coolmelbourne.org

Carbon dioxide gets all the press, as it is the most abundant of the problem gases and drifts around in the atmosphere for over one hundred years trapping heat.

Water vapor is also a greenhouse gas, but it is mostly irrelevant, as it falls as rain within a few hours, or days at most. The exception is the water vapor expelled by aircraft at high altitudes where it lingers around trapping heat in the higher atmosphere.

Humans have been spewing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere since 1760 when James Watt patented one of the earliest steam engines. It was during the Industrial Revolution that we began to exploit the earth for fossil fuels to be burned for energy. 

This burning releases the carbon dioxide fixed in the fossil fuels (that had been safely stored for millions of years) causing it to drift up into our atmosphere, where it accumulates over time. This burning alters forever the natural balance of carbon on our planet.

In 1750 there were 280 parts per million (PPM) of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. That figure now stands at 384ppm and it is increasing at 2ppm every year. Methane has jumped from 700ppm to 1748ppm in the same period, while nitrous oxide has gone from 270ppm to 314ppm. There are also CFCs and HFCs (now banned under the Montreal Protocol) drifting around up there tearing a hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica and Southern Australia.

In 1750 we had public executions. By 2050 we’ll be well on our way to executing the general public!