Sophia D’Angelo and Emily Perretti

Global Warming: A Destructive EquationCommon Causes, Devastating Effects, Promising Solutions

Causes: Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Carbon Dioxide Emissions

My first image depicts a primary cause of global warming; mass carbon dioxide emissions. While a healthy amount of CO2 emissions are necessary to warm earth’s atmosphere, an overload causes an increase in earth’s average temperature which disrupts many aspects of our environment and even leads to the extinction of certain species.

In this image, I placed pictures of some of the species that will be affected by Global warming on top of a factory producing large amounts of carbon dioxide. Some of these animals are the Polar Bear, who will lose its home as the ice melts and the Red Fox, who will be forced to move north where the winters have become less severe which will upset the food chain of the native mammals.

ProcessFor this image, I first cropped the animals out

of their respective pictures and changed the transparency to make them extremely transparent. This represents their future extinction.

I also placed filters over each animal and specifically placed them into certain areas of the image.

Causes: Deforestation

Deforestation Most people assume that global warming is caused by burning

oil and gas. But in fact between 25 and 30 percent of the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere each year – 1.6 billion tons – is caused by deforestation.  Rainforests play the important role of locking up atmospheric carbon in their vegetation via photosynthesis. The vegetation and soils of the world's forests contain about 125 percent of the carbon found in the atmosphere. When forests are burned, degraded, or cleared, the opposite effect occurs: large amounts of carbon are released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide along with other greenhouse gases (nitrous oxide, methane, and other nitrogen oxides).

In this image, I placed a picture of a forest that had been cut down. Then I added some pictures of animals that are losing their homes because of deforestation. These animals are the Old World Fruit Bat, the Tree Frog, Tigers, and the Gibbon.

Process

For this image, I first cropped the animals out of their respective pictures and changed the transparency to make them extremely transparent. This represents their future extinction. .

Causes: Car, Plane, & Train Emissions

Transportation Emissions Transportation sources accounted for 29 percent of total U.S.

greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2006.  Transportation is the fastest-growing source of GHGs in the U.S., accounting for 47 percent of the net increase in total U.S. emissions since 1990.  Transportation is also the largest end-use source of CO2, which is the most prevalent greenhouse gas.  These estimates of transportation GHGs do not include emissions from additional lifecycle processes, such as the extraction and refining of fuel and the manufacture of vehicles, which are also a significant source of domestic and international GHG emissions.

In this image, I placed a picture of pollution and smoke coming from a power plant. I then added pictures of some more animals affected by global warming. Some animals are Edith’s Checkerspot Butterfly, the Spotted Owl, and Kangaroos.

ProcessFor this image, I first cropped the animals out

of their respective pictures and changed the transparency to make them extremely transparent. This represents their future extinction. I also cropped different types of transportation and placed them in the image.

The owl and the kangaroo have a shadow because if pollution keeps on existing, they will become a mere shadow in the existence of animals.

Effects: Melting Polar Ice Caps

Melting Polar Ice Caps My second image is from the second theme

of our essay, the effects of global warming. This image represents a destructive effect that global warming is having on the arctic; the melting of polar ice caps.

Beyond the obvious devastation this will have on the polar bears as it destroys their homes and places of rest, the melting glaciers will raise sea levels, threatening all low lying areas of land around the globe.

ProcessFor this image, I found an image of a polar

bear alone on a huge block of ice. Using the clone stamp, I erased a large part of the ice and made it into more ocean.

I also used the stained glass filter to make the ice appear as if it was breaking up.

I then cloned the polar bear and placed him into the water to represent what will happen when all of the ice melts.

Effects: Loss of Krill: Upset of Food Chain

Loss of Krill Since temperatures are on the rise, sea ice in the

Antarctic Peninsula regions has significantly reduced. And the algae that grows on the underside of the shrinking sea ice is therefore also diminishing. The algae is a food source of krill, which is also disappearing in Antarctic waters. Scientists report a 10x decline in krill populations during the past 10 years. The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) completed a study in November 2004 saying that there has been an 80 percent decline in krill since the 1970's.

In this image, I took an ocean scene and added animals that will be affected by the loss of krill. There are faded krill and pictures of a sting ray , turtle, and a whale.

ProcessFor this image, I first cropped the animals out

of their respective pictures. I made little areas of faded krill to demonstrate their future extinction.

I also placed a water-ripple filter on the turtle, stingray, and whale to represent that without the krill, these animals are going to just disappear from the ocean.

Solutions: Wind Power

Wind PowerMy third picture is of the last theme in our

essay, the solutions to global warming. This picture shows wind power, an alternative energy source which provides a large, quick and cost effective solution to global warming.

The animals in the picture are the same species shown in the pictures of the causes, the polar bear and the Red Fox, representing the species that can hopefully be saved if we use these solutions.

Process For this picture, I copied the windmills and

placed them all over for dramatic effect. I also cut out a new picture of a polar bear walking and copied him to represent how this fuel source could help save him.

I also cropped out a different picture of a Red Fox, as shown earlier in the essay as this alternative fuel source is pertinent to his saving as well.

Solutions: Unplugging Your

Appliances

Unplugging Your Appliances My final picture is another picture in the solutions

theme of our essay. As previously discussed, a large cause of global warming is the enormous amounts of CO2 that is emitted into the air. A very simple way to drastically cut back on these emissions is simply to unplug your appliances when they are not in use. This solution is a very simple and is something that can be done easily every day.

For this image, I found a picture of an empty wall appliance and placed animals in and around it of species that can be saved if we use these solutions to put a stop to global warming.

Solutions: Solar Energy

Solar Energy Everyone agrees that renewable energy could

clean the air, prevent global warming, and help eliminate our nation's dependence on fossil fuels from overseas. Using sunlight as our source of energy, it is not only cost efficient, but it allows us to have a source of energy that can never disappear.  Solar panels usually generate more energy than is even necessary so the leftover energy can be used to replace power plants.

In this image, I placed solar panels and pictures of birds flying through the clean, non-polluted air.

ProcessFor this image, I first cropped the animals out

of their respective pictures and applied a filter to make them stand out.

I also changed the saturation of the grass beneath the solar panel to make it look sunnier and more vibrant.