Human Agency is at the Root of Climate Change and Global Warming Research Paper

Human Agency is at the Root of Climate Change and Global Warming - Research Paper Example This has resulted in an unprecedented rate of global warming that has been the fastest in the past two millennia. The earth receives energy from the sun in the visible and ultra violet radiation bands. Around 33% of the incident solar radiation is reflected by the earth’s surface into space. The remaining portion of the solar radiation is principally absorbed by the land and oceans. This absorbed solar radiation increases the temperature of the earth’s surface, which emits the excess heat as infrared radiation (Maslin, 2007, p. 9). A portion of this infrared radiation is retained by greenhouse gases, and this leads to the warming of the atmosphere. The principal greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, water vapour, ozone, methane and nitrous oxide. These gases, in combination, result in a greenhouse effect that warms the earth (Maslin, 2007, p. 9). Global warming and climate change are the handiwork of humans. This has been reiterated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which has stated in no uncertain terms that human activity and not changes in solar activity, is the real culprit responsible for global warming (Jones, 2012, p. 32). During the period from the year 2005 to the year 2010, solar activity had been very less. Nevertheless, NASA discovered that the earth had absorbed much more energy than it had reflected or radiated back into space. Whilst arriving at this conclusion, this organisation had engaged in complex calculations relating to the energy imbalance of the earth.