One of the human activities that contribute to global warming is the burning of fossil fuels. This activity is the primary human cause of global warming as it is the main contributing source of greenhouse gas (Venkataramanan, M & Smitha 2011). Fossil fuels such as coal, oil, gasoline and natural gas (Feinstein, D 2006) are carbon-based and will produce carbon dioxide as it was once alive as plants or animals (Wilson, J & Law, S 2007) and thus, increase the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (Venkataramanan, M & Smitha 2011). In 1896, Svante Arrhenius, a heavyweight Swedish scientist, claims that when any fossil fuel is burned, it combines with oxygen to produce energy, carbon dioxide and some nasty pollutants. This means that the coal-fired steam engine that James Watt patented in 1769 emits carbon dioxide, an odourless, colourless, non-toxic gas into the atmosphere along with other noxious substances as coal is burned to produce the energy to operate it. In today’s estimate, if no immediate action is taken, the atmospheric carbon dioxide will double by the end of this century (Venkataramanan, M & Smitha 2011). This activity plays several roles in our daily life such as, power our homes, cars and businesses (Feinstein, D 2006), as well as manufacture steel to build tanks and bombs (Wilson, J & Law, S 2007).
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