How are humans contributing to climate Change?

Answer 1

The main human activity causing global warming is the burning of carbon-based "fossil" fuels, which are coal, oil, and natural gas (methane). By using carbon-based energy sources to produce our everyday energy needs, we increase the amount of global warming as the burning fossil fuels release a main "greenhouse gas", carbon dioxide (CO2), into the air. This extra CO2 is too much for the Earth's natural carbon cycle to deal with, and it remains in the atmosphere, warming the planet ever more as the levels build.

Another human activity that contributes is the overall reduction of Earth's plant life. For example, when we cut down great forests resulting in fewer plants to absorb the CO2 and release oxygen, more warming occurs.

In addition, it is believed that animal husbandry plays a role with increasing the levels of another greenhouse gas, methane, which is produced by the livestock. It remains to be seen just how hot the planet is going to become.

Detailed Explanation:

When fossil fuels are burned, they release carbon dioxide, which is a "greenhouse gas", meaning that it tends to trap heat, because it is transparent to visible light but opaque to infrared radiation, so heat gets in during the day and has difficulty being radiated back out into space at night.

Our animal husbandry also plays a big part. All the cattle that people raise emit a greenhouse gas, methane, which is a by-product of the cattle's digestive process. Some believe that this may play as large a role, or even a larger role, in global warming than the role of burning fossil fuels.

There is still controversy about the "anthropogenics", the human role in creating global warming. Some people argue that global warming is a natural process that would be happening anyway, even if people did nothing.

The link between carbon dioxide levels and global warming was established as long ago as the nineteenth century. In the absence of anthropogenic activities, carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere would be fairly static thanks to the natural "carbon cycle". Animals exhale carbon dioxide, but vegetation converts this back into edible products that are then consumed by those animals. Similarly, rotting vegetation gives off carbon dioxide, but the vegetation is soon replaced by new vegetation that requires the same amount of carbon. This natural carbon cycle contributes no net increase in carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. Even burning wood or paper has no net effect on atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide. Although, cutting down trees for wood or paper could do so if new trees are not planted or allowed to grow and absorb as much carbon as the trees that were cut down were absorbing to keep the cycle in balance. With this natural carbon cycle, CO2 concentrations had remained around 260-280 parts per million (ppm) until the time of the Industrial Revolution. Then the level of CO2 began to rise in line with increasing use of fossil fuels.

Scientists gradually began to realize that, by burning fossil fuels, we were interfering with the natural carbon cycle and raising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations sufficiently to begin affecting the global climate. Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have now risen by more than 35 per cent since pre-industrial times, to the present level of over 380 ppm. The consensus view of climate scientists is that this does result from human activities.

There seem to be a myriad of answers to this question from all viewpoints on the issue of human involvement in global warming, making it a confusing topic to grasp for those who are not atmospheric scientists. However, the video link below, in the related links for this question, is a good starting point for understanding the scientific facts and conclusions.

Answer 2

Humans are exacerbating global warming by:

• Burning fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas).
• Destroying forests.
• Being slow to embrace the clean and clear benefits of renewable energy.
• Polluting the atmosphere with several varieties of greenhouse gases.

Answer 3

When we build factories they put pollution into the air