In the distant past, climate change was caused mainly by solar output and volcanic eruptions. But in the recent centuries, on top of those natural factors, human-generated impacts have been playing an influential role in contributing to climate change. Even though there is still a small number of people who do not believe that climate change is man-made like Sarah Palin has expressed her opinion in public, the fact cannot be denied.
How humans are affecting the climate is complicated, but mainly through the following three ways: by changing the properties of the underlying surface, by changing some compositions in the atmosphere such as carbon doixide and particles; and also by releasing energy artificially (from my high school geography class). The outcomes of each of these influences are different, some will increase or decrease the temperature, and some will make the atmosphere wetter or drier. But when they mix together with natural factors, each of them influence each other which makes climate change more unpredictable.
This graph is a reservation made by Mauna Loa in Hawaii showing there has been a 2 ppm increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide since 1958. The Fouth Assessment Report of IPCC shows how humans have been affecting the climate by indicating that carbon dioxide levels have greatly increased since the Industrail Revolution and most of it comes from the burning of fossil fuels. From the book Dire Predictions, fossil fuel burning is considered the primary human impact on climate change whereas industrial aerosols comes the second.
Carbon dioxide has been the most discussed topic when it comes to climate. A study showed that carbon dioxide pollution would even result in people’s deaths. “The deaths were due to lung and heart ailments linked to ozone and polluting particles in the air, which are spurred by carbon dioxide that comes from human activities.” Some people might argue that carbon cycle would help eliminate the effect carbon dioxide has brought. Even though plants and water can help absorb carbon dioxide, the amount released in the air outweighs the amount the earth can take.
Early this year, there were organizations protesting in front of the capitol and rallying to reduce carbon emissions and high dependence on coal and oil. Protestants were holding signs saying “coal is dirty,” and expressing the concerns of if the legislation could not even eliminate the use of the coal, it would not be a convincing way for them to believe that the government was actually going to carry out laws to promote sustainable energy use. Actually, being the largest greenhouse gases emitters, both China and the US are facing the same situation when it comes to the reliance on coal. Coal is accelerating global warming, polluting our water and air, and destroying our living environment. Countries have been acting fast in developing alternative and green energy use, and this might be the best way to stop global warming from worsening.
Tags: Carbon Dioxide, climate change
