Carbon Dioxide Emissions Are Only Part of the Story

When discussing the greenhouse effect it is important to keep in mind that things like methane emissions and carbon dioxide emissions have been around for longer than humans have. Methane and carbon dioxide are both naturally occurring gases that meet some specific needs in the natural order of the planet. The problem is that, since the industrial revolution, we have been producing them in larger quantities than the planet can handle. Naturally, these gases then hang around in our atmosphere waiting to be processed and in the meantime they absorb heat. That is why greenhouse gases are dangerous and that is how they are contributing to the problem of global warming.

But unnatural carbon dioxide emissions, methane emissions, nitrous oxide emissions and other chemical byproducts or emissions can really put a damper on the ecosystem. It is the sheer volume of that has been created and unlike our previous thoughts on humanities affect on the environment was too small to make a difference, we are quickly being proven wrong. Greenhouse gases are out there in such great amounts that they are throwing off the balance of the environment.

The fact that there are carbon dioxide emissions and methane emissions isn't the biggest part of the problem. Every human being produces carbon dioxide when they breathe and a herd of cows produces enough methane in a year to power an entire house. The problem is that we now create so much of these emissions. It's simply more than the environment can naturally process, and this leaves the excess gases just hanging around in the atmosphere absorbing heat. That is the nature of the greenhouse effect. The gases essentially seal us into a giant solar oven.