Global Warming | Climate Change – Causes & Consequences

Key Points:

• What causes global warming? The main causes of global warming are human-driven greenhouse gas emissions, primarily from fossil fuel use, agriculture, and deforestation.
• The consequences of global warming are far-reaching, including rising sea levels, extreme weather, and damage to ecosystems — all part of the broader issue of global warming and climate change.
• How to stop global warming? While it’s not too late, urgent action is needed. To prevent global warming, both individual and systemic efforts must focus on rapidly reducing emissions and transitioning to renewable energy.

Global warming is a fact – and a potential danger to the future of our planet. What causes it? Are its effects reversible? We’ve created this guide to provide you with answers to these and many other questions related to global warming and climate change.

Table of Contents

• Consequences of global warming
• Global warming and climate change
• What causes global warming?
• How to stop global warming?

Consequences of global warming

With the end of pre-industrial era, the global average temperature on Earth has been continuously rising. When comparing the temperatures from the few years, this conclusion may not be that obvious. However, it’s enough to look at the stats that cover the whole century to notice an upward trend (check out this 2019 Berkeley report comparing averages from 1850 to 2020).

The moment the temperatures started rising is not by any chance coincidental. Industrial activity has triggered global warming with the enormous emissions of carbon dioxide – the greenhouse gas that was always naturally present in the atmosphere, but never in such amounts. The electrification and dissemination of cars have increased the demand for fossil fuels, which, until recently, were the only mass resource, with no alternatives like solar or wind energy (or only on a micro-scale).

For many years, the skeptics have been underlining that the temperature fluctuations are nothing new on Earth. However, the temperature rise we’re experiencing right now has no precedence. There is no doubt that human activity was its main trigger – how to stop global warming?  

Global warming and climate change

The topic of global warming has been familiar to the scientific world for decades, but only in the last two has it found its place in the public debate. Today, we tend to call the overall phenomena with the more general term “climate change” that reflects its broadness better. It’s because the rising temperature of our planet’s atmosphere causes various changes, some of which are not easy to associate with global warming at first glance. That is, for example, extreme weather events, rising sea level caused by glacier melting, and the disruption of the natural cycle of seasons that leads to damaged crops and poses a danger to fauna and flora associated with a particular region.

What causes global warming?

The rise in average global temperature is a result of increased greenhouse gas emissions. Their accumulation in the atmosphere causes increased absorption of solar radiation and warmth. When the solar rays bounce off the Earth’s surface and pass back through the atmosphere, they get reabsorbed by these gases. These are the causes of global warming – a phenomenon that has a devastating influence on global climate.

The main culprit here is carbon dioxide, but there are some other greenhouse gases you should be aware of: methane, nitrous oxide, and freons. The last ones make the ozone layer – a natural protection against UV radiation – disappear. Fortunately, in the past decades, the emissions of freons went down to less than 10% of what they were in the 80s and 90s as a result of regulations imposed on household appliances producers. Nevertheless, the problem of the other emissions is only increasing.

The methane emissions originate mainly in the meat and milk industries. However, with the glaciers melting, we’ll have to deal with its other, more problematic source – the reserves under the ice sheet. That creates the vicious circle – the methane released as a result of global warming causes an even more rapid rise in temperature. That’s why it’s crucial to act as soon as possible in order to stop these changes.

The CO2 emissions have various sources, mainly tied to burning fossil fuels. Car traffic, energy consumption based on non-renewable resources, plane travels, deforestation – all these factors contribute to high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Check also how does air pollution affect global warming.

How to stop global warming?

There is no proven way how to prevent global warming since we’re dealing with this problem first time in history. But since we know the sources of greenhouse gases, the formula seems quite clear – cut down emissions to the lowest possible.

Is it already too late? According to most scientists, not yet – but we’re close to crossing the border of irreversible. That’s why taking individual and systemic actions as soon as possible is crucial to the future of our planet. If we act now, we still have a chance to stop consequences of global warming or even reverse climate change.