CAUSES OF GLOBAL WARMING

Including: Increase in usage of chemical fertilizers on croplands Solar Variations Feedbacks Global Dimming

Contd.
The world's leading climate scientists said global warming has begun, is very likely caused by man, and will be unstoppable for centuries. The phrase very likely translates to a more than 90 percent certainty that global warming is caused by man's burning of fossil fuels. That was the strongest conclusion to date, making it nearly impossible to say natural forces are to blame. The scientists said global warming's connection varies with storms in different parts of the world, but that the storms that strike the Americas are global warminginfluenced. - The New York Times Report, February 2007

CAUSES : INCREASE IN USAGE OF CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS ON CROPLANDS

In the last half of the 20th century, the use of chemical fertilizers (as opposed to the historical use of animal manure) has risen dramatically. The high rate of application of nitrogen-rich fertilizers has effects on the heat storage of cropland (nitrogen oxides have 300 times more heat-trapping capacity per unit of volume than carbon dioxide) and the run-off of excess fertilizers creates dead-zones in our oceans. In addition to these effects, high nitrate levels in groundwater due to overfertilization are cause for concern for human health.

CAUSES : SOLAR VARIATION

Solar variation is the change in the amount of radiation emitted by the Sun and in its spectral distribution over years to millennia. These variations have periodic components, the main one being the approximately 11-year solar cycle. Researchers claim that no net increase of solar brightness over the last thousand years. BUT, solar cycles led to a small increase of 0.07% in brightness over the last thirty years

CAUSES : FEEDBACK
Methane release from melting permafrost peat bogs Western Siberia world largest peat bogs. Formed last 11000 years ago (end of Ice Age) Expected to release 70,000 tones methane in next few decades Methane clathrate water ice which contains a large amount of methane. Can be found on ocean floor. The sudden release of Methane hydrates could cause runaway greenhouse effects

CAUSES : GLOBAL DIMMING

Burning of fossil fuels is creating two effects:
Greenhouse gases that cause global warming By-products which are pollutants that cause global dimming
 Addressing global dimming only would increase global warming more rapidly.  Contributed to European heat wave in 2003 that killed thousands in France, saw forest fires in Portugal, and caused many other problems throughout the continent

CAUSE: DEFORESTATION ESPECIALLY TROPICAL FORESTS FOR WOOD, PULP, AND FARMLAND
The use of forests for fuel (both wood and for charcoal) is one cause of deforestation, but in the first world, our appetite for wood and paper products.  our consumption of livestock grazed on former forest land, and the use of tropical forest lands for commodities like palm oil plantations contributes to the mass deforestation of our world. Forests remove and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and this deforestation releases large amounts of carbon, as well as reducing the amount of carbon capture on the planet.