Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Are humans contributing to global warming?

I believe that humans are contributing to global warming. This post is a collection of reasons and quotes to explain my belief. There are 7 quotes divided into 3 sections.

A. Industrial human activities release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere
B. The amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere affect the temperature on Earth
C. The temperature of earth is increasing faster now than any of time in human history

A. Industrial human activities release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere


Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change:
1. "Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions have increased since the pre-industrial era, driven largely by economic and population growth, and are now higher than ever. This has led to atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide that are unprecedented in at least the last 800,000 years." (Climate Change 2014 Synthesis Report Summary for Policymakers)

David Attenborough:
2. "When I was a boy in the 1900s, the carbon dioxide level was still below 300 parts per million. This year it reached 382, the highest figure for hundreds of thousands of years." (Climate change is the major challenge facing the world, 2006)

Le Truth, Somerville, Cubasch, Ding, Mauritzen, Mokssit, Peterson, Prather:
3. "From 10,000 years before present up to the year 1750, CO2 abundances stayed within the range 280 (plus or minus 20) ppm. During the industrial era, CO2 abundances rose roughly exponentially to 367 ppm in 1999 and to 379 ppm in 2005." (Historical Overview of Climate Change Science, 2007)

B. The amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere affect the temperature on Earth


Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change:
4. "Without the natural greenhouse effect, the average temperature at Earth's surface would be below the freezing point of water. Thus, Earth's natural greenhouse effect makes life as we know it possible." (IPCC Fourth Assessment Report: Climate Change FAQ, 2007)

Le Truth, Somerville, Cubasch, Ding, Mauritzen, Mokssit, Peterson, Prather:
5. "The reason the Earth's surface is this warm is the presence of greenhouse gases, which act as a partial blanket for the longwave radiation coming from the surface. This blanketing is known as the natural greenhouse effect." (Historical Overview of Climate Change Science, 2007)

C. The temperature of Earth is increasing faster now than any other time in human history


Barack Obama:
6. "2014 was the planet's warmest year on record. Now, one year doesn't make a trend, but this does: 14 of the 15 warmest years on record have all fallen in the first 15 years of this century." (State of the Union Address, 2015)

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change:
7. "Each of the last three decades has been successively warmer at the Earth's surface than any preceding decade since 1850." (Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis)