An estimated $50 billion has been spent in the United States and Canada--by both government and private industry--on global warming research. Scientists have directed most of their attention toward two major questions. First, they want to know whether global warming is actually happening and, if so, what is its cause. Second, many studies have focused upon the various impacts of rising temperatures. (Strangely, very little research has been funded to study the effects of possible global cooling and its impact.) For nearly three decades hundreds of articles and many books have been published, describing countless things that will result from a warming Earth. And according to the "experts," almost none of them will be positive.

Negative results range from increased blindness from cataracts to a plummeting salmon population off the California coast. Swarms of jellyfish in Scotland are blamed on global warming. One headline boldly suggests that "Warming Could Wipe Out Scotch [whiskey]," one of Scotland's most famous products. Another warns that "Climate Change Will Collapse Earth's Ecosystem." Still another predicts that "Warming Will Wipe Out Billions," leaving only about 10 percent of the planet's population alive. What's a person to believe? Is our planet really on the brink of a catastrophic meltdown? Should we fear for our very lives?

There also have been more than a few articles written that predict the onset of another ice age. Were we to believe everything we read, one would be faced with a horrible decision: Would we rather freeze to death or die of heat?

Let's assume that the planet does continue to warm at a rate forecast by the so-called experts. What will happen? Obviously, many changes will occur. Some, of course, will be bad. But often ignored are the many changes that will be good. If Earth does continue to warm, tropical and middle-latitude climates and ecosystems will expand, or move toward higher latitudes. Those of polar latitudes will shrink in size. If planetary temperatures rise, many experts believe that most warming will be in the higher latitudes. Tropical latitudes, in fact, may actually cool a bit. Strangely, in this case, warming would cause cooling. Warming will increase cloud cover. Greater cloud cover, in turn, will reduce the amount of insolation that strikes the surface and becomes heat.

Some scientists already see a pattern of precipitation change resulting from global warming. As a general rule, wet places seem to be getting wetter and dry places somewhat drier. Certainly this has happened throughout much of the semiarid and arid United States. Most of the country's western interior, the desert Southwest, and large areas of California have been bone dry during recent years. Water of the Colorado and Rio Grande rivers rarely reaches the sea. Reservoirs such as Lake Mead and Lake Powell on the Colorado River--the sources of water for millions of people--have been at historic lows during the first decade of the twenty-first century.

Because of its immense population, recent drought conditions have been particularly devastating to semiarid areas of China. Portions of Australia and Africa also have suffered from severe drought conditions that many blame on global warming. Wetter and drier periods, one must remember, also undergo cycles. Recent droughts are nothing unusual. What has happened is that populations have exploded, leaving more people to be affected.

During recent years, the western United States and Canada have experienced an increase in the number of forest fires because of drought conditions. Many fires have been more devastating than normal. Aridity combined with higher temperatures also damages forests in another way. Drought and warmer-than-average winters combine to create favorable conditions for insects such as the mountain pine beetle. This destructive pest has killed millions of acres of coniferous forest throughout much of the western United States and Canada.

Some scientists have predicted that warming temperatures will create more and stronger tropical storms (hurricanes, typhoons, and cyclones, depending upon their location). Recent studies, however, seem to discount this possibility. Atlantic hurricane records have been kept since 1881. Between 1971 and 2009 fewer Atlantic hurricanes occurred than during any comparable period for which records exist. This time span also coincides with the recent rise in temperatures.

The greatest number of hurricane deaths, by a wide margin, occurred more than a century ago. Property damage has increased simply because today more people live in hazardous coastal areas. The recent problem with hurricanes (and tropical storms in the Pacific and Indian oceans, as well) is their aim. Temperature cannot "guide" a storm into a major city or heavily settled coastal zone. Where hurricanes hit is a matter of random luck. And for cities such as Miami, Florida; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Galveston, Texas, their luck finally ran out.

Two other types of storms, both of which take their toll on life and property, would be reduced in number and ferocity in a warming environment--tornadoes and blizzards. Nearly all tornadoes occur in North America. They are extremely rare elsewhere. These often deadly storms are created by a convergence of warm, moist air off the Gulf of Mexico and cold, dry air from Canada. In the absence of frigid Canadian air, they could not develop. Blizzards, too, would be much less frequent and severe if temperatures continued to warm.

Free term papers are not written to satisfy your specific instructions. You can use our professional writing services to buy a custom written research paper, term paper, or essay on Global Warming at affordable price. CustomTermPapers is the best solution for those who seek help in writing term papers, essays, and research papers related to Global Warming and other relevant topics.