Climate Change the Human Impact

Back in the summer of 2008 athletes from all over the world were getting together in China for the 29th edition of the Olympic Games. Just prior to the games inaugural ceremonies there were a lot of concerns about the air quality, the contamination, and the heat in Beijing. Many athletes wore face masks to prevent getting sick prior to their respective competitions. We might be asking ourselves, what does that have to do with climate change? As China and its neighbors economies grow, the need for more energy increases. In order to meet their energy demands, industries have to use fossil fuels for energy. Fossil fuel burning accounts for 75% of the total global energy use (Ciserone, 2000, p. 1). When fossil fuels are burned, greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere thickening the air, trapping heat and other pollutants increasing the chances for climate change thru human induced activities. Human activities promote the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases cloud the atmosphere leading to a warming of the earth’s atmosphere. Climate change occurs as a result of atmospheric changes promoted by human activities. As industrialized nations energy demands increase, the discharge of greenhouse gases like Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), and Nitrous Oxide (N2O) increases thus contaminating the air and clouding the atmosphere. Since the beginning of the industrial era in 1750, the usage of fossil fuels for energy have increase more than 20 fold. However, this amount of energy is a lot less than the solar energy that is absorbed by the atmosphere. What makes the big impact is the release of human induced greenhouse gases. Thru these gases, the earth receives an additional 1% of the solar energy and it is growing (Ciserone, 2000, p. 1). For example: Carbon dioxide is the most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas and its annual emissions have increased 80% between 1970 and 2004. These emissions come from fossil use in