Causes of global Warming

By Manav Aggarwal

Over the past few years scientists have been working on finding about what really has caused Global Warming. They have looked at many natural cycles and conditions, the main cause they blame for this natural hazard is the Greenhouse gases.

One of the first things scientists learned is that there are several greenhouse gases responsible for warming, and humans emit them in a variety of ways. The gas responsible for the most warming is carbon dioxide, also called CO2. Other contributors include methane released from landfills and agriculture (especially from the digestive systems of grazing animals), nitrous oxide from fertilizers, gases used for refrigeration and industrial processes, and the loss of forests that would otherwise store CO2.More than 80% of the worldwide energy demand is currently supplied by the fossil fuels coal, oil or gas. It will be impossible to find alternative sources, which could replace fossil fuels in the short or medium term. If we even find any replacement, it will may bring only more further damage to Earth and may last up to 50 years. Even if we try using renewable sources like water and oxygen, they won’t be efficient in terms of their usage. The energy demand is simply too high. Most of the greenhouse gases come from the burning of fossil fuels in cars, factories and electricity production.

Different greenhouse gases have different heat-trapping abilities. Some of them can even trap more heat than CO2. A molecule of methane produces more than 20 times the warming of a molecule of CO2. Nitrous oxide is 300 times more powerful than CO2. This is what has resulted in the warming of Earth over the past few years. It may not sound much but almost 1% of these gases have increases.  Other gases, such as chlorofluorocarbons, which have been banned in much of the world because they also destroy the ozone layer. Ozone layer is the layer which protects the Earth from UV rays as well as Meteors.

On Earth, human activities are changing the natural greenhouse. Over the last century the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil has increased the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). This happens because the coal or oil burning process combines carbon with oxygen in the air to make CO2. To a lesser extent, the clearing of land for agriculture, industry, and other human activities have increased concentrations of greenhouse gases. This has affected the Earth very much and if it continues it may earth and everything on it a lot. If the usage of these resources is not decreased, there may come a day when the planet may get destroyed.