Human Effects on Global Warming

Since the Industrial Revolution, Earth has been getting steadily warmer. Scientists have done millions of measurements of temperature in different parts of the world. Scientists have even suggested that the world has not been this warm in approximately 125,000 years.

Greenhouse gases are one of the most productive causes of climate change. The greenhouse gas carbon dioxide is in an abundance in the atmosphere which traps the sun rays inside of Earth’s atmosphere, causing the temperatures to rise. Deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels are what cause the greenhouse gases to clog up the atmosphere. 

Before the Industrial Revolution, carbon dioxide levels never passed 300 parts per million. Since the Industrial Revolution, there has been a significant rise to 420 parts per million. 

There are many different things scientists can see for evidence of this global warming such as ice sheets melting quickly, global sea levels rising as much as 20 cm in the last century, and oceans have become 40% more acidic since the 1800s. 

Mr. Zalencik discussed the impact of the Industrial Revolution. He said, “Initially it didn’t have an extreme effect on global warming. It took the passage of time and the gradual build-up of greenhouse gases to start to affect global temperatures. As the demand for products (industry/manufacturing) and oil (the burning of fossil fuels) grew, the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increased. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution (about 1780), the average temperature of the Earth has increased about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit.”

Humans are causing global warming, and now the effects are really starting to become present a century later. The Industrial Revolution was just the start of an ever-growing problem taking the world at a steady burning pace.