CO₂

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is created when carbon-based fuels (diesel oil, natural gas [methane], gasoline/petrol, wood, “biofuel”, etc.) are burned. The carbon combines with oxygen in the air to create CO₂. CO₂ in the atmosphere is a so-called “greenhouse gas”, which helps to keep the Earth warm and livable. Other greenhouse gases include methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O or NOx).

Climate change science is based on the fact that CO₂ in excess of what can be naturally cycled by, e.g., plants and seawater, persists in the atmosphere for hundreds – or even thousands – of years. (CH₄ persists ~10 years, and N₂O ~100 years. Over 100 years, CH₄ has 20 times and N₂O 300 times the warming effect of CO₂. Animal agriculture is the main source of both CH₄ and N₂O, and leakage from natural gas drilling is another major source of CH₄.) An increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is thought to cause excess warming.

Go to: Carbon emissions.