Wilson, Nakauhi, Maley, Quigley, Montgomery 1

Myles Wilson, Keith Nakauhi, Blair Maley, Remi Quigley, Connor Montgomery

Professor Alexandra Matteucchi

English 130-W

September 19, 2019

Greenhouse Gases

While many contributions to global warming are specific, more all-encompassing factors

are the “Greenhouse Gases”. As implied by the word “greenhouse”-a semi-transparent object

used for farming that raises the inside temperature-these are gasses that dramatically contribute

to global warming by trapping energy from the sun. This energy is normally expelled,

however-due to greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, water

vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons-the energy does

not leave the atmosphere.[3]

Many aspects contributing to global warming. One of the most popular greenhouse gases

is carbon dioxide aka ​CO2​. According to the EPA, (Environmental Protection Agency) roughly

82% of greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide. The way CO2 enters our atmosphere is by burning

fossil fuels such as; solid waste, coal, natural gas, certain chemical reactions, and oil. Once these

gases are in our atmosphere, the only way they can leave is when the fossil fuels get absorbed by

plants. Carbon dioxide is present everywhere in the Earth it’s part of the carbon cycle which is a

cycle that shows how carbon cycles through the atmosphere, to organisms and then back to the

atmosphere. An over abundance of CO2 is very bad for our atmosphere. Too much CO2 causes
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the temperature to significantly change and being around a large amount of it can lead to central

nervous system damage and respiratory deterioration.

Methane gas, CH4, is released into the atmosphere not only by the transport of coal,

natural gas, and oil but by the decaying of organic waste from landfills and livestock.[1]

Although methane doesn’t stay in the atmosphere for more than 10 years it has a major impact

on heating up of Earth. In fact, Methane is considered 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide

over a span of 20 years.[2] Over the past 13 years, NASA has reported that the emissions of

methane has increased by about 25 teragrams (25 trillion grams). [4]NASA also claims that 17

teragrams of the 25 increased over the years is a result of fossil fuels. In order to slow these

emissions on a global scale, we need to move away from the use of fossil fuels and move into

solar and wind power. Scientists have also noted that if we capture the methane gas produced by

livestock, wastewater treatment plants and used as fuel.[3]

Nitrous oxide, Takes a big toll on greenhouse gasses. Nitrous oxide is mostly released

from bacteria in soil. About 40% of total Nitrous Oxide comes from human activity, for example

Agriculture soil management is the largest source of N2O that gets depleted into our

atmosphere. Even agricultural transportation and industries are big leading factors into releasing

N2O into our atmosphere and Ozone layer. The process that gets rid of Nitrous oxide from the

atmosphere also eliminates the Ozone layer which is thinning it down. Soil management

activities in Agricultural takes a big toll on greenhouse gasses as they develop the fertilizer

whether it's organic or synthetic. According to Land Trust Alliance ​ “​A single nitrous oxide
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molecule has 300 times the global warming potential of a carbon dioxide molecule.” stating this,

this shows how bad Nitrous Oxide is for our environment.

Overall, after looking more into greenhouse gasses we realized that human activity is the

main cause of greenhouse gasses and that each type of gas is released in different ways, such as

carbon dioxide is released by burning fossil fuels

Sources:

http://sequestration.org/science/greenhousegases.html​[1]

https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases​[2]

https://climatekids.nasa.gov/greenhouse-cards/​[3]

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/greenhouse-gases/​[4]
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https://climatechange.lta.org/get-started/learn/co2-methane-greenhouse-effect/​[5]

Connors sources

https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases​ [1]

https://www.edf.org/climate/methane-other-important-greenhouse-gas​ [2]

https://www3.socalgas.com/stay-safe/methane-emissions/methane-and-the-environment​ [3]

https://unfccc.int/news/nasa-confirms-methane-spike-is-tied-to-oil-and-gas​ [4]