What Are Things That Cause Global Warming?

Global warming is when the average temperature around the world begins to rise and remain at a higher level than normal. The causes of global warming is traced back to two different classifications. The two classifications have several causes and humans have control over just one of these classifications. The causes of global warming traps the heat of the sun in Earth's atmosphere and causes the temperatures to rise on the surface of the planet.

Methane

• One of the two classifications of global warming is natural causes. The Earth naturally makes methane gas. Methane gas is released from the arctic and different wetlands around the world. It is one of the gases that cause heat to get trapped in the earth's atmosphere. Imagine a car in a parking lot on a hot day. Sun gets into the car, but cannot get back out. It is trapped inside the vehicle, causing the temperature to rise dramatically. This is what methane gas released into the atmosphere does to the Earth. The gas allows the heat from the sun to get through the atmosphere, but it prevents the heat from getting back out like the window of a car.

Earth Cycles

• Earth goes through different temperature cycles because of its rotation and orbit and because the temperature from the sun fluctuates periodically. Approximately every 21,000 years the Earth slightly changes its tilt and orbit around the sun. Every 41,000 years, the temperature increases or decreases on average, 1.5 degrees. These natural causes create a warming effect on the Earth's surface and with the combination of methane gas being released into the atmosphere, a global warming begins.

Carbine Dioxide

• The release of a lot of carbine dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere has the same effect as methane gas. CO2 comes from humans, and the more humans the more CO2 released into the atmosphere. Human breathe in oxygen and breathe out CO2. In the past there was a lot more plant life than there is today. Plants breathe out oxygen and breathe in CO2. Since population of the earth is growing, more and more forests are being cut down to make room for people to live. The increase in population and decrease in plant-life causes more of this CO2 to reach the atmosphere, causing global warming.

Fossil Fuels

• The burning of fossil fuels --- oil, natural gas and coal --- to make energy for homes and automobiles releases more CO2 into the atmosphere. The combination of CO2 from fossil fuels, humans and animals creates more gas that creates global warming. The mining of these fossil fuels also causes the release of methane gas, just like the gas release from the arctic and the wetlands. Like the arctic and wetlands, methane is also in the ground where fossil fuels are located. The removal of earth or dirt while mining these fossil fuels releases the methane contained in the the ground.