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What are the causes of global warming
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Global Warming and Greenhouse Gases
The concentration of the atmosphere's main greenhouse gases specifically, carbon
dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and water vapor, have increased significantly during the
industrial age. These high concentrations are predicted to continue in the atmosphere for thousands of years to come. This increase in specially carbon dioxide, increases the
infrared energy taken in by the atmosphere, and warming the earth's surface. The Global
mean temperature over the past 150 years has risen between 0.3 degrees C and 0.6
degrees C. Climate changes that have been predicted are based on the continual rise in
Green House Gases. These changes include changes in: increase in mean surface air
temperature, increase in global mean rates of precipitation and evaporation, rising sea
level, and changes in the biosphere.
There are many causes to the rise in Green House Gases in the atmosphere. The
rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is largely related to the combustion of fossil fuels and cement production (Hansen). The increase in methane is do to rice cultivation, animal husbandry, biomass burning, and landfills (Kattenberg). Nitrous oxide is on the rise because of industrial sources like adipic acid and nitric acid production (Kattenberg). Other gases not mentioned above that have a small impact on the Green House Gas
proposed problem, is CFC-11 and CFC-12, these Gases are know to the public as being a
big source of warming, although catalyzing decomposition of stratospheric ozone, they
do not pose a great threat. Since the public was notified of these compounds in
refrigerants, spray propellants, and foam blowing; the atmospheric concentrations have
decreased greatly (Prather).
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...the past 160,000 years."
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Prather, M. P. "The ozone layer: The road not taken." Nature 381, 1996.
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of other radiatively active gases." Nature 350, 1991.
Global Warming, much of what does or does not happen forty years from now rests on our actions or inactions taken between now and then. The crucial question is whether we should pour all our resources into mitigation – reducing our carbon emissions. According to scientists who study the climate there are other environmental problems; “we now face a global crises in land use and agriculture that could undermine the health, security, and sustainability of our civilization”.
Methane is also another important greenhouse gas in the atmosphere is the resultant of human activities. It is infused in the atmosphere due to-
The emission of carbon dioxide has contributed to 80% to the heating of the earth atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is produced due the burning of fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal and oil. The burning of fossil fuel is very important in our society today, because it is used for cooking, used to produce electricity, for heating, for cooling and also for transportation. The industrialization has led to the use of fossil fuel for running machines and driving cars. The building of fossil fuel contributes towards 80-90% of the carbon dioxide we find in our atmosphere today. When the ecosystems are altered and vegetation is either burned or took out, the carbon stored in them is relinquished to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (What causes global climate change, 2005). Methane is another gas being produced in the process which all have served to increase the greenhouse effect in our atmosphere. Methane is produced from the cultivation of rice, from the burning of coal and from cattle, it has increased by 145% due to human
Industrial Revolution, people have released more of these gases into the atmosphere, thickening the blanketing layer. This
One of the most compelling and difficult environmental problems society faces today is climate change. People do not realize how much the environment has changed for the worse in the last ten years, until they are told that the last two decades of the 20th century have been the hottest in the last 400 years, according to climate studies (Conserve Energy Future). Today, the carbon dioxide levels have reached 396.81 parts per million (ppm). “Carbon dioxide (CO2) has also increased over the last 100 years-- from about 300 ppm to 370 ppm. Interestingly, the majority of these additions have occurred in the last 50 years, when temperature increases have been the slowest” (geocraft).
Our world is always changing, so is our climate. Some changes are apparent, others not so much. Climate change is an important issue of concern in the twenty-first century. Environment, if it changes at all, evolves so slowly that the difference cannot be seen in a human lifetime (Wearth, 2014). Mostly all scientists predicted that it would take thousands of years for the planet to warm up due to emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels called greenhouse gases. But in the past 200 years, things began to change. The rate and the amount of warming that is happening on this planet are unprecedented. Wearth says, “People did not grasp the prodigious fact that both population and industrialization were exploding in a pattern of exponential
There is no longer any question that our world climate has changed (King, 2004). Over the last 100 years, "temperatures have risen by about 0.6 degrees Celsius and global sea level has risen by about 20cm" (K...
The evidence clearly provided in this essay strongly supports the argument that greenhouse gases caused by air pollution are the main cause of anthropogenic climate change. The tables and graphs demonstrate just how greenhouse gases contribute to climate change. As is evident, climate change is an ever growing problem globally. Due to the increase in anthropogenic air pollution, greenhouse gases have amplified also, as shown by table 2. Figure one shows how carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased exponentially, mirrored by anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide. The various examples described clearly support the argument that greenhouse gases caused by air pollution are the major anthropogenic causes of climate change.
Air pollution is caused by many things such as car fumes, burning of fossil fuels,
The emission of green house gasses due to human activity contributes the most in increasing global warming. Today, fossil fuels are used as a source of energy for transportation, electricity, industrial process and to increase human comfort in this era. Over the last decade humans have created mass amount of industries. These industries have been burning fossil fuels such as coal, which release carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide; carbon dioxide absorbs heat that raises the temperature of the earth. More than 80% of carbon dioxide comes from tr...
Hansen, J., Ruedy, R., Sato, M., & Lo, K. (2002). "Global Warming Continues." Science, 295, 275.
Schmidt, G. A., R. A. Ruedy, R. L. Miller, & A. A. Lacis (2010), Attribution of the present‐day total greenhouse effect, Journal of Geophysical Research, 115, D20106, doi:10.1029/2010JD014287.
Global Warming is a condition caused by greenhouse gases and human activities. The increased concentration of greenhouse gases due to activities such as deforestation and fossil fuel burning is causing the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans to warm up. As a result of this, global warming has some serious effects in the shape of extreme weather, species extinctions, and rising sea levels. These effects can contribute to the changes that are taking place all over the world, most of which are dangerous enough to pose a threat to the survival of life on Earth in the future.
In the statistical distribution of weather condition and its perfect pattern in an amount of time ranging from decades to centuries to millions of years, a substantial, long-lasting and drastic change is largely known as Climate change. It may be a change in more or fewer extreme weather events or in the distribution of weather more or less the average conditions or in average weather conditions. With the usage of theoretical models and observations methods, scientists, experts and specialists in this particular field actively works in order to perfectly understand past and future climate under certain situation and circumstances.
Climate changes occur in our earth's atmosphere due to a buildup of greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases can occur naturally as well as a result of human activities. The greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. “Carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when solid waste, fossil fuels, and wood are burned.” (2) The gases help to warm the surface of the Earth. Each greenhouse gas absorbs heat differently. If natural gases did not occur, the temperature of the earth would be considerably cooler. “Problems can occur when higher concentrations of greenhouse gases are present in our atmosphere because they have enhanced our earth's heat trapping capability.” (3)