Human Activity and Climate Change Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Human Activity and Climate Change - Assignment Example Carbon dioxide has been described as one of the most anthropogenic greenhouse gas. That is it is caused by human activity and the influence that they have on the environment. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased from 280 parts per million (ppm) before the industrial revolution to 379 ppm3 in 2005. Additionally, the concentration of to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in 2005 was much greater than the natural range of 180 to 300ppm over the last 650,000 years. This information has been determined from ice cores spanning thousands of years. Continuous measurements show that during the ten years spanning 1995 to 2005 the annual growth rate of the concentration of carbon dioxide was 1.9ppm and this is more than that for the period 1960 to 2005 when the concentration was 1.4ppm. The use of fossil fuel has been found to be the main source of the increased concentration of carbon dioxide ever since the pre-industrial period which dates from 1900 to 1926 with annual emission increasing from an average of 6.4 GIC per annum in the 1990’s to 7.2 per year during the period 2000 to 2005. Greenhouse gas emissions that have been attributed to the change in the way land is used has been found to be significantly less when compared to greenhouse gas emissions from carbon dioxide at a rate of 1.6 GtC per year throughout the 1990’s. However, these estimates According to California Energy Commission, there are three major forms of fossil fuel – coal, oil and natural gas. They have formed millions of years ago during the Carboniferous period which is part of the Paleozoic Era. Carboniferous comes from the word carbon and carbon is the basic element that makes up coal, oil and natural gas. Coal is used to fuel power plants and other factories.