”

One of those frequencies inevitably turned to discussion of “Peggy” — out Tuesday — and whether Godfrey would be able to complete it. “If she only had a limited amount of time, what did she want to do with it and how did she reckon with wanting to spend all of her time with her daughter and all of her time with her book?”

Though Godfrey never outright turned to Jamison to finish the novel, “it was an honor to be asked [by Godfrey’s literary agent and executor, Christy Fletcher], and a daunting task,” Jamison writes in the book’s afterword.

When it became clear that Godfrey likely wouldn’t see “Peggy” come to fruition, she left instructions with friends and family about how she envisioned it concluding.

“She didn’t want a truncated [version of it with a] note that says, ‘It ends here because Rebecca died.’ She wanted a version that could feel like a complete work of art,” Jamison says.

For ‘Under the Bridge,’ Archie Panjabi mined a mother’s loss: ‘I could not control the pain’

Archie Panjabi stars as Suman Virk in Hulu’s “Under the Bridge,” about the real-life murder of Reena Virk, and tells what it was like to tap into a mother’s grief and to forgive.

May 29, 2024

In order to do justice to that version, Jamison “steeped” herself not only in historical material about Guggenheim, but in Godfrey’s own voice and Godfrey’s version of Guggenheim.

“I’m not even trying to imagine Peggy’s subjectivity, I’m trying to imagine Rebecca’s subjectivity of Peggy’s subjectivity!”

“My worst nightmare was that I was going to drive Rebecca’s voice out of the book with my own work,” Jamison says. Ultimately, she had to push any hesitance or tentativeness out of her mind. “In order to inhabit her vision I had to leave deference behind and take a swing.”

Still, Jamison found the “triangle” of herself, Godfrey and Guggenheim easier than if she had been working alone within a “dyad” of Godfrey’s “fictive construction.”

“I would have felt like I was trying to crawl inside something that absolutely wasn’t mine,” she says.

The hardest thing for Jamison, as one might imagine, was combating the grief she felt after the loss of her friend while “ghostwriting, in every sense.”

“[Working on the book] made me feel close to her,” she says, recalling times when she wished she could send a quote or anecdote from her research to Godfrey only to find that Godfrey had already discovered it and highlighted it, such as a 1938 letter Guggenheim penned to her friend, novelist Emily Coleman, about spending time in Paris “working hard on my gallery and f—ing.”

“I thought, ‘Rebecca would have loved this line.’ And she did!

T.J. Newman’s soaring career is sure to hit new heights with ‘Worst Case Scenario’

T.J. Newman’s first two books, ‘Falling’ and ‘Drowning,’ ignited Hollywood bidding wars. Her new novel, ‘Worst Case Scenario,’ is waiting in the wings.

Aug. 9, 2024

“Finishing the draft was harder than writing the draft. Closing the document was the time that the grief felt most acute to me. I wasn’t expecting to feel this acute stab of bereftness when it was done.”

There’s a line partway through “Peggy” in which the titular character calls art “a living thing,” and one can’t help but think of this book as a living thing. Jamison agrees, adding that every work of literature is a living thing.

“There’s also a way that this book feels like a living thing insofar as Rebecca is no longer alive,” Jamison says. “This book is not her, ‘Peggy’s’ not her, but it is this thing that she made, it contains so much of her, and so it feels like it’s a part of her that’s very much still with us.”

More to Read

How the ‘scandalous’ Jackie Collins and Jacqueline Susann revolutionized the publishing world

Aug. 8, 2024

Francine Pascal, creator of the beloved ‘Sweet Valley High’ books, dies at 92

Aug. 1, 2024

‘The Afterlife of Mal Caldera’ and other books by Latino authors we’re reading this month

July 16, 2024

Sign up for our Book Club newsletter

Get the latest news, events and more from the Los Angeles Times Book Club, and help us get L.A. reading and talking.

You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.

More From the Los Angeles Times

The week’s bestselling books, Aug. 18

Aug. 14, 2024

In Moon Unit Zappa’s memoir, ‘Earth to Moon,’ famous names collide with family trauma

Aug. 13, 2024

Moon Unit Zappa on the ‘emotional trauma’ of her childhood: ‘Is genius worth the collateral damage?’

Opinion: What the typical animal rescue narratives leave out

Aug. 12, 2024