How Are We Destroying the Environment?
Humans are destroying the environment through ways such as burning fossil fuels, deforestation, farming and industry, all of which produce copious amounts of greenhouse gases. The phenomenon of global warming is argued to be caused by humans due to the many ways humans pollute the environment with greenhouse gases.
Scientists agree that burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas to generate large amounts of energy is the human activity that has the greatest impact on global warming. Deforestation for housing, farming and industry has a direct effect on ecosystems and endangered species. Trees absorb carbon dioxide emissions from the environment, and when large areas are cleared through deforestation, stored carbon is also released into the atmosphere.
Industry and agriculture produce large amounts of greenhouse gases through fertilizers, mining and release from factories. Use of landfills also has an impact on the release of greenhouse gases into the environment. As food, paper, vegetation and sewage wastes break down in landfills and waste sites, they release carbon dioxide and methane.
Evidence of climate change is observed in rising sea levels over the last century, the rise in global temperature since 1880, warming oceans, shrinking Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, declining arctic sea ice, glacial retreat, extreme high temperature events, ocean acidification, and decreased snow cover.
