For several decades, scientists have wondered what causes global warming. They looked at a number of things, such as natural cycles and events that influence the weather. Some things they learned that cause global warming include:
– Release of methane gas in the areas of wetlands and arctic tundra. Methane is known as a greenhouse gas that generates heat trapped within the atmosphere.
– Cycle of climate change, which tends to occur every 40,000 years.
– A lot of volcanic activity causes an increase in greenhouse gases.
– Sunspots
And while they looked at past events and cycles, they noted that they alone cannot explain the pattern and amount of global warming. The scientists could only explain that the pattern included the human effect on greenhouse gases. After all, the human population is growing rapidly, which means they are raising more animals for food and have regular growth in technology.
Now, scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (or IPCC) meet every few years to check recent scientific findings and produce a report summarizing everything they have learned about global warming.
Greenhouse gases cause global warming
Now, one thing that scientists have learned about the causes of global warming is that there are several types of greenhouse gases responsible for the problem. And, humans are largely responsible for these greenhouse gases, emitting them in various ways. Most greenhouse gases come from the burning of fossil fuels, such as the production of electricity, cars, and factories. However, the main cause of global warming is carbon dioxide, also known as CO2.
So what causes global warming? Some other causes include methane from agriculture and landfills, nitrous oxide from fertilizers, gases used in industrial processing and refrigeration, and deforestation, which creates CO2.
When people drive their cars, heat their homes with natural gas or oil, or use electricity from coal-fired plants, they release more heat-trapping gases like CO2 into the environment. Deforestation means fewer trees, and when fewer trees are planted, it means less carbon dioxide is converted to usable oxygen.
The heat-trapping capacity of different greenhouse gases varies. Some tend to trap more heat than carbon dioxide. A methane molecule generates more than 20 times the heating of a CO2 molecule. Nitrous oxide is almost 300 times stronger than carbon dioxide. Chlorofluorocarbons, which are banned in most of the world because they cause ozone depletion, can trap more than a thousand times more heat than carbon dioxide. However, since their concentration is lower than that of CO2, they do not add much heat to the environment.
When scientists get together, they tend to talk about different greenhouse gases and their carbon dioxide equivalent. Since the early 1990s, annual CO2 emissions have risen to around six billion metric tons or a 20 percent increase.
Keep in mind that in the industrial age, carbon dioxide emissions increased by approximately 31 percent. And, at the same time, there was a 151% increase in ambient methane, which came from agricultural activities like growing rice or raising cattle.
What causes global warming is the increase in greenhouse gases because more heat is trapped in the atmosphere and cannot escape into space. This increase in the amount of heat trapped will cause changes to the environment, altering weather patterns, accelerating the spread of species, influencing the seasons, causing coastal flooding, and causing more severe storms.
Without a doubt, greenhouse gases have a direct impact on the causes of global warming. So it’s up to humans around the world to ban and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to save the environment… and the world!