Climate Change Part 1: Greenhouse Gases

I realized that if you are reading this blog you probably understand that something is happening, but few people know what specifically is happening, and most don’t “believe” it is happening at all. So here is how much I understand (including some graphs).

My first question would be, do you think global warming is happening? If it is happening, then what do you think is the cause? So to clear up your misunderstandings, if you have any, here is greenhouse gases. (This explanation will be separated because it is a complicated problem, where you have to know everything to understand what is happening)

Here are some misconceptions of Global Warming Climate Change. ( And yes, it is Climate Change, this difference will be addressed later)

As you see this is a pollution pie chart. Do you see what is wrong with it? I didn’t at first, but it is lacking a lot of information.

First, this includes pollution created through manufacturing and transportation, and that is probably the main source of pollution you are familiar with. I applaud everyone who is not surprised by the following statistics. This type of pollution accounts for _____ (this is left blank because there is no consistency in percent of carbon dioxide made by humans in websites I visited) towards trapping heat in the atmosphere. The other pollution comes from cows, particularly from cows farting. Humanity bred cows, then we decided to feed cows corn which causes to fart, a lot. Did I forget to mention that methane, which is a gas in farts, traps 20 times more heat than carbon dioxide? There are about 100 other gases from livestock that pollutes the world, including 2/3 of ammonia--ammonia is one of the main causes of acid rain. I also forgot to say that it is not only that cows’ fart, but the entire process to raise, slaughter and transport, which contributes to pollution.

I think that this explains a little better, but it still does not account for everything such as the factors which affect carbon levels in the atmosphere. For instance, trees remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. By cutting down trees, humanity increases the amount of carbon dioxide in the air because it is not being used at an efficient rate. The oceans also clean the air, but when there is too much carbon dioxide, the ocean cannot absorb enough carbon dioxide.

Maybe this will explain a little better. Just remember the graph above--think about how much carbon dioxide emissions you see daily and the carbon that you don’t see because your actions--be it driving, or just eating food--cause natural carbon dioxide to magnify. This graph is also incomplete because it focuses only on methane.

As you can see information is scattered, that is one of the reasons why it is difficult for most people to accept what is happening. Even in this blog, I focused primarily on carbon dioxide because it is familiar and is one of the major greenhouse gases addressed in the argument for and against Climate Change. This is only one part, the next post will start to get confusing.