Is the rise in the level of CO2 in the air the only cause of global warming?
In the past the Earth’s climate has changed as a result of natural causes in our atmosphere. The changes we are witnessing and those that are predicted are largely due to human behaviour: we are burning fossil fuels, and heating up the planet at the same time. We blow exponential amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere every year – 29 billion tonnes of it (2004) and rising – and this warms the globe. Since the Industrial Revolution, humans have been burning fossil fuels on a massive scale. We use this energy, almost without care for the consequences, to run vehicles, heat homes, conduct business, and power factories. Burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide stored millions of years ago as oil, coal or natural gas. In the last 200 years we have burned a large part of these stores, resulting in an increase in CO2 in our atmosphere. Deforestation also releases CO2 stored in trees and in the soil. The increase of CO2 in the atmosphere thickens the ‘greenhouse blanket’, with
