What are the causes of climate change?

Causes of Climate Change 

In our previous post on this series, we explained what climate change is.  Now it is time to think why this is happening.

Natural factors (like volcanic eruptions, orbital changes, solar variations etc.) influence the climate of the Earth. However, the majority of climate scientists agrees that greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, act as a potential catalyst for the recent climate change, but how exactly does it occur?

HUMAN FACTORS ENHANCING THE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS:

• Overpopulation: The world population has multiplied over the past century, and due to this, the consumption rate keeps increasing, leading to the next causes.

• Modernization: Electricity, heating and transportation has now become our necessity. But, this comes at a high price. Burning of the fossil fuels for these luxuries acts as the primary source of human-generated emissions.

          
          Image by Ed Jones via unsplash

• Animal products consumption : The livestock sector is responsible for high amounts of methane and nitrous oxide emissions (mainly from manure), which amounts to almost the same quantity as those from the transportation industry. For example, the ruminant animals (like cattle, sheep etc.), are raised many times more than the human population. These animals produce methane, which is more dangerous than carbon dioxide.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
• Deforestation: When you cut down trees, you are not only wiping away a natural carbon absorber from the Earth’s surface, but you are also helping them release their stored carbon, thus contributing to climate change.

• Industrialization: It is a potential source of fluorine emission. According to the experts, the temperature of the Earth has increased by 1degree Celsius since the industrial revolution. The global emissions from the fashion industry alone can be compared, to those emitted from the airline industry(international sector) and the shipping industry combined. At this rate, by the next decade, the greenhouse gas emissions from the fashion industry will be more than double its current level.

• Garbage dump: Knowingly or unknowingly, each of us creates a lot of waste. At the landfill, these waste decomposes and releases methane.

The amount of these gases in our atmosphere has rocketed in recent decades. But it is not late to stop climate change(or at least slow it down) and, it is quite doable if we all work together. In our next post, we will tell how you can help.