Greenhouse Gases, Climate Change, and How to Make a Difference

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It’s hard to believe that government leaders, industry stakeholders, and people just like you and me aren’t taking global warming and climate change more seriously.

An article published recently by Oxford University Press notes that 11,000 scientists in 153 countries had “declared a climate emergency” in 2019, and since then, an additional 2,800 scientists have signed the declaration. That’s 13,800 highly educated, knowledgeable scientists who, we may safely assume, know what they’re talking about.

Yet climate change is considered a hoax and a conspiracy by a number of influential personalities including the late Bill Gray, a prominent American meteorologist, and U.S. senators James Inhofe, Ted Cruz, and Mitch McConnell among others. And then there’s Fox News with its history of climate denial that “has been well established for years” and host Tucker Carlson proclaiming that climate change is “systemic racism in the sky.”

The good news is that most Americans (60–80% depending on the source) know global warming and climate change are real. The 2.16°F (1.2°C) average temperature rise that has taken place since the late 1800s isn’t a normal climatic cycle that will reverse on its own; on the contrary, it will continue to rise unless we take drastic measures.

What are greenhouse gases?

When you hear or see the term “greenhouse gases,” you might conjure up images of smokestacks spewing smoke and traffic jams in hazy urban smog. It’s a term that’s used so frequently along with “global warming” and “climate change” that we automatically put it in a box labeled negative. Greenhouse gases are bad, right? Well, yes and no.

The earth’s atmosphere naturally creates a greenhouse effect, and without it, life as we know it couldn’t exist. It’s made up of gases including nitrogen (about 78%), oxygen (around 21%), and many others including water vapor. It also contains minuscule particles called aerosols such as dust, sea salt, volcanic ash, and pollen.

This layer of gases is a barrier that protects us and all life on earth from the comparative emptiness of outer space. It provides the oxygen we need and the carbon dioxide that plants require. It shields us from damaging solar radiation by reflecting some of it back into space. It also acts as insulation to keep the earth warm and prevent drastic temperature changes — moon temperatures, for example, range from a frigid -280F (-173C) to a scorching 260F (127C). The atmosphere also creates life-sustaining precipitation (rain and snow) that fills our rivers, lakes, and oceans.

What’s So Bad About Greenhouse Gases?

The problem with greenhouse gases is not that they exist. The problem is that human activity has upset the balance of atmospheric gases and caused an increase of gases that absorb light which creates heat and traps it.

Since the advent of the industrial age in the mid-1700s — and especially since the late 1800s — newly developed mining and manufacturing processes plus transportation and agriculture have increased the volume of heat-retaining greenhouse gases. Coal, for example, has been the primary fuel for generating electricity for well over 100 years, and petroleum products (e.g., gasoline) power our vehicles, machinery, and tools. What’s more, industrial activities emit synthetic fluorinated gases which, although the quantity produced is low compared to other emissions, have a much higher capacity to trap heat and worsen global warming.

Which Greenhouse Gases Cause Global Warming and Climate Change?

Depending on the authority, many gases are considered anthropogenic (human-generated) greenhouse gases (GHGs).

Carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide are the main GHGs, all of which occur naturally and anthropogenically. Water vapor is also a naturally occurring GHG, but it’s primarily created by meteorological conditions such as temperature rather than direct human activities.

Gases called fluorocarbons and others not found in nature are created only by human industrial activities. While these types of GHGs aren’t currently present in high concentrations, their capacity for retaining heat and contributing to global warming and climate change is far greater than the more abundant GHGs such as carbon dioxide.

For a full list of GHGs, see the Atmospheric Chemistry and Greenhouse Gases report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC).

Carbon dioxide

The most abundant anthropogenic greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide (CO₂) which is produced by extracting and burning fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) and manufacturing products made from them (e.g., single-use plastics). CO₂ is a serious concern partly because it remains in the atmosphere much longer than other gases. Fossil fuels are primarily used for transportation (gasoline and diesel), indoor heating, electric power plants, and the manufacturing of plastics, fertilizers, lubricants, synthetic fabrics, skin treatments, and many other products.

Landfills also emit large amounts of CO₂ as well as methane. Both gases are produced when organic matter such as grass clippings and leaves, kitchen scraps, prepared foodstuffs, and paper decompose. CO₂ production occurs during all phases of landfill decomposition (aerobic and anaerobic) whereas methane is produced anaerobically; that is, in the absence of oxygen. Although CO₂ is produced whether organic matter decomposes in landfills or by composting at home or in the community, composting is preferred because it creates substantially less methane (if any, depending on conditions), which is a more powerful greenhouse gas than CO₂.

Methane

Methane is the main component of natural gas, which is used for electricity generation, home heating, gas cooking, and industrial purposes. It’s emitted naturally from bogs and wetlands as organic matter decomposes. Wildfires (whether naturally occurring or not) also produce methane.

As an anthropogenic greenhouse gas, methane emission occurs during coal mining as well as oil and natural gas production such as fracking. Intentional burning of vegetation and wood (biomass) during deforestation and post-harvest crop burning also produces methane.

In landfills, methane is generated by methane-producing bacteria that break down organic material buried deeply in the landfill. Wastewater treatment also produces significant amounts of methane.

Animal agriculture, especially ruminants (cattle and sheep), is a major producer of methane gas. Manure storage creates much of it, but it’s also produced during the digestive process and is expelled mainly in the animals’ breath and belches. Cow burps might seem trivial, but with an average of 93 million cows in the U.S. alone (1 billion globally) each producing about 220 pounds of methane annually, they’re a major contributor to greenhouse gases and global warming. In fact, “livestock produce…14.5 percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions” according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

Although the atmospheric concentration of methane emissions is lower than CO₂, it has a higher global warming potential (GWP) which makes it equally concerning.

Nitrous oxide

Nitrous oxide is another greenhouse gas that’s a major contributing factor in climate change. Although it’s produced naturally in oceans and vegetation-covered soil, anthropogenic production is the primary source of excess atmospheric nitrous oxide.

Sources of nitrous oxide emissions include livestock waste, manufacturing and use of chemical fertilizers, fertilizer runoff, human sewage, synthetic fabric manufacturing, fossil fuel burning, various industrial activities, and biomass burning.

Agriculture is the primary source of nitrous oxide emissions followed by fossil fuel combustion for transportation, especially in ordinary cars and trucks. Coal burned for energy production is a significant source as well.

Like methane, atmospheric nitrous oxide isn’t produced in high concentrations compared to carbon dioxide, but its global warming potential (GWP) is “265–298 times that of CO₂.”

Fluorinated gases

Fluorinated gases are entirely synthetic; that is, they don’t occur in nature and are produced only by human activities. These gases are categorized according to types and sources, and one that you may have heard of is hydrofluorocarbons. These are commonly used for refrigeration and as aerosol propellants for spray cans as well as in fire extinguishers, air conditioning, and building insulation.

Other types of fluorinated gases are by-products of industrial activities. Aluminum and magnesium production, electronics manufacturing, and electrical transmission are major sources of fluorinated gases.

The problem with fluorinated gases is not the volume produced but, rather, that “they are the most potent and longest lasting type of greenhouse gases emitted by human activities,” according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Effects of greenhouse gasses and climate change

While scientific opinions vary on the rate of global warming and climate change, the effects of human activities and resulting greenhouse gas emissions are already taking a toll. Rising temperatures have already caused changes, and, in fact, “the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 2005.”

Some of the effects of climate change that we’re already seeing include

• Polar ice cap and glacier melting
• Sea level rise
• Extreme heat
• Drought
• Forest fires
• Crop failure
• More frequent, intense tropical storms and hurricanes
• Heavy rains
• Flooding and erosion
• Environmental balances altered
• Insect overgrowth and infestation
• Wildlife endangerment
• Human health and habitat threats

What about plain old air pollution?

Separately from climate change specifically, GHGs and air pollution are detrimental to human health and quality of life. Even if GHGs didn’t affect global temperatures, emissions from fossil fuel combustion and other gases such as ozone as well as particulate matter take an enormous toll on our health.

Air pollution can cause asthma, cardiovascular disease, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer, developmental lung damage in children, lung infections, wheezing, coughing and shortness of breath, low infant birth weight, and many other diseases.

Even those who don’t believe climate change is taking place are breathing the noxious fumes that heavy traffic and industries emit. Everyone suffers in a hot, smog-filled city like Kanpur, India or Los Angeles, CA. Pollution can even destroy buildings and monuments.

And something must be done. But what?

What can you do about greenhouse gases and climate change?

Few of us have direct, personal responsibility for the fossil fuel industry, animal agriculture, landfills, manufacturing, or industrial processes that create emissions, pollution, and global warming. And not many of us are responsible for the production of fuel-inefficient vehicles, chemical fertilizers, synthetic fabrics, or single-use plastics, either.

Or are we?

Ultimately, any entity — industries, manufacturers, businesses — that negatively impacts the earth and human life is responsible for the damage. And they should be held accountable.

We are responsible for the choices we make.

Look at it this way: No company or industry makes money without customers. A fast-food restaurant, for example, can’t survive if nobody eats the food they serve. It’s almost like a symbiotic relationship in which each organism benefits from the other; they serve food we like, we pay for it, and we eat it. In this case, however, it’s more like a parasitic relationship: humans don’t need the fast-food restaurant, but the restaurant needs the humans.

That concept can be applied to almost anything. All industries, all manufacturing, all businesses need consumers. What if everyone who can walk, bike, or take public transportation for everything they need would park their cars for a year? I’m no economist, but I’m willing to bet gas prices would drop dramatically due to low demand.

That’s not to point a finger at you or me or anyone else and say consumers are to blame for emissions, global warming, and climate change. The things we use — machines, devices, products, and services that make life easier — are advertised and marketed in the most beguiling ways. And they’re hard to pass up. Why should we when we’re generally unaware of how they’re made or the damage they can do? Most of us tend to trust that other people and companies will “do the right thing.”

Businesses must be held accountable

Take, for example, Johnson & Johnson’s sunscreen products that were recently recalled due to the presence of benzene, a known carcinogen. How could consumers know? Why would anyone suspect? Even if you know benzene is a dangerous chemical, it wasn’t listed on the product container because, according to the company, it’s not an ingredient in their products and they’re not sure how it got in.

But Johnson & Johnson is responsible for all ingredients in their products, regardless of the source. And with today’s technology and readily available information, all companies are responsible for products and processes that contribute to global warming.

Should we blame industries that got their start years ago, long before anyone realized the damage we’re doing to our world, ourselves, and our children and their children?

The Ford Motor Company was established in 1903, and the vehicles they’ve produced have contributed enormous quantities of GHGs to the atmosphere. But back then, nobody knew what the ultimate results would be.

Today, however, every automobile manufacturer knows exactly what gases their internal combustion engines produce. Industrial and corporate leaders across the board are responsible now for greenhouse gases, global warming, and climate change. They need to make changes now. And government leaders absolutely must take a lead and hold companies responsible for reducing or eliminating emissions.

And at this point, with almost everyone aware of the damage that human activities are wreaking on the environment, it’s up to all of us to change our consumption habits and the way we live.

1. Fight climate change with advocacy

We can encourage lawmakers and governing bodies to regulate manufacturing, agriculture, and fossil fuel use.

That means writing letters, sending emails, and calling. The easiest way is to use an email form that many organizations offer. But you’ll get more attention if you send a handwritten or typed letter. (Most of these resources are U.S.-based, but they may be a good start for anyone).

How to Write a Letter to Congress (U.S.)

How to Write a Letter or Email: Stand out among the hundreds of letters and emails that flood the mailboxes of congresspeople each day. (Includes links for finding senators and representatives.) (U.S.)

Clean Air Council Action Items (U.S.)

Friends of the Earth Les Ami(e)s de la Terre Take Action (Canada)

Environmental Defense Fund (U.S.)

36 Organizations Helping Solve the Climate Crisis (International)

Highly-Rated Environmental Nonprofits

2. Fight climate change with responsible consumption

To return to the fast-food restaurant example, if nobody eats there, the restaurant will go out of business. It’s all about supply and demand: if there’s little or no demand, businesses don’t have the financial motivation to create a supply.

A few other examples: if demand for single-use plastic goes down, supply also goes down and that means reduced GHGs and less plastic in landfills and oceans. Or if everyone who can walk, ride a bike, or take public transportation parks their car, emissions are reduced. The same goes for using less electricity, composting kitchen scraps, or using reusable shopping bags instead of plastic or paper bags. And so on.

You don’t have to turn your life upside down. Just pick a few ways to reduce your carbon footprint and stick with them. Or switch one out for something else if it’s not working. If you normally bike and walk everywhere, a new job 20 miles away might change that. Try public transportation or carpooling. Or choose something from a different category: eat less meat, learn to compost, or use non-toxic household cleaners. And you can always add something when new habits become routine.

The only way to make change is to demand change and be the change. And that starts with you and me. Make a difference in our future, our children’s futures, and everyone’s future.

Calculate Your Carbon Footprint

The 35 Easiest Ways to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

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25+ Ways to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint: How to take ownership of your personal contribution to climate change

Simple Tips to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

12 ways to reduce your carbon footprint at home

Sustainable Tips for Meal Planning and Grocery Shopping (lots of other ideas on this site)