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The Human Factor in Global Warming

There is one thing we know for sure: global warming is caused by human beings. Nearly every human being who treads on this earth today is in some measure responsible for the phenomenon we know as global warming. The human factor when it comes to the global climate change we are experiencing is undeniable. In short, human beings are causing global warming, and if we do not act now, it will be too late to restore our earth to the way it was before we devastated it.

So what exactly is causing global warming? What sort of human activity causes global warming? The human factor on global warming can be traced back to the effect of the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect refers to the greenhouse gases that are a natural and important part of the earth's atmosphere. In short, greenhouse gases are responsible for capturing and retaining the heat close to the surface of the earth.

If it were not for the natural cushioning and warming event of greenhouse gases, the earth would simply be too cold to sustain human life. In short, without the important role of greenhouse gases on the earth's atmosphere, the earth would be frozen tundra that would be too cold to sustain human life.

Carbon dioxide is a type of greenhouse gas that has always been in natural supply. However, before the onset of the Industrial Revolution, carbon dioxide and other important types of greenhouse gases were being released into the atmosphere, and they were being released in roughly the same balance with the amount that the earth could sustain. For instance, the natural greenhouse gases that were released into the earth's atmosphere could usually be absorbed by so-called natural sinks, such as plants that could take in the carbon dioxide. However, with the onset of the Industrial Revolution, more and more greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide were beginning to be released into the earth's atmosphere.

When the Industrial Revolution caught steam in the mid-eighteenth century, the human population began to emit large amounts of greenhouse gases. The ubiquity of cars, factory smoke, trucks, and the increase in power plants meant that many more fossil fuels were being released into the atmosphere. These greenhouse gases float up to the atmosphere and then stay there for fifty years or even more.

However, all this greenhouse gases stays in the atmosphere and then causes an extra layer of heat to wrap itself around the earth. All the greenhouse gases that have been produced and released into the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution have been creating a build-up effect, gradually causing the earth to warm up—hence the global climate change that we must all deal with.

So how warm has the earth gotten? How bad is global warming, really? It appears that global warming has cause the earth to warm up by roughly one degree Fahrenheit in the past one hundred years or so. However, it appears that the effects of global warming have caught steam in recent decades. The effects of global warming have begun to felt—they are now palpable. During the last two decades, we have now felt the earth warming and the effects of climate change.

The statistics all point to the mark of human activity as the source of global warming. Right now, with more carbon dioxide produced by human activity than any other time in history, there is now more evidence for compelling shifts in the global climate temperature. The evidence is clear: human activity is causing our shift in global climate change, and if don't do something to remedy the human impact on earth; we will all feel the devastating effects of the global climate change on the earth.