factorsaffectingclimatechangesincethe19thcentury（factorsaffectingclimatechangesincethe19thcentury）.docVIP

Factors affecting climate change since the 19th century Since mid-19th century, when rapid industrialization went on at a much larger scale, man became an active user of nature in many respects. That brings up the big question whether temperatures had risen due to the end of the Little Ice Age only or human activities had contributed to this rise. Although it is assumed that both factors were involved, our main concern is the anthropogenic aspect. How did mankind contribute to temperature rise during the modern time period? Carbon dioxide is certainly a possible contributor to making today’s world warmer, but let’s not overlook the fact that it represents only one of the contributing factors. Industrializing the world during the last 150 years practically meant accelerating the use of fossil resources such as coal, oil, gas, etc. for transport and energy production. Burning and combustion of organic substances produce gases, particularly carbon dioxide, which together with methane, water vapour and nitrous oxide are called greenhouse gases. Any discussion on climate is principally focussed on this phenomenon. There are a number of man-made contributory factors that may have had specific impacts on the atmospheric seasonal heat budget, e.g. local warming in cities (due to housing, roads, and other resultant factors), smoke and dust over long distances or deforestation of huge areas. Each may have had temporary or long lasting implications, but none of these is a major source for the strong warming trend during the last 150 years. Shipping, which is one of the presumably decisive warming factors, has been given little attention until now in contrast to the greenhouse effect caused by atmospheric gases. The contribution of shipping, fishing, naval vessels, oil platforms, leisure boats, etc. is not comparable to that of cars, power plant and air planes in feeding the atmosphere with carbon dioxide (CO2), except for a small fraction. Each and every moving bo