What is climate change and what caused it?

What is climate change?

Climate change, also known as the greenhouse effect, occurs when toxic gasses are trapped in the atmosphere and block heat from escaping. Gasses such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide contribute to this process.

Rather than giving a long essay explanation, I believe using a list is an incredibly effective way to convey the facts in an effective manner.  As you read through, try to see if you have contributed at all to the increasing dangers caused by climate change. Identifying that you may be contributing to the source of the problem, you can then look into positively changing your ways! Here, I have listed out multiple causes of climate change:

  • Burning of fossil fuels (oil and coal)
    • Driving (cars, golf carts, boats, etc.)
  • Agricultural land clearing
    • Deforestation leads to a loss in tree coverage. Forests are reservoirs for carbon, which remove the unwanted, extra carbon from the atmosphere
  • Industrialization
  • Humans have contributed to over 95% of the cause for climate change (climate.nasa.gov)

Here, you can see deforestation within the Amazon Rainforest. During my study abroad to Ecuador, I was able to see first hand how devastating this can be: Deforestation