Causes of Global Warming

Global warming is not just an environmental issue but a global issue that havening around us. There are a few factors that cause the surface temperature of the earth to become higher. The factors of global warming can categorized into two, which are natural and human influence (Causes, Effects and Solutions, 2017). Natural influence can refer to the phenomena changes of the physical world. Greenhouse gasses such as carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide trap the solar heats rays and prevent escaping from the surface of the earth. This has exactly caused the surface temperature to increase. Next, Global warming is caused by human activities like burning fossil fuels, deforestation and farming. Burning fossil fuels are one of the major causes of global warming (Cause of Climate Change, 2016).

Fossil fuels are coal, fuel oil or natural gas that formed from the remains of dead plants and animals. Fossil fuels are non-renewable energy resources as they do not renew themselves because are limited. Burning fossil fuels will releases a few types of waste gasses including carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide, which is also called CO2 is a heavy odourless and colourless gas that formed during respiration and by the decomposition of organic substances. Fossil fuels release carbon dioxide when they burn, which adds to the greenhouse effect and increases global warming. Humans use a lot of fossil fuels in the industry, construction and transportation which produce a lot of carbon dioxide to the Earth’s atmosphere. The extra carbon dioxide increases the greenhouse effect and more heat is trapped by the atmosphere, causing the planet to become warmer. When the surrounding temperature keep increasing, this is called global warming.

Deforestation is also considered as one of the contributing factors to global warming (Alina Bradford, 2015). Deforestation is a permanent destruction of forests in order to make the land available for other uses. When the trees die, they will release the stored carbon to the surrounding. According to the 2010 Global Forest Resources Assessment, deforestation releases approximately a billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere per year. According to Michael Daley, an associate professor of environmental science said that if the greenhouse gasses are in large quantity, they can force the climate change. Based on LiveScience deforestation is the second largest human caused source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, ranging between 6 percent and 17 percent.

Farming is the activity or business of growing crops and raising livestock. Livestock is farm animal such as sheep, cattle and goats. Based on WWF, when livestock are grazed at a large scale, the amount of methane produces is a big contributor to global warming. Methane is a colourless and odourless flammable gas which is main constituent of natural gas. Farming not only just produce methane but also carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, all of these are considered as greenhouse gasses (WWF, 2016). Nitrous oxide is a colourless non-flammable gas with a sweetish odour. Coal plants, tar sands and natural gas fracking have contributed heavily to greenhouse gas pollution, the major cause of global warming (Ronnie Cummins, 2013).