Climate changed is caused by humans

Introduction

 Evidence that the onset of climate change originate from human activities is quite compelling even though some people argue against this. Changes in climate have been recorded in various scientific findings and have largely been attributing from greenhouse gases.  Since 1977, the earth temperatures have been recorded as rising and such changes cannot occur if burning of oil and coal does not lead to gaseous emissions. Any argument to try and explain the cause of global warming without the impact of human activities on the atmosphere cannot be sustained amidst the available evidence.

Many scientists have in over a hundred countries have gathered sufficient evidence that point to the conclusion that humans are the major cause of climate change. Many people recognize that climate change is real but are not sure what the cause is and how it happens. The surface of the earth has undergone record warming over the past century and more so in the current century (Union of Concerned Scientists, 1). Since 1977, the temperatures of the earth surface have increased more than the recorded average in 20^th century so that 16 out of the 17 years with the highest temperatures have been in record since 2001 (Mann, 2).  In fact, 2016 was recorded as the year in which temperatures were the highest in history.  It has also been recorded that were it not for burning of oil and coal, it is highly unlikely that 13 of the 15 years with highest temperatures would not have occurred (Mann, 5). Any farmer can attest to the fact that there has been an alteration of climate natural patterns, which has affected their planting and harvesting operations.

The carbon dioxide concentration in the earth’s atmosphere together with other gases such as nitrous oxide and methane has risen unprecedentedly over the past century. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere especially during the industrial periods has been shown to have increased by 40 percent. The primary culprits for this concentration levels are emissions from fossil fuels and the secondary cause is increased changes in land use (IPCC, 11). Most of these points to increased human activities on earth as population increases and pressure to produce more manufactured and agricultural products increase.  This means that human activities are resulting to more greenhouse gases being added into the atmosphere when burning fossil fuels to meet their needs.  The evidence suggest that once human burns materials that are carbon-based , carbon dioxide gas is emitted as has been shown by research since 1900s (IPCC, 12).  The basic account of what human beings burn and the amount of the gas emitted from various data collected since 1970s goes a long way to prove this assertion. In addition, the measure of amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere and the one trapped in ice indicates that the emission is increasing at a rate higher than what had been recorded in pre-1950 periods (IPCC, 13).

Moreover, a chemical analysis of earth’s atmosphere shows that the additional carbon dioxide amount is emanating from increased burning of fossil fuels.  This has also been confirmed by various monitoring efforts aimed at observing the climate conditions. When other factors which are capable of affecting climate such as ocean cycles and the sun, there is a strong indication that emissions from human activities are largely contributing to the climate change (IPCC, 14). Production in agriculture alone can also be an indication of the impact of human activities. The sectors has experienced a myriad of changes across the world with increased temperatures leading to extreme drought while in other areas, increase in rain downpour has led to destruction of farm produce.

 For the earth to continue sustaining life the temperatures have to be appropriate and this is maintained by atmospheric greenhouse gases. The role of the gas is to form a blanket which prevents the radiation of sun’s energy into space and hence, maintaining the temperatures of the earth.  When human activities increase the amount of greenhouse gases into this atmosphere, less of energy is lost. However, scientist have observed that there is a slow decline in amount of heat radiated back while there is no much change in amount of energy from the sun (Union of Concerned Scientists,1).  The result is that more sun energy is being retained inside the earth’s atmosphere and this can only occur due to greenhouse gases.  Scientists have used various advances in technology like satellites to observe such effects where they have collected numerous data and analysed.  They have also performed experiments and compared simulations between human and natural aspects using computers.  Through such experiments a consensus has been reached by considering past evidence and making individual conclusions (NASA, 1).  

Conclusion

Evidence of effect of human activities on climate change has been proved by different scientific research. While some people may refer to such experiments as an indication of weakness, logics would points otherwise. Even if they doubt the experiments, the aforesaid evidence gives a clear indication of human activities as the main culprits.

Works cited

Mann, Michael E., et al. "The likelihood of recent record warmth." Scientific reports 6 (2016): srep19831.

NASA.Climate change: How do we know? 1. Available at: https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/