The Issue of Global Warming in the World

Global Warming is an issue that the World has been dealing with for many decades. I really did not understand about Global Warming until I enrolled in a Meteorology class at American Public University, and it was then that I was introduced to the issue of Global Warming, and the damage that is happening to our World. Global Warming refers to the gradual warming of global average temperatures due to the slow increase concentrations of greenhouses gases, primarily carbon dioxide.

Burning of fossil fuels traps the heat in the atmosphere making the earth warmer. The signs of climate change are everywhere. Temperatures are warmer, snow melts earlier, and birds do not fly as far south for the winter as they once did. Giant ice sheets are melting and oceans are rising. If our planet continues to warm, because of greenhouse effects there can be more storms, flooding, droughts, heat waves, and it will begin to effect the eco system and some of our plants and animals face the danger of extinction.

The Federal Agencies and Cabinet Departments that are most important in determining the existence and causes of climate change are The EPA also known as the Environmental Protection Agency, The Department of Energy, The NOAA also known as National Oceanic Administration, The United States Department of Agriculture also deals with Weather and Climate. Weather is one of the key factors affecting prospects for crop production and commodity prices.

In 1978 the World Board and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration formed the Joint Agricultural Weather Facility (JAWF). The Joint Agricultural Weather Facility is housed at the Department of Agriculture, and it monitors the weather and then makes an assessment how the changing weather will impact crops around the world. Regular briefings by experts on the Board are an important source of information for United States Department of Agriculture commodity forecasters as well as for the Secretary of Agriculture and other top officials at the Department.

The Climate Change Program Office (CCPO) operates within the Office of the Chief Economist and functions as the Department-wide coordinator of agriculture, rural and forestry-related global change program and policy issues facing USDA. The Office ensures that United States Department of Agriculture is a source of objective, analytical assessments of the effects of climate change and proposed response strategies. The Office also serves as USDA’s focal point for climate change issues and is responsible for coordinating activities ith other Federal agencies, interacting with the legislative branch on climate change issues affecting agriculture and forestry, and representing USDA on U. S. delegations to international climate change discussions. Working together all of these agencies ensure that climate changes will be discussed and formulate and execute plans and policies dealing with the current situations of climate issues. http://www. c2es. org/docUploads/FederalGovernmentLeadershiponAdaptation_Nov2010. pdf http://www. usda. gov/oce/weather/index. htm http://www. usda. gov/oce/climate_change/