What is the cause of Climate change?

Introduction

The question of what causes climate change is essential, and climate change is a severe problem.

The climate has permanently changed, but some changes are more severe than others. And sometimes, we’re the cause.

In this article, we’ll discuss what causes climate change and how we know that human activity is one culprit.

What are the causes of climate change?

Climate change is caused by human activity. When we burn fossil fuels for energy, we release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

These gases trap heat from the sun and hold it close to Earth’s surface, causing temperatures to rise.

In addition to burning fossil fuels, humans have been contributing to climate change with other activities:

• Deforestation (cutting down forests) has led to deforestation of approximately 20 million hectares per year since 2000; most of this deforestation occurs in South America and Africa
• Soil degradation (soil loss due to poor farming practices) contributes to about 4% of global emissions globally

Increasing Greenhouses Gases Are Warming the Planet

The gases that trap heat in our atmosphere are called greenhouse gases. The most important of these gases is carbon dioxide (CO2), but methane, nitrous oxide, and water vapor also contribute to this effect.

Greenhouse gases are responsible for the greenhouse effect–the warming of our planet that keeps Earth habitable by trapping solar energy. Without them, average temperatures would be about -18°C instead of 15°C.

Four Major Gases That Contribute to the Greenhouse Effect

Four major gases contribute to the greenhouse effect. They are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

Carbon dioxide is a natural byproduct of burning fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas.

Methane forms when organic waste decomposes in landfills flooded rice paddies and cow stomachs.

Nitrous oxide comes from fertilizer use in agriculture fields, as well as combustion engines.

Carbon Dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. It is emitted into the atmosphere when fossil fuels are burned for energy, during cement production and when organic materials such as trees or crops are burned.

Carbon dioxide also occurs naturally in oceans, lakes, rivers, volcanoes, and wildfires.

Methane

Methane is a greenhouse gas released through livestock, landfills, and coal mining.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that methane emissions from natural gas production and processing account for about nine percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2018.

Nitrous Oxide

• A significant greenhouse gas that causes climate change is nitrous oxide.
• Nitrous oxide (N2O) is naturally produced in the soil by bacteria and other organisms, but human activities have significantly increased their production since the industrial revolution.

The agricultural industry produces nitrous oxide as a byproduct of fertilizer application on crops.

Fossil fuel combustion produces nitrous oxide when nitrogen oxides are released into the atmosphere upon burning fossil fuels such as coal and oil.

Industrial processes such as metal processing, cement production, and semiconductor manufacturing release nitrous oxide into the atmosphere.

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are artificial chemicals used as refrigerants, solvents, and insulators.

In the past, they were commonly found in aerosols, air conditioning units, refrigerators, and other appliances.

Although they have been phased out of production in the United States since 1996, CFCs are still being released into the atmosphere by human activity, such as industrial processes or cleaning up old buildings with cleaners containing these gases.

CFCs are greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming by trapping heat in our atmosphere when they break down at high altitudes through chemical reactions with solar radiation.

Water Vapor

The most significant greenhouse gas is water vapor, and because it is a natural part of the climate system, it’s not something that can be easily controlled.

 Water vapor is typically considered a feedback mechanism that affects climate change due to its relation to water in liquid form.

For example, if you increase the amount of water available for evaporation by warming up your lake or ocean, more moisture will be in the air overall (this increases humidity).

-This can have positive and negative effects on global temperatures, depending on where you live.

Greenhouse Gas Concentrations Have Increased Due to Human Activity

The climate is changing, and we are responsible for it. That’s the conclusion of a report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The fifth in a series of reports, installments from the IPCC that have been released every seven years since 1990.

The first two reports determined that human activity was increasing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, while later accounts focused on how those gases led to climate change.

-This latest installment looks at what we can do about it — reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“The coming years will likely be the most significant in our history,” he said during his address. “We have to act fast because this century is going to be one of extraordinary change.”

The disruption of ecosystems due to climate change will lead to mass extinctions and species migrations, as well as new diseases and changes in agricultural productivity.

Some regions will experience flooding and droughts, while others will see increased temperatures and humidity levels.

Evidence Shows That Solar Irradiance Cannot explain current Global Warming

If you’ve been following the climate change debate, you might have heard about solar irradiance.

Solar irradiance refers to the amount of energy that strikes the Earth’s surface from the sun, and it has increased by 0.1% since 1900—not much.

However, scientists have used this increase in solar energy as a potential explanation for why climate change occurs.

But they were wrong: evidence shows that this increase in solar energy can’t account for current global warming!

Humans can cause climate change.

Yes. Humans are indeed the cause of climate change, but it’s not because we’re all inherently wrong people.

We need to improve at thinking about the future and how our choices now can affect our children and grandchildren in 50 years.

We need to stop polluting our atmosphere with greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O).

These gases trap heat in our atmosphere causing global temperatures to rise, which causes more extreme weather events such as hurricanes, floods, and droughts.

These three gases make up almost all human-induced greenhouse gases:

Conclusion

Humans are not the only ones contributing to climate change, but we are certainly one of the leading causes.

We have long known how humans might contribute to this global phenomenon and continue to work towards reducing our impacts on Earth’s climate.