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Natural Causes of Global Warming

You are probably wondering if global warming is caused by natural cycles. You're right, there is some truth to that, but it's of critical importance that you understand the whole picture to avoid devastasting consequences to your future.

Naturally Occurring Warming

and Cooling Processes

First, you should understand the primary natural causes of global warming:

Volcanic Eruptions

Large volcanic eruptions can throw so much dust into the sky that the dust acts as a shield to solar radiation and causes a cooling trend in the atmosphere. You probably can't remember such an eruption as they are rare and infrequent occurances.

Sunspots

Changes in the Earth's solar radiation levels can have some impact on the Earth's climate. Increased solar activity can cause short-term warming cycles on the Earth.

The Wobbly Earth

As the Earth spins, it does not achieve perfect rotation. It actually wobbles slightly, thus alternately exposing the northern and southern latitudes to more and less solar radiation. This wobble in the Earth's rotation has been causing changes in the temperature of the atmosphere for many millions of years.

HUMAN CAUSE

The Most Significant Cause

The buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, mainly from your fossil fuel emissions, is the most significant human cause of global warming. Carbon dioxide is released every you burn something, be it a car, airplane or coal plant. This means you must burn less fossil fuel if you want the Earth's climate to remain stable! And unfortunately, we are currently destroying some of the best known mechanisms for storing that carbon-- plants.

Deforestation increases the severity of global warming as well. Carbon dioxide is released from the human conversion of forests and grasslands into farmland and cities. All living plants store carbon. When those plants die and decay, carbon dioxide is released back into the atmosphere. As forests and grasslands are cleared for your use,...