Human activity takes its toll on the environment
(Mirror Daily, United States) Climate change and especially global warming are a pressing issue in our society today. If there were any doubts, scientists have recently revealed that man is to blame. What’s more, the situation dates back from more than 180 years ago, when human activity started to develop into the detriment of the natural environment.
Scientists have been investigating and have recently discovered that one of the leading causes of global warming is human activity. The process started earlier than anyone would have expected, namely around 1830, during the industrial era.
Professor Nerilie Abram (The Australian National University – ANU) was in charge of the research, and he led a team of twenty-five specialists. He stated that he himself was surprised by the results of the study, as EurekAlert! reports:
“It was an extraordinary finding. It was one of those moments where science really surprised us. But the results were clear. The climate warming we are witnessing today started about 180 years ago.”
The team of researchers, coming from universities around the world, analyzed data regarding global temperatures over the past five centuries (500 years). This is how they were able to determine that everything regarding climate change and global warming started in 1830 when more and more greenhouse gas began to be released into the atmosphere. They also noticed that the northern, icy lands were the first places affected by climate change.
The study was based on several formations that could encompass climate related information, such as oceans, tree rings, corals, phenomena like volcanic eruptions and so on.
Before 1800, greenhouse gas emissions were not as dangerous for the natural environment as they would become later, the study finds.
Another member of the researchers’ team, Dr. Helen McGregor, talked about their findings:
“But the early onset of warming detected in this study indicates the Earth’s climate did respond in a rapid and measureable way to even the small increase in carbon emissions during the start of the Industrial Age.”
Scientists have been warning the population about the damaging effect of human activity on the Planet for a long time. Now the natural world is on the verge of losing its balance, and it seems that man is the one to blame for most of the situation.
The new study which links human activity to damaging global warming was published in the journal Nature.
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