Who's To Blame For Global Warming

Throughout the course of history the earth’s climate has dramatically, changed within the last 650,000 years, there has been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat. “In the past two decades, the scientific community has reached an overwhelming consensus those human activities are causing changes to the global climate.” (David B. Resnik). There has been a massive increase production of carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases in the last century that has caused the climate change around the world. “If humanity does not start significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions, average global temperatures will likely increase by several degrees Celsius in the next fifty years, which would lead disastrous environmental consequences, such as flooding of coastal areas, increased numbers of powerful hurricanes, desertification, decreased agricultural productivity, and loss of biodiversity.” (David B. Resnik). The main driver of today’s warming is the combustion of fossil fuels. These are hydrocarbons that heat up the planet; this is known as the greenhouse effect which is caused by the interaction between the earth’s atmospheres and the radiation from the

The argument of this controversy is “are humans the main cause of global warming?” “In its 2013 fifth assessment report, the IPCC stated in its summary for policymakers that it is “extremely likely that more than half of the observed increase in global average surface temperature” from 1951 to 2010 was caused by human activity. By “extremely likely”, it meant that there was between a 95% and 100% probability that more than half of modern warming was due to humans.” (Carbon brief). Human activities, such as the combustion of fossil fuels are altering the climate system. Another reason how humans affect the cause of global warming are human driven changes, such as deforestation, urbanization, and shifts in vegetation