What is “carbon dioxide” or “CO2” and how does it contribute to global warming?
Carbon dioxide is the main human made greenhouse gas and it’s the result of burning coal, oil and natural gas which are the major power sources in our society. The other major source of carbon dioxide is the cutting and burning of forests — particularly to clear land for agriculture and that’s an important phenomenon in developing countries like Brazil and part of Africa. The trouble is that all those carbon dioxide emissions have raised the amounts carbon dioxide in the atmosphere about 30% above what they were in pre-industrial times a couple of hundred years ago. That extra thickening of the greenhouse blanket is causing a significant warming of earth that is only going to get worse in the future if we don’t stem the increase in carbon dioxide and the other greenhouse gases.
