The planet's average surface temperature has risen about 2.0 degrees Fahrenheit since the late 19th century, a change driven largely by increased carbon dioxide and other human-made emissions into the atmosphere. Most of the warming occurred in the past 35 years, with 16 of the 17 warmest years on record occurring since 2001. Not only was 2016 the warmest year on record, but eight of the 12 months that make up the year were the warmest on record for those respective months.
The main culprit causing global warming is the burning of fossil fuels to make electricity, transport, and in manufacturing. Fossil fuels release carbon dioxide when they burn, which adds to the greenhouse effect and increases global warming. Coal and oil release sulfur dioxide gas when they burn, which causes breathing problems for living creatures and contributes to acid rain.
Reasons for burning Fossil Fuels:
Electricity and Heat
Transportation
Manufacturing and Construction
Agriculture
Other fuel combustion
Industrial Processes
Deforestation
Fugitive emissions
Waste
Bunker Fuels
The greenhouse effect is the process by which radiation from a planet's atmosphere warms the planet's surface to a temperature above what it would be without its atmosphere.
Electromagnetic radiation at most wavelengths from the Sun passes through the Earth’s atmosphere.
The Earth absorbs electromagnetic radiation with short wavelengths and so warms up. Heat is radiated from the Earth as longer wavelength infrared radiation.
Some of this infrared radiation is absorbed by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
The atmosphere warms up.
About 90 percent of this heat is absorbed by the greenhouse gases and radiated back toward the surface
Gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect include:
Water vapor. The most abundant greenhouse gas, but importantly, it acts as a feedback to the climate. Water vapor increases as the Earth's atmosphere warms, but so does the possibility of clouds and precipitation, making these some of the most important feedback mechanisms to the greenhouse effect.
Carbon dioxide (CO2). A minor but very important component of the atmosphere, carbon dioxide is released through natural processes such as respiration and volcano eruptions and through human activities such as deforestation, land use changes, and burning fossil fuels. Humans have increased atmospheric CO2 concentration by more than a third since the Industrial Revolution began. This is the most important long-lived "forcing" of climate change.
Methane. A hydrocarbon gas produced both through natural sources and human activities, including the decomposition of wastes in landfills, agriculture, and especially rice cultivation, as well as ruminant digestion and manure management associated with domestic livestock. On a molecule-for-molecule basis, methane is a far more active greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, but also one which is much less abundant in the atmosphere.
Nitrous oxide. A powerful greenhouse gas produced by soil cultivation practices, especially the use of commercial and organic fertilizers, fossil fuel combustion, nitric acid production, and biomass burning.
In 2016, 194 countries signed the Paris Agreement, agreeing to limit global warming and adapt to climate change, in part through the use of nature-based solutions.
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