Causes of Global Warming
Global warming today is mainly caused by burning fossil fuels, deforestation and farming, which add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.
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Global warming today is mainly caused by burning fossil fuels, deforestation and farming, which add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.
- Power stations release carbon dioxide
- Cattle produce methane
- Cutting forests removes carbon stores
🧠 Quick quiz
Three questions. Score 2 or more to complete the topic.
What is Causes of Global Warming?
Within Earth & Environmental Science, which covers our planet, its resources and ecosystems, and how people can protect the environment, this topic explains Causes of Global Warming. Earth and environment topics show how the planet’s systems shape landscapes, climate and life, with models that make these processes visible.
Check that you can explain Causes of Global Warming in your own words and give one example from everyday life. If you can do that, you have understood the core idea.
Understanding Causes of Global Warming helps you explain the environment around you and weigh up how people can protect it.
Causes of Global Warming in detail
Global warming, the rise in Earth's average temperature, is mainly caused by human emissions of greenhouse gases. Burning fossil fuels for electricity, transport and industry releases carbon dioxide. Deforestation reduces the trees that absorb carbon dioxide, and burning them releases it.
Agriculture releases methane (from cattle and rice paddies) and nitrous oxide (from fertilisers), and landfill sites release methane. Natural factors, such as solar variation and volcanoes, have small effects compared with human influence. Atmospheric carbon dioxide has risen from about 280 ppm before industrialisation to more than 420 ppm now.
How the interactive helps you understand Causes of Global Warming
Watch the growth curve in the interactive. Use any sliders or buttons it offers to change the values and see how the growth curve responds.
Before you change anything, predict the result. Then change one value at a time and check whether your prediction was right. This is a quick way to build a correct mental model of Causes of Global Warming.
Real-life uses and examples
- Use a diagram of Causes of Global Warming to describe the steps of a process in order.
- Discuss how human activity changes Causes of Global Warming, using a named example.
- Explain how Causes of Global Warming affects the landscape or climate near you.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Describing a process without the timescale it works over.
- Presenting one cause as the only cause of an environmental change.
- Learning the definition without testing it. Use the quiz and the interactive to check that you can apply the idea.
Frequently asked questions about Causes of Global Warming
What is Causes of Global Warming?
Global warming today is mainly caused by burning fossil fuels, deforestation and farming, which add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.
What are the most important points about Causes of Global Warming?
The main points are: Power stations release carbon dioxide; Cattle produce methane; Cutting forests removes carbon stores.
Why is Causes of Global Warming useful?
Understanding Causes of Global Warming helps you explain the environment around you and weigh up how people can protect it.
How can I practise Causes of Global Warming?
Open the interactive at the top of this page and change the controls one at a time. Predict the result before each change, then take the three-question quiz. A score of two or more marks the topic as complete on this device.
Which topics are related to Causes of Global Warming?
Related topics in Earth & Environmental Science include The Water Cycle, Rivers, Lakes and Groundwater, Ecosystems and Biomes.