What, in your estimate, are the two most significant contributions that mankind is making to climate change?
Answer:
At first I thought you meant Contributions to the Solution, but you only said Contributions, i.e., to the problem of GW.
1. Burning trees, forest fires, wildfires, everywhere, everyday.
2. Transportation contributes the most CO2.
3. Powerplants and Industry are next in culpability.
The peak temperature due to Global Warming will be known, from calculations, about 80 years from now when we know how much GW gases have we dumped in the air.
The amount is set when we stop all GW gas emissions, and nobody is even talking about that!
We will know GW is accepted when they announce the year gasoline sales will end, or banned, in most countries. Nobody talks about forcing nations to stop polluting, what can be done? Bomb them? That would be worse!
The heating will continue for another 40 years, or more, even after we completly stop, totally end, emissions of GW gases including Carbon Dioxide, that is, until the earth atmosphere reaches the computed (solar radiation equilibrium) temperature.
What is the maximum temperature possible?
When the earth atmosphere is so hot that its sends into space, in all directions, the same amount of heat it receives from the sun radiation, on the sunlit, half side, of the earth.
What is the theoretical Maximum Temperature? 846 F, the temperature of Venus (a little less, we will be toast when the globe reaches about 150 F).
So, why is the temperature a lot less now? Because the color of the earth surface (sets the Emissivity Coefficient) which allows it to reflects most of its heat back into spece, for now.
For example, the North Pole used to be all white with ice, now, most of the North Pole is blue water that emits less heat into space and absorbs more solar heat, and both factors heat up the planet.
Also, the wildfires in the West changed a land that was green into one that is charred black, or brown dirt. This also absorbs heat that would otherwise be sent back to space.
In short, a big part of the problem is the increased earth heating due to the darkening of the earth surface.
The other big part is caused by GW gases that keep the earth heat from going back into space, this is, somewhat, like a greenhouse and for this reason these gases are called Global Warming Greenhouse Gases.
Note the compound effect of wildfires, in millions of acres in the West.
1. Huge green surfaces become black or brown. And,
2. Fires dump millions of tons of Carbon Dioxide in the air that keep earth surface heat radiation from going into space.
But worse of all
3. The vegetation is able to take CO2 from the air and give us the Oxygen we need to survive. Only plants and trees do that (and some organisms in the ocean).
It is a peculiar quality of Carbon Dioxide, and all other Global Warming gase, including water vapor, that they block the radiation from the EARTH but allow the SUN radiation to come through and heat up the earth.
The peculiar ability of the atmosphere to let the rays of the sun go through but reflect back to the Earth the heat radiation FROM the earh, is set by the wavelength of the radiation from sun and earth, actually by the temperatures of either.
The radiation wavelength is set by the temperature of the object that made the radiation. The sun is much much hotter, about a milllion degrees, warmer than the earth.
The two biggest causes of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions are:
1) Deforestation (18.3%)
T-2) Road transportation (a.k.a. driving - 9.9%)
T-2) Powering residential buildings (a.k.a. homes - 9.9%)
1) The space we take up (especially places that used to be forests and so forth)
2)The resources we consume.
The resources and space required to sustain a population of over 6 billion humans don't exist on this planet.
Mankind could stop multiplying for starters. Stopping big corp america from polluting, They are the worst and biggest abusers, shut them down and 90% would improve right away..but since they own the Congress and our country we're screwed??
deforestation and now this
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...
farming causing desertification
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...
followed by industrial contamination and the internal combustian engine and production of electricity
overpopulation & an ignorance of how an entire biosystem works as a unit to sustain each individual part
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