Daniela Viteri

Which are the causes of global warming?

Nowadays this topic is in every conversation, because it has caused many climate changes
around the world. The principal cause for global warming is the greenhouse effect; the gases
that mostly contribute to the green house effect are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane,
nitrous oxide and chlorofluorocarbons named as CFCs. The combination of those gases is
what causes the global warming and all the issues that come with it. Some of the side effects
of global warming are melting poles; it causes the increase of water level in the ocean. As
water level increases some of the cities located in the coasts of the countries could disappear.
The most influence gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect is the water vapor
because it is one of the most abundant greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The biggest part
of the Earth is water, so when water evaporates, it goes to the atmosphere and contributes to
global warming. The relationship is that if more water vapor is in the atmosphere, the energy
of the sun is not reflected. In consequence, this energy is absorbed causing an increase of the
temperature in the Earth. This situation causes the melt of the ice and this cycle never stops.
According to NOAA, as the temperature of the atmosphere increases, more water is
evaporated from oceans, rivers, soil and reservoirs; on the other hand, as the air is warmer, the
levels of water in the atmosphere increases, so it absorbs more energy radiated from the Earth,
warming it even more (Water Vapor).
According to NOAA, humans have changed the cycle of carbon by burning coal, oils,
wood, and natural gases. It happened with the industrialization, because after industrial
revolution the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere was 270 ppm, and nowadays it its 370
ppm (Carbon Dioxide). The carbon dioxide is produced in many ways: when humans,
animals or plants breath , and also when people produce energy. The pollution contributes in a
big part to the global warming. The air is contaminated with smog because of the burning of

fossil fuels such as gasoline. The cars, trains, airplanes, buses and all transportation methods
that uses gasoline to work contributes to the pollution producing smog. Other fact that
increases the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the deforestation because nowadays are
fewer trees that get carbon dioxide and transform it into oxygen. There are statistics that
shows that just in Ecuador the average of forests lost is 1.8% each year, and it is one of the
biggest losses in Latin America (Ecuador registra una). As there are fewer trees, the carbon
dioxide increases contributing to global warming.
Some other greenhouse gases are the methane and nitrous oxide; those are gases that
contribute to global warming but not like carbon dioxide or water vapor. Methane is produced
by domestic livestock, also it is produced by some human natural activities. In the agriculture,
methane comes from the digestion of ruminants as cows, in rice cultivations and with soil
cultivations; methane is less abundant in the atmosphere but also produces an increment in
global warming. Nitrous oxide comes principally by agriculture because it is in the fertilizers
that are used to get big crops. We can find nitrous oxide in the production of some chemicals
and in fossil fuels, and it contributes to global warming even if it is not concentrated in big
quantities in the atmosphere (A Blanket Around).
What people used to think is that CFCs are the greenhouse gasses that produce the
biggest effect over global warming. First of all, what is a CFCs gas? The CFCs are the
Chlorofluorocarbons; those are chemical compounds made with Chlorine (Cl), Fluor (F) and
Carbon (C) atoms. Those compounds were used as car refrigerants, but now are in the sprays.
According to NOAA, the CFCs were created in 1928 and since then, the concentration of
CFCs has been rising. Those CFCs could be in the atmosphere for over 100 years and that is
why they are greenhouse gases(Chlorofluorocarbons).

All of these things cause the global warming, which has many side effects for the
population. Some studies reveals that for every degree Fahrenheit of global warming due to
carbon pollution, global average sea level will rise by about 4.2 feet in the long run and
according to the current rate of carbon emissions, a long-term sea level rise commitment that
is now growing at about 1 foot per decade (Strauss). There are cities where we can see the
effects of melting ice caused by global warming, for example: Thawing permafrost has
caused the ground to subside more than 15 feet (4.6 meters) in parts of Alaska (Glick 1). The
global warming does not affect just only in that way, also if there are no poles there are many
species of animals that could disappear like polar bears. Another effect is that the ice is what
regulates the global temperature because White snow and ice at the poles reflects sunlight,
but dark ocean absorbs it. Replacing bright sea ice with dark ocean is a recipe for more and
faster global warming (Arctic Sea Ice).
We saw that the global warming is caused in a big part because of the greenhouse effect,
but what contributes to this are many things we do every day, so the daily activities of humans
contribute to this effect. We also can see that the water vapor is the one that contributes in a
bigger part to the greenhouse effect and not the carbon dioxide as we think. Also there are
more gases that causes an increase over the Earth temperature like methane, nitrous oxide and
CFCs. The combination of all the greenhouse gases is what absorbs the energy that the Earth
reflects from the sun causing a warming up of the planet.

Works Cited
A Blanket Around the Earth. NASA Global climate change. NASA, n.d Web. 26 Oct. 2014.
Artic Sea Ice Decline. Climate change impact on sea ice decline. Weather Underground,
n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.
Ecuador Registra Una de las Tasas de Deforestacin ms Altas en Amrica Latina. El
Universo. 1 Oct. 2011. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.
Glick, Daniel. Signs From Earth: The Big Thaw. Climate Change, Melting Glaciers.
National Geographic Mag, n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.
Greenhouse Gases. National Climate Data Center. NOAA (National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration), n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.
Strauss, Ben. Sea Level Rise Locking In Quickly, Cities Threatened. Climate Central, 29
July 2013. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.