Human Activity and Climate Change

Abstract

In this paper I will explore how human activity is contributing to climate change. Climate change has been occurring naturally on our planet for thousands of years. Our planet naturally goes through changes as a result of natural disasters. Over the last two hundred years, human activities have sped up this once natural occurring process.

This paper will explore how the Industrial Revolution and the exploration of fossil fuels have contributed to climate change. As technology has continued to advance, since the beginning of the industrial revolution, our need for energy resources to power our inventions has increased. This, coupled with an ever increasing world population, has increased our dependence on fossil fuels. To extract this energy, from fossil fuels, requires that they be burned, which results in the emission of pollutants known as greenhouse gases.

This paper will explore how these greenhouse gases enter our atmosphere. Additionally, it will explore modern human activities that contribute to the amount of greenhouse gases entering our atmosphere and the affect it is having on our climate.

Human Activity and Climate Change

The impact of human activities on the natural environment is significant and growing. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are currently well over six billion people on the planet. As humans, we feel each person has the right to adequate clean water, food, shelter and energy, the provision of which has profound ecological implications. These human needs, multiplied by a growing world population, translate into an increasing and unprecedented demand on the planet's natural resources. Our world has become very dependent on the many modern conveniences we enjoy. For many people it would be difficult to imagine a life without lights, refrigerators, televisions, and automobiles. Most of these items are currently powered by the use of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels include: oil, gasoline, natural gas and coal. In order to extract the energy from fossil fuels we have to burn them; this causes pollution.

The use of non-renewable fossil fuel is having a negative impact on the Earth's climate. As our population increases so does the demand for consumer goods and services. This growing demand for consumer goods and services, beyond the necessities of basic survival, has placed a strain on the Earth's climate; with consequences for all living things. Most of our consumer goods and services are manufactured, transported and operated by the use of fossil fuels. This increased demand ultimately increases the amount of pollutants that are discharged into the environment.

"Small amounts of certain gases in the atmosphere, including water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O), play a role in determining the earth's average temperatures and thus it climates" (Miller, T., Spoolman, S., 2009, pg. 246). These are known as greenhouse gases and they affect the amount of sunlight and ultraviolet radiation that passes through our atmosphere. "The largest source of CO2 emissions globally is the combustion of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas in power plants, automobiles, industrial facilities and other sources" (Climate Change - Greenhouse Gas Emissions (April 2011). When fossil fuels are burned, greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere. The air becomes thick with smog, trapping heat and other pollutants, which increasingly results in climate change thru human activities.

As industrialized nation's energy demands increase, the discharge of greenhouse gases like Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), and Nitrous Oxide (N2O) increases the amount of pollution that is in our atmosphere. "Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the mid-1700s, human actions - mainly the burning of fossil fuels in industry and for transportation, and agriculture, in that order - have led to significant increases in the greenhouse gases CO2 and CH4 in the lower atmosphere" (Miller, T., Spoolman, S., 2009, pg. 259). In my short life span, of fifty- one years, I have seen many changes in the amount of energy we consume on a daily basis. When I was a kid, most families had only one television that was located in the living room. In rural areas, it was not uncommon for a family not to have television. Today, almost every family not only has a television in the living room they also have one in each bedroom. Additionally, there is a satellite, DVD player and/or playstation attached to the modern families' television; each requiring power to operate. In the 1960s and 1970s, most families only had one car per household. Today it is not uncommon to see two or more cars in every driveway. Truly, our dependence on energy has drastically increased over the past fifty years. Much of this energy comes from the burning of fossil fuels, which is