Five Major Causes of Global Warming

The greenhouse effect is a naturally occurring process that traps heat from the sun in the atmosphere and allows for life on the planet. The greenhouse effect has only become a problem in modern times because an increase in gases. The main cause is an increase in population and industrialization and a decrease in natural protection, especially rain forests, which has lead to the overheating of the earth, or global warming. Too much heat has an adverse effect on the environment and causes flooding, droughts, heat waves, tornadoes and an increase of diseases.

Carbon Dioxide

• Carbon dioxide is the main gas that contributes to the harmful, man-made greenhouse effect. CO2 is created by burning fossil fuels, such as oil, natural gas and coal, solid waste and wood. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 41 percent of all CO2 emissions in the USA come from the generation of electricity, a process that mainly uses coal.

  The second largest producer is the transportation sector, including cars, trucks and airplanes, which account for about 33 percent of CO2 emissions. The industrial sector, including petroleum refining, chemical and food production, is the third largest producer of CO2. According to the EPA, CO2 levels have risen 35 percent since the Industrial Revolution, and as of 2002, according to Encyclopedia of Earth, CO2 accounts for 82 percent of greenhouse gases.

Methane

• According to the EPA, more than 50 percent of methane emissions are from human-related sources, such as fuel production, animal husbandry, farming and landfill, while the rest are from natural sources, such as wetlands, permafrost, oceans and wildfires. Almost half of all human-related methane emissions come from farm animals and landfills. According to Encyclopedia of Earth, methane accounts for about 9 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. While there is more CO2 emitted each year than methane, methane traps about 20 times more heat than CO2.

Nitrous Oxide (N2O)

• Nitrous oxide has both natural sources, mainly oceans and soil bacteria, as well as man-made ones, mostly fertilizers, animal manure, fossil fuel combustion and sewage treatment. Much less N2O is produced yearly than CO2 but nitrous oxide can store 300 times more heat than CO2. According to the EPA, agricultural soil management is by far the largest producer of N2O.

  Microbes occur naturally in soil and help to nitrify it. Man-made and natural fertilizers and the cultivation of high organic content soils increase this nitrification process and increase N2O emissions. According to Encyclopedia of Earth, N2O accounts for 5 percent of greenhouse gases.

Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases

• Fluorinated greenhouse gases, also called high global warming potential (GWP) gases, are the only greenhouse gases that do not occur naturally but made for industrial purposes. The most well known of these gases are chlorofluorocarbons, CFCs, which also deplete the ozone layer. These gases were in cooling and refrigeration processes, like air-conditioning, the electronics industry and in aluminum manufacturing. They are extremely powerful, and can trap 22,000 times more heat than CO2. According to Encyclopedia of Earth, these gases accounted for about 2 percent of greenhouse gases in 2001.

Deforestation

• Forests remove and store carbon dioxide. As the population increases, more forests are cut down to make room for urban expansion, to use the wood for building and the land to raise animals. When these forests are cut down or burned, they emit their store of CO2 back into the atmosphere. If we do not replant trees we stand to lose one of our main defenses against CO2. Young, fast-growing trees remove more CO2 than they release, so reforestation programs are a necessary step to combatting the greenhouse effect.