1. Greenhouse gases
The most significant cause of climate change is human-made greenhouse gases. Even though there is a natural phenomenon causing them, human activities have significantly increased the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and there are no signs that our pollution rates are slowing down. The most significant human-made greenhouse gases are:
- carbon dioxide (CO2)
- methane (CH4).
- fluorinated gases and
- nitrous oxide (N2O)
These gases in our aerosols allow the sun’s heat to escape into space, heating our atmosphere. As a result of this greenhouse effect, some percentage of the Earth’s heat energy is retained by the Earth’s atmosphere instead of being radiated back into space as sunlight. The oceans and land surfaces absorb the remaining percentage.
