Global warming is a multifaceted issues caused by an interconnected series of events, both anthropogenic and natural. Focusing on the anthropogenic side, global warming is something that can be traced back to the industrial revolution, when humans began burning coal and oil in large quantities to power newly created machinery. These sources of energy happened to be carbon sinks, which had previously sequestered carbon both underground and in forests for a span of time. With this carbon now out of its “locked up” form and being released, it travels into the air and builds up in the atmosphere. This carbon, largely in the form of CO¬2, interferes with the Earth’s natural process of reflecting solar radiation and heat back into space. Instead of hitting the Earth’s surface, reflecting off, and being sent back into space, the CO2 absorbs the energy after it is reflected off of the Earth, keeping this energy and heat in our atmospheric system, and warming the Earth in the process. This is called the Greenhouse Effect, as the heat becomes trapped inside much like a greenhouse.
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