Man-made:
The Wold is in Our Hands.(1)
It is assumed by many that Global Warming is man made because of the pollution and greenhouse effect which causes sun rays to get stuck into our atmosphere. Earth’s atmosphere contains natural greenhouse gases (mostly water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane) which act to keep the lower layers of the atmosphere warmer than they otherwise would be without those gases. The greenhouse effect keeps the radiant heat that the earth usually emits from going back into space. Humans burn fossil fuels, which is believed to enhance the greenhouse effect. As of 2008, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was about 40% to 45% higher than it was before the Industrial Revolution happened. With the CO2 levels rising slowly over the last 200 years it is helping out the greenhouse effect. A lot of scientists say that the burning of fossil fuels is the "Scientific Consensus" of why Global Warming is happening. These burning of fossil fuels help the greenhouse effect and speed it up.(2)
(3)Natural:
There are plenty of Natural effects though as well. After all, the geological record shows a persistent 1,500-year cycle of warming and cooling extending back at least one million years.(4) During much of the last century the climate was cooling while CO2 levels were rising. And according to some skeptics in the AMS board the country has not risen in temperature in the last eight years, even though CO2 levels have gone up. Another natural cause is solar variability. Variability of the ultraviolet portion of the solar spectrum, which in turn affects the amount of ozone in the stratosphere. Scientists have been able to trace what the sun has done by using proxy data which has found a heavy bit of Oxygen-18 and the common amount of oxygen is oxygen-16. This shows a increase of sunlight in the atmosphere.(5)
Another natural cause is Volcanic Eruptions. The volcanoes can have such large eruptions that the dust thrown into the air which cause a shield to solar radiation which causes a cooling trend in the atmosphere. Although we havent seen that many of elite volcanic eruptions they are able to happen.
Natural volcanic activity as causes of global warming.(6)
Water Vapor and Atmospheric Humidity: If CO2 is the gas that traps heat, there would be a consistency of temperature globally as well. However, that is not the case. The Northern Hemisphere is warming faster than the Southern Hemisphere and Water Vapor is the more significant gas. Water vapor absorbs the majority of rays across the infrared spectrum which speeds up the Greenhouse effect as well.(7)
With all these supposive causes of Global Warming it seems like there is nothing we can really do to stop it. One thing does seem pretty certain, and that is that the two main causes seem to come from both categories. The burning of fossil fuels and the greenhouse effect. From the video of "Ignoring Global Warming" that we saw on the page "What is Global Climate Disruption?" Colbert stated that "Global Warming is "real"". The choice is yours in the end if its naturally caused or man made.
