Human Activity & Climate Change
- Human population is increasing and with it the global demand for food, water, consumer goods, housing and energy which are supplied with greater and more widespread industrialisation
- This creates more waste so more landfill sites are needed which increases the amount of methane by decomposition
- The increased energy demands are met in most cases by the burning of fossil fuels which produces CO2:
Fossil fuel + oxygen → H2O + CO2 ( + energy)
- Added to this is the effect of deforestation on the amount of CO2 as large areas of forested land are being destroyed for building and agricultural activities
- Plants and trees remove CO2 during photosynthesis:
6CO2 + 6H2O → C6H12O6 + 6O2
- Hence their removal increases the amount of atmospheric CO2 as there are less plants available to remove it during photosynthesis
- Increasing agricultural activities also cause an increase in methane production
- By analysis of the percentage of CO2 in the atmosphere and the changes in temperature over several hundred years, the evidence for the effects of CO2 on global temperature is convincing
- The evidence collected by scientists is peer-reviewed by other scientists to make sure that the results are valid and they are confident with the conclusions made
- Peer-reviewed evidence gives a clear correlation between the percentage of CO2 in the atmosphere and the changes in temperature as shown in the graphs below
- This has led many scientists to agree that human activities cause an increase in the temperature of the Earth's atmosphere at the surface
Graph showing the steady increase in atmospheric CO2 since 1700
Graph showing the steady increase in temperature from when accurate records exist