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Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, meaning it causes heat to get trapped in the atmosphere, rather than being released into space, raising the Earth's temperature – known as global warming. [302] Alongside greenhouse gas emissions the industry is also responsible for almost 35% of microplastic pollution in the oceans. [301]
[109] [110] [111] A 1997 assessment states that over a third of Earth's land has been modified by humans, that atmospheric carbon dioxide has increased around 30 percent, that humans are the dominant source of nitrogen fixation, that humans control most of the Earth's accessible surface fresh water, and that species extinction rates may be over ...
Environment destruction caused by humans is a global, ongoing problem. [4] Water pollution also cause problems to marine life. [5] Most scholars think that the project peak global world population of between 9-10 billion people, could live sustainably within the earth's ecosystems if human society worked to live sustainably within planetary ...
[22] [23] Another human-caused source of carbon dioxide is cement production. The burning of fossil fuels and cement production are the main reasons for the increase in atmospheric CO 2 since the beginning of the industrial era. [10] Other human-caused changes in the atmospheric carbon cycle are due to anthropogenic changes to carbon reservoirs.
A global catastrophic risk or a doomsday scenario is a hypothetical event that could damage human well-being on a global scale, [2] even endangering or destroying modern civilization. [3] An event that could cause human extinction or permanently and drastically curtail humanity's existence or potential is known as an " existential risk ".
Around 30% of Earth's land area is largely unusable for humans (glaciers, deserts, etc.), 26% is forests, 10% is shrubland and 34% is agricultural land. [125] Deforestation is the main land use change contributor to global warming, [ 126 ] as the destroyed trees release CO 2 , and are not replaced by new trees, removing that carbon sink . [ 127 ]
Energy flows between space, the atmosphere, and Earth's surface. Rising greenhouse gas levels are contributing to an energy imbalance. Factors affecting Earth's climate can be broken down into forcings, feedbacks and internal variations. [14]: 7 Four main lines of evidence support the dominant role of human activities in recent climate change: [17]
This is an accepted version of this page This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 9 December 2024. Gas in an atmosphere with certain absorption characteristics This article is about the physical properties of greenhouse gases. For how human activities are adding to greenhouse gases, see Greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gases trap some of the heat that results when sunlight heats ...