Climate 411

This is the second installment of a five-part series by Bill Chameides on How We Know Humans Cause Global Warming.

1. A 175-year-old Puzzle
2. What Chemistry Tells Us
3. Causes of Past Climate Change
4. The Medieval Warming Period
5. The Only Explanation Left

There’s no question that carbon dioxide (CO₂) is a greenhouse gas that warms the planet, and that CO₂ has been increasing. The graph below shows it vividly (the measurements were taken at Mauna Loa, Hawaii).

But how do we know that the increase is due to people burning fossil fuels? One way is by analyzing the chemistry of our atmosphere, since human activities leave an unmistakable "fingerprint".

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This is the first installment of a five-part series by Bill Chameides on How We Know Humans Cause Global Warming.

1. A 175-year-old Puzzle
2. What Chemistry Tells Us
3. Causes of Past Climate Change
4. The Medieval Warming Period
5. The Only Explanation Left

Most people these days accept that our planet is warming, but some find it hard to believe that mere humans could cause such a large-scale global change. How do we know that the warming is due to human activity? How can we be so sure?

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