Causes of Climate Change

What then are the causes of this situation?

So both natural and human factors change earth climate. So before humans, changes in climate resulted entirely from natural causes such as changes in earth orbit, changes in solar activity or volcanic eruptions.

However, since the industrial era began, humans have had an increasing effect on climate, particularly by adding billions of heat-trapping, greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Most of the observed warming since the 20th century is due to human-caused greenhouse emission.

When sunlight reaches earth’s surface, it can either be reflected into space or absorbed by earth. Once absorbed, the earth releases some of the energy into the atmosphere as heat (also infrared radiation).

So greenhouse gases (GHGs) like water vapour (H₂O), carbon dioxide (CO₂) Methane (CH₄) absorb energy, slow down or prevent the loss of heat back to space.

Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are gases that trap heat in the atmosphere. They act like blanket, making earth warmer than it would otherwise be. This process is commonly known as the “greenhouse effect".