What are the ten most significant causes of climate change?

Usually when people say 'climate change' or 'global warming' or 'climate crisis' or 'climate instability' they mean the same thing - the warming of the Earth that is happening now and that is not caused by any of the natural cycles. The main cause of this climate change is the burning of fossil fuel. The second most significant cause is loss of forests.

Oil, coal and natural gas (fossil fuels) are the remains of plants that took carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the air over millions of years, millions of years ago. We started digging up and burning these fossil fuels, about 120 years ago, releasing millions of tons of carbon dioxide.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a greenhouse gas; it holds heat in the air, the more CO2, the more heat. It takes a while for the effect to work, like turning on the heat under a pot of water, there is a lag time before it boils, but boil it will.

The burning of fossil fuels has raised the amount of CO2 in air from 280 parts per million to 390 parts per million, and we are increasing it 2.5 ppm every year now. No one know any way to remove CO2 from air, other than very gradually by planting more trees.

The last time that the Earth had as much CO2 in the air as it has now, there was no ice in West Antarctica and the seas were 20 feet higher. Climate experts agree that we can expect a temperature rise of 4 to 9oF by 2100, and a sea level rise of between 4 and 7 feet, depending on how soon we stop burning fossil fuel. The cost of switching to clean solar, wind, geothermal and other energy that does not release carbon is much much less than the cost of the damages to our resources by continuing to turn up the heat and experience worsening storms, heavier rains, floods, landslides, droughts, forest fires, acid oceans, disease spread and extinction of species.

Scientists did not really understand this until around 1980 was when the first clear evidence was available. In the last few years new research has shown that the warming and the sea level rise are occurring faster than originally predicted.

Here are some sites where you can get more information:

http://globalchange.gov/ is the US government information site on global warming.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmRyJaBPvD0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJAbATJCugs&feature...

http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sou...

There are secondary effects that contribute to the warming climate. The increased heat in the air has allowed bugs like the pine beetle to reproduce more often, and drought weakened trees succumb and forest fires occur which increase the heat. The increased heat in the oceans causes some extra CO2 to be released which increases the warming. The warmer oceans melts the Arctic ice cap from below while warmer air melts it from above causing it to melt and reduce its cooling effect on the Earth. Usually we refer to these as feedback mechanisms. The warmth in the northern tundra defrosts old plant life releasing methane which is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide so that increases the heat. The warming causes so much ice cold water to flow into the northern oceans that it slows the thermohaline current, increasing the heat at the surface of the ocean .

Maybe we should also include here a psychological analysis of the human folly of continuing to do something that has been shown to have a high likelihood of making the Earth uninhabitable.

If you are taking a geology class, and the question actually is, 'What are the ten most significant causes of climate changes in geologic history?' that is a different thing. Those changes happened over much longer periods of time.

The sun (solar flares,sun spots)

Volcanoes

Asteroids,comets

The wobble of the earth on its axis

ocean currents

earthquakes

Climate change is natural thing that occurs occasionally on the Earth. Nothing to get worried about. It's not man made either. There are way too many facts proving man made global warming is a bunch of crap.

I know I'm going to get a lot of gullible people out there disagreeing on this one. :D

Fossil fuels that are burnt when driving is a BIG one.

1-10 ...The sun...

Politicians who want to raise taxes, apparently a natural process is now a major threat to the Earth ever since they realised much this could be worth........