The temperature at the Earth’s surface is a result of certain gases in the atmosphere, such as water vapor, carbon dioxide and methane.

Carbon is the gas we have ramped up significantly since our industrialization through burning of fossil fuels. This human made carbon gas causes climate change.

NOAA's measurements of carbon dioxide, pictured on the right, at the mountaintop observatory on Hawaii’s Big Island are measuring beyond 421 parts per million of carbon in the atmosphere.

Prior to the Industrial Revolution, CO2 levels were consistently around 280 ppm.

Carbon dioxide is now more than 50% higher than pre-industrial levels.

The carbon molecules absorb heat emitted from the surface of Earth. In this way, these gases trap heat in our atmosphere. In a continual sequence, that heat is transferred and stored mainly within the oceans.

Successively, the oceans are emitting more heat, this changes the climate. Thus, a cascade of extreme weather impacts occurs. As a result, storm-affected areas are likely to

experience increases in precipitation and increased risk of flooding, while areas located far away from storm tracks are likely to experience less precipitation and increased risk of drought. In addition, the temperate zone experiences a rising frequency of polar vortexes.

In turn, there’s a myriad increasing bad manifestations: biodiversity loss, crop failure, financial stressors on households, rising health afflictions, and damage and loss of life from extreme weather events.

Currently, affecting some communities greatly while others not much, but climate change is a moving freight train that will eventually plow into all of us. Without action, the climate crisis will break middle-income earners and smash any chance for a better future.

Plus, like a frieght train, it takes a long time to stop once the brakes are applied. This is why if we stopped all carbon emissions today, the climate would continue to warm significantly for 20 years and then gradually slow down to a smaller amount of warming over the next two hundred years, but still would continue to creep up some additional warming even after 200 years.

Why is pollution making the Earth get warmer?