Impact of Human Activities on Climate Change

Running head: CLIMATE CHANGE
CLIMATE CHANGE
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1CLIMATE CHANGE
Introduction
Human activities tend to contribute to change in climatic conditions by creating drastic changes
in the Earth’s environment in the amounts of greenhouse gases, cloudiness as well as aerosols that is small
particles. The major proportion of contribution towards climatic changes emerges from the smoldering of
fossil fuels which typically emits carbon dioxide gas to the atmosphere (Jang and Hart, 2015). Greenhouse
gases along with aerosols severely impact the conditions of climate by changing ongoing solar radiation as
well as thermal radiation which are included in the energy balance of the Earth. Studies conducted by Wu
et al. (2016) have noted that altering the atmospheric profusion or gas elements and particles tend to result
to a warming or cooling of the climate system. According to Myer et al. (2015), since the establishment of
the industrial era during the 1750s, the impact in general of human activities on climate conditions is seen
as an important sign of warming influence. The effect of human activities on climate during the 1750s
significantly surpassed the level because of certain identified changes in natural processes related to solar
changes as well as volcanic explosions. The thesis statement of the essay is “Human activities critically
resulting to the change in the climatic conditions.”
Discussion
The notion concerning that human have the capacity to alter climate conditions of the earth
possibly is counter-intuitive. However, the fundamental basic science is well comprehended. Reports of
Jang and Hart (2015) have revealed that every year, several human activities have been causing billions of
tonnes of greenhouse gases which are emitted to the atmosphere. According to Myers et al. (2015),
scientists have been aware for decades about the criticality of these human activities which typically
capture heat that would otherwise break out to space which is regarded to be comparable of covering the
earth in an invisible blanket. Human activities gradually have been causing emissions of four major
greenhouse gases namely carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4) in addition to the

2CLIMATE CHANGE
halocarbons identified as a faction of gases including fluorine, chlorine and bromine. These gases
accumulate in the atmosphere have been causing concentrations in order to amplify with time. Reports of
Erickson and Jennings (2017) have claimed that significant amplification in all of these gases have taken
place in the industrial era which is highly attributable to human activities. There are mounting evidences
stating that human activities particularly burning fossil fuels are consequential to the increased levels of
carbon dioxide along with other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. These emissions are raising the
natural greenhouse effect thus causing the temperature of the Earth's atmosphere, ocean as well as land
surface to increase (Douglas et al., 2017). Human-driven changes in land usage and land cover related to
the deforestation, urbanization as well as shifts in vegetation patterns tends to alter the climate
consequential to alter the reflectivity of the Earth surface in addition to the release from deforestation,
urban heat island consequences also changes in the natural water cycle.
Greenhouse gas emissions released from transport are identified as major contributors to global
climate change. According to Lawrence and Vandecar (2015), over the last thirty years, carbon dioxide
release from transportation has increased rapidly in comparison to other sectors. However, it has been
anticipated that the rise of C02 will reach up to 10,000 mega tonnes by 2050. Reports of Alkama and
Cescatti (2016) have revealed that from 1900 to 2004, the C02 emissions from the world’s transport sector
have raised by around 37%. According to them, during the same period, road gas emissions from road
transport have raised by 30% in industrialized nations and over 60% in the developing nations.
Furthermore, air travel tends to emit around 12% of transport C02 emissions along with its share which is
projected to increase rapidly (Energy, Water and Transport, 2019). Human activities related to several
forms of transport modes are significantly contributing to global warming. Such an increase has been seen
to be higher in comparison to the direct emissions of C02 through the upstream CO2 emissions released
from oil refineries as well as from electricity used by electric vehicles and for aviation. On the other hand,