Читать книгу Guide to Climate Change: The Ultimate Reference for Causes, Effects & Solutions - Stephen Berkley - Страница 6

Heat trapped by greenhouse gases is known to be responsible for the spike in the earth’s surface temperature. The more the quantity of greenhouse gases, the higher the temperature. And when greenhouse gases occupy a specific atmospheric space, they don’t go away that easily; by estimation, 20% of the carbon dioxide we have in our atmosphere today will readily be there 10,000 years from now.

The addition of more carbon dioxide to our atmosphere is never going to reduce the temperature of the world; instead it is going to get hotter, reducing our chances of surviving as humans. We may not know the extent of damage caused by this rising temperature, but it is certainly what one needs to worry about.

Prior to the industrial revolution, it is possible that the carbon cycle of the earth was seemly balanced. In other words, plants alongside other living things absorbed enough carbon dioxide that was emitted into the atmosphere.

And then came the burning of fossil fuels. Thanks to the numerous plants that had died and decayed millions of years ago to form natural gas, coal, or oil. These fuels were formed from carbon stored underground.