Is global warming caused by humans and their activities?

Answer 1

Humans are a major contributor to global warming, many of our actions from producing raw materials such as steel and electricity, manufacturing road vehicles, ships and aircraft, refrigerators, televisions (this list is endless) to transporting goods and people around the world, encouraging cows to produce milk (by product methane) and even incinerating our waste, all have a detrimental effect on our world.

The burning of fossil fuels alone accounts for over 30 billion tons of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere each year. While natural greenhouse gas concentrations DO fluctuate, the steady measured rise since the onset of the industrial revolution is primarily caused by burning fossil fuel. In 1700 CO2 levels were 280 ppm. By 1900 they had risen to 290 ppm, increasing by an astonishing 1.5% per century. CO2 has not changed this rapidly in geologic history.

Within four years CO2 will exceed 400 ppm. Virtually all of this 25% increase is attributable to human activity.

At the present rate, atmospheric CO2 concentrations will exceed 500 ppm before 2050. Many of the world's climatologists consider 350 ppm to be the maximum sustainable level, though even 350 ppm is 20% higher than CO2 has ever been throughout human existence, prior to the 1980s.

A:Although global warming may be caused by human's greenhouse gasses, there is surprisingly little evidence for this.

Firstly, humans emit surprisingly few greenhouse gasses compared to the rest of the Earth. Most of the greenhouse gasses (something like 60-70%) come out of the oceans. A lot (like 30%) comes from things on land breathing. Very little (around 3%) comes from human pollutants (such as factories).

Secondly, there is not much evidence that CO2 is the cause of global warming. Although both CO2 and global temperatures are both rising now, this has never happened before in the Earth's history. Most of the time, it's just the opposite, when CO2 is up, temperature is down.

Lastly, global warming is happening on other planets, so the Sun as a cause is a very serious contender. Mars' ice caps are melting and Jupiter is having storms even more violent than usual.

A:It is the solar radiation that is ABSORBED by the earth that is, supposedly, a problem. This absorbed sunlight is later re-emitted in the form of infrared radiation. Carbon dioxide and other so-called "greenhouse gasses" (the most important of which, by far, is water vapor, by the way) in the atmosphere then absorb this re-emitted (not reflected) infrared radiation, causing the atmosphere to warm. This is the greenhouse effect, and it was happening for billions of years before the first internal combustion engine was invented, and without it, the Earth would be far too cold for humans to have evolved. The theory of anthropogenic global warming has it that EXCESS CO2, from the burning of fossil fuels, has created an "enhanced" greenhouse effect, causing the atmosphere to warm well above some "optimal" temperature, whatever that might be - no one seems to be able to state what the optimal temperature is. (But this theory is wrong, because CO2 absorbs only a small range of wavelengths of infrared, about 10-15% of all IR radiation, and even in that small range, it has to COMPETE with water vapor to absorb the IR. So, as it turns out, between the water vapor and the CO2 that was already in the atmosphere long before the industrial revolution, all of the available IR radiation was already being absorbed. So, it doesn't matter how much CO2 is in the atmosphere - there's only so much IR that is going to be absorbed by CO2, and we were at that level of IR absorption long before the industrial revolution.) Also, what you call "pollution" is, in fact, carbon dioxide. Without CO2, there would be no greenhouse effect, nor any human life on Earth. CO2 is a vital nutrient to all plants. Since when did we start calling a substance that is so clearly and vitally important to life, a "pollutant"? True, we might have more than we NEED at the moment, but the trees certainly aren't complaining. They're lovin' it. A:This really is the disputed issue. It is very clear from the geological evidence that periods of global warming and ice ages do occur. What is perhaps less clear is whether or not industrialization and other human activities are accelerating the earth's natural processes. Evidence linking carbon dioxide to periods of warming do suggest that our appetite for fossil fuels is adding to the already present natural processes. A:There is essentially no disagreement among accredited climate scientists that global climate change is caused primarily by human activity. A:There are many accredited climate scientists who dispute the theory of anthropogenic global warming. Richard Lindzen, Timothy Ball, Robert Balling, Roy Spencer, Bill Gray, Marcel Leroux, Fred Singer, Reid Bryson, and William Kininmonth are a few of the more famous ones. Others, like David Legates, George Kukla, Tim Patterson, John Christy, and William Cotton, while acknowledging the possibility that human activity influences climate change, either say human influence is minor compared to the natural forces causing temperatures to increase, or insist that we do not know enough about the climate to say, with certainty, that mankind is causing warming. And there are dozens of prominent scientists in other fields related to the issue that have weighed in on the skeptic side of the issue. A: Firstly, humans emit surprisingly few greenhouse gasses compared to the rest of the Earth. Most of the greenhouse gasses (something like 60-70%) come out of the oceans. A lot (like 30%) comes from things on land breathing. Very little (around 3%) comes from human pollutants (such as factories).

Secondly, there is not much empirical evidence that CO2 is the cause of global warming. Though CO2 and temperature do appear to be strongly correlated over at least the last half-million years, it has always been temperatures going up first, followed (hundreds of years later) by CO2. So, if there is a cause-and-effect relationship at all between the two, clearly, increases in temperature cause increases in CO2, not the other way around, as global warming alarmists claim.

Lastly, global warming is happening on other planets, so the Sun as a cause is a very serious contender. Mars' ice caps are melting and Jupiter is having storms even more violent than usual. Also blame the sientest who created the greenhouses they are known as haters of nature. :(

Yes! There is some debate over whether global warming was started naturally, and it might have been, but humans have made it worse and worse. For example, the more carbon dioxide in our aptmosphere, the higher the temperature, causing global warming. And, of course, humans are the ones producing all the carbon dioxide by using cars, etc.

A:This is a tentative topic, and many scientists disagree on it. Some say that we are amidst a natural warming and cooling process of the Earth, and others say that the green-house gases we are releasing are causing the sudden warming. We have undoubtedly sped up the process by our actions, and there is more supporting evidence and data that suggests that humans are a main cause of global warming. A:The primary cause of global warming is man's burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) in industry, transport and to generate electricity. All these human processes release extra carbon dioxide (CO2) which has been hidden away for millions of years. This extra CO2 is disrupting the natural carbon cycle which has kept the planet at a comfortable temperature for as long as life has existed. This extra CO2 is causing the enhanced, or accelerated greenhouse effect in the atmosphere. A:Just some facts: If one looks at the estimated temperatures of the world since its beginning, one will observe a constant cycle of heating and cooling. So "global warming" is true in that the earth is currently warming up, as it has been since the end of the "Little Ice Age" hundreds of years ago. However, this is not caused by humans. In fact, the amount of greenhouse gasses, mainly CO2, that mankind generates, is negligible compared to the amount naturally generated by the environment. Even IF mankind produced enough CO2 to make a difference, that in itself doesn't even matter, as scientists and astrophysicists, looking at graphs of the Earth's estimated heat compared to estimated CO2 levels over thousands of years, found that the Earth's heat rises an average of 600 years BEFORE CO2 levels rise, indicating that rising CO2 levels are, in fact, TRIGGERED BY THE SUN'S INCREASED HEAT. One logically concludes that the driving force behind the whole cycle is the Sun, and greenhouse gas levels respond to the amount of heat given off by the sun. The observed rise in greenhouse gasses is the RESULT of the warming, NOT the cause.

To add on to my previous answer, the oceans contain 37,400 billion tons (GT) of suspended carbon, land biomass has 2000-3000 GT. The atmosphere contains 720 billion tons of CO2 and humans contribute only 6 GT additional load on this balance. In closing, a small shift in the balance between oceans and air would cause a CO2 much more severe rise than anything we could produce.

Answer 2

Yes, the majority of scientific evidence supports the conclusion that global warming is primarily caused by human activities, such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation. These activities release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which trap heat and lead to the warming of the Earth's climate.

Answer 3

The primary cause of global warming is man's burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) in industry, transport and to generate electricity. All these processes release extra carbon dioxide (CO2) which has been hidden away for millions of years. This extra CO2 is disrupting the natural carbon cycle which has kept the planet at a comfortable temperature for as long as life has existed. This extra CO2 is causing the enhanced, or accelerated greenhouse effect in the atmosphere.

Answer 4

People do not go out and say they want to destroy the environment or that they want to cause global warming. Nevertheless, global warming is caused by human activity.

Whenever we burn fossil fuels, such as oil, coal and natural gas, whether driving a car or using electricity, we are contributing to the emission of carbon dioxide. This is a naturally occurring greenhouse gas that helps keep the world at a normal temperature. Since the Industrial Revolution, the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by 35 per cent from the normal range of 260-280 parts per million (ppm) to around 380 ppm.

Other human activities that contribute to the rising level of atmospheric carbon dioxide include the manufacture of cement and the destruction of forests.

A:Global warming is not caused by people. 96.5% of all carbon dioxide emissions are from natural sources, mankind is responsible for only 3.5%, with 0.6% coming from fuel to move vehicles, and about 1% from fuel to heat buildings. A:Yes it is. A common claim with global warming is that humans are only responsible for a small amount of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This is true, but it is a misunderstanding of the sutuation. All the "natural" Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is removed from the atmosphere by the "natural" carbon cycle. There is nothing removing the CO2 that humans add to the atmosphere, so this is building up slowly, year by year, from 280 ppm to the present (2012) levels of 394 ppm. So global warming is being caused by people.

Answer 5

Yes, global climatic changes are being caused by humans.

The primary cause of global warming is man's burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) in industry, transport and to generate electricity. All these human processes release extra carbon dioxide which has been hidden away for millions of years. This extra CO2 is disrupting the natural carbon cycle which has kept the planet at a comfortable temperature for as long as life has existed. This extra CO2 is causing the enhanced, or accelerated greenhouse effect in the atmosphere.

Answer 6

Yes. Most climate scientists say that recent global warming and climate change are caused substantially by human activities, such as burning fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas), manufacturing cement and deforestation.

Answer 7

Yes. There is a natural warming of the earth from the greenhouse effect, supported by the water and carbon cycles, but that has been keeping the earth warm for millions of years.

The present global warming, which began at the start of the Industrial Revolution (1750s) was just the time when we started to seriously dig up coal and cut down forests. Burning fossil fuel (coal, oil and natural gas) releases carbon dioxide, a powerful greenhouse gas, that has been hidden underground for 300 million years. Cutting down the forests (deforestation) destroyed the great carbon sinks that (through the process of photosynthesis) could soak up carbon dioxide out of the air, release the oxygen and store the carbon. Half the weight of a tree is carbon.

So it is the increased levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, much more than the natural carbon cycle can deal with, that are the problem. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased 40% since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, and it stays there, catching more and more of the sun's heat and causing global warming.

Answer 8

No, certainly not. If you look at the history of earth's temperature based on ice core records (the NASA web site has many of these) you can see that it fluctuates greatly over time, even before humans or human industry existed. This means that many causes of these changes in temperature are purely natural and take place because of possibly many factors other than human activity. A few things that can change the earth's temperature include solar cycles and activity, volcanic activity, weather and humidity, and plant and animal life. In fact, one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gases such as CO2 and methane is agriculture. Rice patties and cattle produce huge amounts of gasses which are often overlooked, and even though most of these are raised by humans, they existed long before we harnessed them in any significant amount. Water vapor is also a greenhouse gas man times stronger than CO2, so simply large scale shifts in weather patterns and humidity that occur over time can change the earth's temperature.

Often times it is more advantageous for some to stress the human causes of climate change. Certainly there are some, but we are part of a much greater picture, and the complex relationships between climate, greenhouse gasses, the sun, earth's natural cycles, and human activity leave much to be explored. Many times the finger is pointed straight at human activity, but there is little empirical evidence to support the idea that humans increase the earth's temperature at all.

Still, before more research tells us either way what effects our activities have, caution is advised with regards to our actions. While it is not necessarily a good idea to release greenhouse gasses and alter normal levels of chemicals in our environment, it may not be a good idea to take drastic counter measures to stop global warming, either. It was believed as little as thirty years ago that we were headed to an ice age. During the much forgotten 'global cooling' scare, scientists proposed spreading soot over the polar ice caps to absorb more sunlight and heat the earth to prevent catastrophic cooling. I hope this illustrates how little we know about climate change and serves to promote moderation in our actions until we discover more about this complex and powerful world we are a part of.

Answer 9

Probably. The earth's temperature has been relatively constant for several thousand years. Now suddenly it is dramatically rising, since the time that:

• We started burning fossil fuel in the Industrial Revolution.
• We seriously began destroying the great forests of the world.
• Our population and its demand for energy and resources went through the roof.

Answer 10

Yes, global warming is caused by deforestation (cutting down forests) and burning fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas). Both these activities mean there is more carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, in the atmosphere than before. This increase is causing global warming.
Yes