.: www.youthXchange.net - main causes :.

GENERAL DATA
ENVIRONMENT
nature conservation
> areas at risk
> endangered species
> protected areas

air
> air quality
> global issues

energy
> demand/supply
> energy saving
> renewables

waste
> production
> recycling

water
> water resources
> drinking water

climate change
> impact on population
> weather

animal welfare
> animal testing
> unfair practices

BASIC NEEDS
OTHER NEEDS

facts & figures

CLIMATE CHANGE

MAIN CAUSES

source: www.sierraclub.org/
population/reports/globalwarming.asp

The principal reason why average temperatures are rising is a century and a half of industrialisation…

human activities have been increasing the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases and aerosols since the pre-industrial era. The burning of oil, gasoline, and coal, the cutting down of forests, and certain forms of agriculture are changing the composition of the atmosphere;

for more than 160 000 years to about 1800 AD, the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) varied only by 1-3%;

since then, it has increased by 33%, and reached 373 parts per million by volume (ppmv) at the end of 2002;

today's concentration of CO2 has not been exceeded during the past 420 000 years;

more than half the CO2increase occurred since 1950 and is largely related to primary energy use;

75% of the man-made global warming pollution currently in the atmosphere comes from industrialised nations.

Greenhouse gases increase

*gas*	*increase %*	*main causes*
Carbon Dioxide	30	burning of fossil fuels and deforestation
Methane	145	landfills, pipeline leakage, coal seams, rice paddies and cattle
Nitrous Oxide	15	burning of fossil fuels and chemical fertilisers

[ home | UNEP/UNESCO contact | partners | YXC Team ]