Human Contributions to Climate Change and Global Warming

- Human industrial activities are believed to be adding to the amount of "greenh

ouse gases" naturally present in the atmosphere. There are mounting proofs that
following the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries, which commen
ced in Britain and expanded to several parts of the world, the amounts of carbon
dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has increased som
ewhat. Greenhouse Gases (ghg) released from human activities or natural sources
and trapped in the atmosphere acting as blanket preventing the earth's heat from
escaping into space, thereby increasing the earth's temperature, creating varia
bility in the world climate (Climate Change).
To know more about ghgs, follow the link Greenhouse Gases. As a result of the in
creasing temperature, our earth warms up - a phenomenon referred to as Global Wa
rming. Since the start of the industrial revolution of the 18th century, the tem
perature rise has been on the upward trend and it is believed that it will conti
nue to rise. This lends further credibility to the scientific conclusion that hu
mans are contributing to Global Warming. Global warming comes with a lot of cons
equences (see Evidences & Effects of Global Warming)

Based on scientific results and day-to-day physical evidences, global warming (c
aused by humans) is no longer in dispute. With the the verdict of the fourth ass
essment report on climate change prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Clim
ate Change (IPCC), there is also very little contention that man contributes to
the heating up of the Earth. However, the question that remains is: how much of
the warming is caused by man?
Some of the human activities that lead to production of GHGs are:
Agriculture
During agricultural practices, methane gas (a GHG) is produced when bacteria dec
omposes organic matter. It has been estimated that close to a quarter of methane
gas from human activities result from livestock and the decomposition of animal
manure. Paddy rice farming, land use and wetland changes are also agricultural
processes that contribute to the release of methane to the atmosphere.
Deforestation
With the growth of industrial activities, more and more trees are felled (e.g. i
n the wood industry, paper industry etc). These trees are felled without replant
ing new ones. This practice, over the centuries, has led to worldwide deforestat
ion. Deforestation increases the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. thi
s is explained as follows: During photosynthetic process, trees take in carbon d
ioxide from the atmosphere and release oxygen back to the atmosphere. With defor
estation, the number of trees available to take in CO2 from the atmosphere has g
reatly reduced, leading to more available CO2 and increased greenhouse effect. F
urthermore, when felled trees are burned to provide energy or when they decompos
e, carbon dioxide is also released to the atmosphere, further worsening the clim
ate change - global warming phenomenon.
Fossil Fuels
Fossil fuels (coals, natural gas and oil) are widely used to power our modern da
y engines and automobiles. The burning of fossil fuels yields most of the energy
used to produce electricity, heat houses, run automobiles and power factories.
The burning of fossil fuels to obtain energy to drive these engines lead to prod
uction of tremendous amount of CO2 which is released to our environment and incr
eases the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. It is believed that CO2 genera
ted from the burning of fossil fuel accounts for about three-quarters of the tot
al CO2 emissions from human activities.
Refrigeration/Fire Suppression/Manufacturing
Establishments and Industries used to use chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in refriger
ation systems, and CFCs and halons in fire suppression systems and manufacturing
processes. These substances are GHGs that are capable of adding to the phenomen
on of Climate Change - Global warming.
Other Human Factors
Other human factors leading to release of GHGs (particularly methane) to the atm
osphere include:
* pipeline losses;
* landfill emissions and
* septic systems that enhance and target the fermentation process.
Indicators of the Influence of Human Activities on Climate Change:
Measurements of the concentrations of CO2, CH4, NO2 and other GHGs in the atmosp
here over time suggests that these concentrations have been on the increase sinc
e the beginning of the industrial revolution that began in the 18th century. A c
ouple of the graphical data is presented on this page to illustrate that man's a
ctivities are possibly contributory to the heating up of our Earth.