Introduction

For a long time many people have argued what is the cause of climate change, but many scientists agree on the one major cause. The main cause of climate change is humans manufacturing and driving, and many more things. When people do these certain activities they release greenhouse gases which warm the earth, which is called climate change or global warming. However, the sun has a major impact on what happens to earth’s temperatures. All in all, there are a few different things that cause earth the warm up, also known as climate change.

Causes

Just doing the simple things like when you drive your car to work, leaving on the lights, or even just eating meat often can help cause climate change. Large production companies and manufacturing is one of the causes of climate change. For example the main human activity that releases greenhouse gases is burning coal and oil and many fossil fuels have increased the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. There are many different fossil fuels that are used by humans. They are, coal, oil and natural gas. All three were formed a long time ago, even before the dinosaurs, which is why they’re called fossil fuels. However even little things can help cause climate change. Such as eating meat often. This can help cause climate change because when large companies produce meat they have large arms with hundreds of cows and when cows digest food they release carbon dioxide and carbon dioxide causes global warming. In conclusion, the burning of fossil fuels is the main cause of climate change even though there are some small things that cause climate change too (A Blanket Around The Earth).

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The Climate Change Cycle

When the burning of fossil fuels emits greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, several things happen to make earth warmer. First, greenhouse gases get trapped in the atmosphere and end up staying up there a long time. This causes climate change because the atmosphere is like a blanket around earth, keeping all the heat in. So if you keep adding more and more blankets or greenhouse gases then earth will get warmer and warmer. Second, when all the gases are in the atmosphere they radiate heat down onto earth. When this happens it causes climate change because as more and more gases stay in the atmosphere, more and more radiate heat onto earth. Third, this process just keeps on going as more and more greenhouse gases are absorbed into the atmosphere. For example, did you know humans have raised atmospheric carbon dioxide levels from 280 parts per million to 400 parts per million in the last 150 years. To conclude, the way climate change is happening isn’t that complicated to fix, we just need to stop emitting so many greenhouse gases (A Blanket Around The Earth).

Sun Affects

Last, but not least, the sun also can affect the earth’s temperature. For example, the amount of energy from the sun can affect the earth’s temperature. So, when Earth receives energy it gets warmer, and so when it reflects energy it doesn’t warm. Additionally, Earth’s temperature depends on energy or heat entering and leaving the atmosphere (Causes of Climate Change). This means the amount of energy the sun has affects the energy the earth receives. Finally, even though the sun affects Earth’s temperature, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the sun is causing climate change. Such as, you may have thought before that changes in the sun’s rays on Earth have caused climate change, however since 1750 the Earth’s rays haven’t increased or decreased enough to cause climate change. Furthermore, if the sun was causing global warming then all the layers of the atmosphere would be warmer but the upper one is cooler and the lower one is warmer because it’s trapping all the heat (A Blanket Around The Earth). In summary, the amount of energy that the sun radiates down on Earth that affects Earth’s global temperature hasn’t caused climate change.

Summary

There are different activities and some natural things that cause climate change and affect Earth’s global temperature. First, the burning of fossil fuels: coal, oil and natural gas cause climate change. Second, greenhouse gases are absorbed into the atmosphere and then keep in heat and radiate heat onto earth, causing climate change. Finally, the amount of energy the sun radiates into Earth affects earth’s temperatures but isn’t causing climate change. All things considered, there are a few things that cause climate change and affect Earth, but the one major cause is fossil fuels.

Works Cited

"Climate Change Causes: A Blanket around the Earth." Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet. NASA Global Climate Change, n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.
<https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/science/causes.html>

​"Causes of Climate Change." Causes of Climate Change. United States Environmental     Protection Agency, n.d. Web. 17 April 2016. <http://climate.nasa.gov/causes/>