Starting with the 1950s, scientists raised the issue that the Earth’s temperature was getting hotter.  How, when, and why has been the subject of much debate.  The basic fact was that temperature was getting hotter and natural causes were not the only reason.  Other things could and were causing changes to the Earth’s temperature.

Welcome to carbon dioxide – the main perp for climate change.

What is carbon dioxide, and where does it come from?

Simply defined, carbon dioxide is a gas that is formed by (1) burning fuels (common examples are wood, coal, charcoal, oil, and gas), (2) by the breakdown or burning of animal and plant matter, and (3) by the act of breathing (that’s you and me).  If you remember your 5th-grade science class – carbon dioxide is then absorbed from the air by plants in photosynthesis, creating oxygen as well as the ocean.  Some fuels do not produce carbon dioxide, and we will talk about those later.

It turns out that the Earth was now producing more carbon dioxide than it could absorb, leading to something called the greenhouse effect.

Stay tuned, and we will explore the greenhouse effect next.