Climate Change: The Greenhouse Effect

The issue of climate change has provoked much controversy lately. While some people believed that climate change is simply the natural warming and cooling variations in climate system, it seems that human activity is contributable to that phenomenon, especially to the extent of greenhouse effect. Greenhouse effect is known as a naturally occurring process that aids in heating the Earth's surface and atmosphere. In actuality, it is undeniable that the enhanced greenhouse effect is mainly caused by human activities, including the combustion of fossil fuels and deforestation.

The first problem to be elaborated is that the combustion of fossil fuels in industrial activities and transportation directly leads to the increased greenhouse effect. In

Forests are known as “carbon sinks”- natural systems that suck up and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. There are 300 billion tonnes of carbon stored in trees, 40 times the annual greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels, according to Greenpeace International (2015). However, every year, approximately 13 million hectares of forests are cut down, which means that the amount of carbon restored has a tendency to significantly decrease. Hence, it is inevitable that the carbon dioxide concentration will become denser and make it harder for the heat to escape into outer space. Additionally, not only does deforestation reduce the carbon dioxide sucked up, but also it can release carbon dioxide into the air. It has recently been shown that, when trees die and decay, the stored carbon is released back to the atmosphere. Particularly, a study published by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2010) found out that there are nearly a billion tons of carbon are released into the atmosphere because of deforestation yearly. Furthermore, the exchange of water vapor, one of the dominant greenhouse gases, can be interrupted as a result of deforestation, which leads to the changes in the atmospheric concentration. National Academic of Sciences (2005) pointed out that deforestation has decreased global vapor flows from land by 4 percent. That decrease can contribute to

However, it seems to be irrelevant when the emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities within hundreds of years are compared to that from the nature in the whole geological history. In fact, there are 150 billion tonnes of carbon produced from natural process each year, about 30 times carbon from human emissions, according to Beck (2006). Nevertheless, human activities’ emissions matter due to the fact that, while the released emissions from natural events are absorbed and balanced by the natural process, human emissions remain in and alter the composition of the atmosphere. As a result, emissions from human activities are the main factors that contribute to the imbalance of greenhouse gas concentrations and greenhouse effect.

In conclusion, the combustion of fossil fuels and deforestation are the main sources that cause greenhouse effect. The suitable measure should be taken to minimize the consequences of human activities on climate and environment, especially resolving the problem of greenhouse