Global Warming and Natural Disasters

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Table of Contents

Research Hypothesis
Literature Review
Sustainability design philosophy
Cradle to cradle design philosophy
References

Global warming has been perceived to increase flooding effect across the continent. The previous research analyzed the causes of global warming, and its cause, whether by human activities or natural occurrence. The research failed to address whether global warming increased the natural disasters in the society.

This research will enable the government institutions to enact laws on ways to mitigate the production of greenhouse gas during this era of global warming. This will be achieved through the imposition of high tax rate on gas consumed to about 50%. The government needs to increase the prices of oil and electricity in order to cut down the emission of greenhouse gas, therefore, minimizing global warming.

The research is essential, as the effect of global warming has been a serious issue across the continent. As most people in the society are unaware of any relationship between global warming and flooding, the research aims at imbibing knowledge on the changes that are expected on the water levels in the society when there is global warming.

Research Hypothesis

Null Hypothesis (H_o): Global warming increases flooding in Arkansas region, along Mississippi River, the United States.

Alternate Hypothesis (H_A): Global warming does not increase flooding in Arkansas region, along Mississippi River, the United States.

The research hypothesis selected is relevant, as the economy has faced severe losses due to the lack of clear knowledge on the relationship between global warming and recurrent flooding along Mississippi River (Jackson, 2011). In most cases, scientists have analyzed global warming separately without relating it with flooding that Arkansas experiences.

I selected this research hypothesis in order to deduce the effects that an increase in global warming has on perennial flooding reported in the U.S. The research hypothesis selected aimed at providing an in-depth understanding on the effect of global warming on the occurrence of natural disasters. This is based on the research articles reviewed on annual flooding and global warming debate in the United States.

The hypothesis aims at providing a causal relationship between global warming and occurrence of natural disasters. Global warming has increased over the past decades due to the human activities that pollute the environment. This increase in global warming has seen an increase in natural disasters like explosions and climatic changes.

In the near future, it is predicted that flooding will increase tremendously, as human activities that cause global warming are increasing. Government prioritizes economic development without analyzing its effect on the environment.

The two variables to be discussed are global warming and flooding. Indeed, when the government imposes strategies to reduce greenhouse gases emission, there will be an ultimate reduction in global warming (Creswell, 2009).

The data to be collected in this research will be the concentration of greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide emissions) in the atmosphere over a specified period. As global warming is caused by carbon dioxide emissions, observation of its trend will be pivotal. In addition, global temperature, measured annually, will be determined, and solar irradiance in the atmosphere will be measured (Jackson, 2011).

The data on the increase in water level, in Arkansas, will be retrieved from the meteorological department. The data will be analyzed in order to determine the correlation between global warming and flooding, whether positively or negatively correlated. For instance, the increase in carbon dioxide, in the atmosphere, denotes an increase in global warming.

The temperature measured and solar irradiance shows the variation of annual average temperature over the past decade and enables the researcher to predict the future trend. The research methodology to be used is mixed method, both qualitative and quantitative. In quantitative method, the measurements will be taken on the temperature, solar irradiance, water level, and carbon dioxide concentration.

The data will be collected from the scientific sites and satellite/meteorological information on solar irradiation, and tabulated (Publication Manual of The American Psychological Association, 2009). The sample population will be interviewed on the views concerning the changes in the climatic condition over the past decades. It will be rated as satisfactory or worse.

Literature Review

Global warming as an idea has been a case of research on with lots of scholars with a view to solve the threat it poses to humanity. Global warming occurs majorly by the emission of carbon gases into the atmosphere which depletes the ozone layer, therefore, giving a way for the strong sun rays including U.V rays which might have been able to alter the human gene in composition and content. (Papanek).

The excessive heat caused as a result of peeling off the ozone layer has the ability to tremendously alter the temperatures of the Earth. This would be done by the excess rays of the sun that would be let in by this apparent peel. The warming up of the Earth due to this cause is the global warming concept. (Adams, 2005)

The Earth’s warming has led to other effects such desertification, the process of increasingly having the Earth occupied by more arid and semi arid lands.

This brings in more dry wind to the Earth lands which might eventually coupled with the heating temperatures, lead to blowing off and melting of avalanches and causing drying up of the Earth’s surface and leading to melting of the same casing avalanches and mud slides which scientists believe could bring tremors and even earthquakes during occurrence.

The avalanches and mudslides alone are a major cause of deaths and destruction and have been more and more common with days. This is perceived to be an effect of global warming and with the ozone layer being depleted more with the more carbon content emitted into the atmosphere the situation might get worse.

Dry winds rift apart lands which due to the cooling rocks underneath leads to sudden dry cooling causing rifts which if occur at a certain rate would lead to Earth tremors or even quakes. The melting of the avalanches also leads to reduced pressure on the rocks underneath which destabilizes the conditions of the Earth’s core a concept that might be responsible for more tremors and earthquakes. (Papanek, 1984)

The increasing temperature which also leads to desertion increases to the temperatures underneath which are already very hot due to the pressure and having not finished forming just yet, big bang theory, hence, melting them and with the much increased pressure and the difference in moisture, this might lead to volcanoes which give off magma and as the volcanoes erupt they might bring with them tremors. (Charter, 2005)

The sea is not left out of this whole equation, as the warming takes place, the ices on mountains melt up and flows into rivers and then the oceans, this might lead rising levels of the see making waves stronger and more frequent as the warming goes on and on. The warming temperature heats up the sea which conspires against us by increasing the temperatures of the atmosphere we live in.

This rather new temperature, leads to instability of the waves in the seas which are then converted into catastrophic occurrences such as the hurricanes. The effects of global warming on the Earth have continued to surface and been with us for long. In the recent past, the frequency at which natural disasters have been happening has increased a fact which attests to the global warming to be the cause.

The increasing temperatures have the ability to distort the current balance of natural conditions which is likely to lead to the mentioned natural disasters. (Feireiss, 2010)

Global warming can, therefore, be clearly a cause for natural disasters and, hence, the need to come up with means and ways in which it can be regulated and hence human beings have fronted various efforts towards this direction.

Sustainability design philosophy

Sustainable design also commonly referred to as environmental design is the basically the philosophy of designing physical objects, built environments as well as services in compliance to the principals of environmental, social and economical sustainability (Benyus).

To achieve this, the sustainability design focuses on major objectives that include: consumption of non-renewable resources, waste minimization as well as creation of healthy productive environments.

These objectives are attained via its principles which are embedded with the ability to minimize non-renewable energy consumption, optimize site potential, use environmentally friendly products as well as conserve water as a vital resource (Adams).

Indoor environmental quality is greatly enhanced by this design, as it aims at providing enough comfort and protection of the inhabitants of buildings, from negative influences of the environment. This, thus, further enhances building performance and service to its occupants (Feireiss).

Cradle to cradle design philosophy

Cradle to cradle is a word that was first coined by Walter Stahel back in the 1970s, which was meant to contrast the famous cradle to grave idea employed in most industry. Creswell, in this philosophy, employed by most manufacturers, products were used and, thereafter, dumped after their usefulness is exhausted.

During this age, most of the western world was at the peak of being industrialized with the currently third world countries borrowing the industrialization concept. The impacts of the “cradle to grave” philosophy to the environment were clear and hence the necessity to develop a more environmentally friendly philosophy: thus, the “cradle to cradle philosophy”.

In the cradle to cradle design philosophy, the materials used are divided into Biological” and “technical” categories. Where a component that is deemed technical is non-toxic, synthetic product designed an environmentally favoring manner (W. &. McDonough).

The component is designed to be recycled in a closed loop with the manufacturing company/person avoiding “down cycling.” Down cycling is the fading in quality of a product with every recycle for instance paper which produces a lower quality product each time it is recycled. (Jackson)

Biological components, on the other hand, have biological origin. This means that through the nature, these components can be naturally broken down and utilized by the environment after they are used (W. B. McDonough). For instance, a cup designed form cornstarch, the cup could be used just like other utensils and then composted with the product supplying nutrients to the surrounding environment.

The companies or the industries that have espoused the philosophy produce products that are environmentally friendly and form a closed loop or cycle with which products of the technical nature can be used over and over again as opposed to discarding them as in cradle to grave design. This philosophy eliminates the idea of having wastes e.g. waste food, hence, ensuring sustainability of the world’s population.

This philosophy can be employed in any part of our lives as its advantages can never be matched. In the world of architecture, cradle to cradle is employed in the constructions of buildings (W. &. Mc Donough). The materials used in the construction of buildings should be cradle to cradle compliant and the design should too follow suit. (Charter)

References

Adams, G., Hafkesbrink, J $ Ecolife. “New Business Models Report.” Centre for Sustainable Design (2005): 26-29.

Benyus, J. Innovation inspired by Nature. New York: Sphere, 1975.

Charter, M., Adams, G $ Clark, T. “Suspronet Report Product Services In The Need Area.” Centre for Sustainable Design (2005): 09-13.

Creswell, J.W. (2009). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, And Mixed Methods Approaches (3rd Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Elgar, E. The Handbook of Environmental Technology Management. New York: Green Books, 2004.

Feireiss, K. Architecture of Change 2: Sustainable and Humanity in the Built Environment. New York: Prestel Publishing, 2010.

Jackson, S. (2011). Research Methods and Statistics: A Critical Thinking Approach. London: Cengage Learning.

McDonough, W & Braungart. “The Cralde to Cradle alternative.” World Institute State of The world (2003): 15-18.

McDonough, W., Braungart, M. Cradle to Cradle. North Point Press: New York, 2002.

Papanek, V. Design for the Real World-Human Ecology and Social Change. London: Thames and Hudson, 1984.

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