What Causes Global Warming?
On our main page we have explained to you what global warming is but here we are going to cover what causes global warming in more detail. You can be forgiven for turning around and saying that the greenhouse effect is the cause of global warming, but global warming causes go much deeper than that and on this page we will discuss both the man-made and natural causes of global warming that will tie in with the green house effect. It is important to recognise the difference between natural global warming causes and how humans contribute.
Many people think that global warming and the greenhouse effect are the same thing, this is not the case. Global warming is the result of both the green house effect and also human activity.
Whereby a great deal of people across the world will cite that global warming and its causes are not an issue, it is a scientific fact that over the last two decades global temperatures have consistently risen, as to how much of an impact nature and human activity has had on this is up to you to decide, we hope that this page on the causes of global warming will go some way to helping you draw a conclusion.
If you want to know what the effects of global warming are then please click here.
What causes global warming?
In this first section we are going to answer the question 'what causes global warming?' as this is the main question that you will be looking to answer if you have landed on this page. We aim here to give as simple an explanation of the topic as possible.
Before we go on to talk about what causes global warming we are going to just reiterate what global warming is. Global warming is the continuing rise in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere and oceans, so in a nutshell it is the planet getting warmer and warmer all the time.
Obviously when we are looking at what causes global warming we want to know exactly what it is that is responsible for the rise in these temperatures. The green house effect is largely responsible for global warming and this process is explained in more detail on our 'what is the greenhouse effect?' page. However, in short the greenhouse effect is the result of infrared light not being able to transmit back through the atmosphere into space after it has been radiated to the earth from the sun. This is a fairly simple concept, the sun heats the earth and it's heat comes through the atmosphere in order to do this. Some of this heat is then reflected back up and through the atmosphere into space so that the earth is not too hot, but in the case of the green house effect and subsequent global warming the reflected heat does not make it back through into space and it is instead retained in the earth's atmosphere leading to continued heat.
The big question here is why is the heat trapped, or how is it trapped as fundamentally this is what causes global warming!
As we have explained on our page all about what the greenhouse effect is, the heat is trapped in the atmosphere by certain gases that respond in a way that sees them retain sunlight and also heat gas molecules that are near to them, with these being so evenly spread out it kind of acts like a blanket. The gases do not allow the heat to pass through and out of the atmosphere, they trap the heat and this leads to the earth's temperature increasing and thus is when global warming occurs. These special gases are known as 'greenhouse gases', for more information on what these are please check out our page on 'what are green house gases?'.
To a degree the green house effect is a natural process because the greenhouse gases that are released into the atmosphere are done so naturally, so arguably global warming is something that is always going to happen. However, it is a fact that human activity has contributed to global warming because it has meant that a significant amount of natural greenhouse gases and other green house gases are also released into the atmosphere so therefore have played a fundamental part in the causes of global warming or as many would say the accelerated global warming causes.
What we are now going to go and explain are how these gases get into the atmosphere to lead to the cause of global warming, there are two main ways that you can look at this and these are the natural causes of global warming and also global warming from human activity.
Natural causes of global warming
Before we go on to talk about what causes global warming in relation to human activity we are going to cover the natural causes of global warming, so the things that would contribute to the greenhouse effect whether humans carried out all of their contributory factors or not. The natural causes of global warming are as follows:
- Deforestation
As you will see below deforestation is also a cause of global warming brought on by human activity as they cut down vast amounts of forest for wood. However, deforestation is also a natural cause of global warming as well because forest fires can occur naturally and these are responsible for tearing through huge areas of forest and woodland, many see this as natures way of removing the old to make way for the new. The fires produce carbon filled smoke and also remove trees that can photosynthesize, the smaller plants that will replace them will take time to grow before they can efficiently photosynthesize so this leads to more carbon dioxide in the ear and is thus one of the natural global warming causes. - Ocean pollution
When you think about ocean pollution you will automatically think of waste dumped into them by humans, however this is not the only source of pollution that you will find the earth's oceans. Each ocean has to support vast range of ecosystems and as with any ecosystem waste is produced and this waste contributes to natural global warming causes. - Methane from animals
Animals give off methane and in agricultural areas where there are lots of animals such as cows and sheep this greenhouse gas is given off in large quantities. - Volcanic eruptions
It is a fact that volcanic eruptions give off co2, although we do not hear about these eruptions every day on the news they do not happen to a degree. This is one of the little known natural causes of global warming. - Water vapor
Water vapor is one of the main greenhouse gases and it is something that occurs both naturally and from human activity continuously, most notably through the respiration of humans, plants and animals.
We hope that these natural causes of global warming have been helpful to you and that before you go on to read about how global warming occurs through human activity you understand that it is not all down to human intervention when it comes to what causes global warming.
Man-made global warming causes
Now that we have covered the natural causes of global warming we are going to proceed to talk about global warming causes that come about from human activity. As we have already mentioned, greenhouse gases would be released into the earth's atmosphere naturally with or without human activity, however that would mean that there is a natural balance that has sustained life on the planet for hundreds and thousands of years. The gases that are continuously and increasingly released into the atmosphere by human activity is clearly going to disrupt this natural balance and eventually can, or as many say 'will', have devastating effects on the environment and everything that lives on earth. Man made emissions are what are known as 'anthropogenic'.
So how do humans contribute to global warming causes?
- Human activity sees the burning of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal and this releases greenhouses gases into the earth's atmosphere at a much more increased rate that these gases would be found there naturally.
- Human activity as a cause for global warming sees huge areas of forests destroyed that leads to more co2 in the air because there are less tress to photosynthesize it. The removal of forests is called 'deforestation', for more information on this please see our dedicated page.
- Human waste contributes to global warming causes with methane being emitted into the atmosphere from landfills
- Look how many cars are being driven around, these give off emissions that contribute to the causes of global warming.
- Treating waste such as waste water also gives off gases that have an effect on global warming
- Industrial processes - There are a vast number of industrial processes that give off greenhouse gases
- Agriculture
A huge 30% of methane emissions that are released into the earth's atmosphere come from agriculture. The majority of this comes from the result of the digestive system of animals such as cows and arguably you can say that this is natural, however when you think of the amount of animals such as cows that are bread for purposes such as killing for meat you will find there are large concentrations of these animals in places and thus larger amounts of methane emitted than through natural breeding. There is also the decomposition of manure as this also produces methane in environments that are low in oxygen.
Having read through all of these man-made global warming causes it is very clear that there is going to be an excess of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that would not be there if humans were not around doing all of the things that they do. The main question that is forever being argued over is - how much of an effect on global warming human activity has.
More Information
We hope that this page has been able to explain what causes global warming for you in an understandable way. The causes of global warming are something that are a huge cause for debate and concern in the world today and we have tried to highlight these global warming causes in an informative manor without laying blame to one aspect over another. If the natural causes of global warming are something that are of interest to you then you are also going to find the other pages that we have on this site of some interest as well, so please take the time to look around at all of the free information that we have on offer while you are online.
As somebody that may be concerned about global warming or whether or not you may contribute to it, please check out our page all about reducing your carbon footprint on tips as to how to be more environmentally friendly.
