What is causing this spike in temperature? Carbon dioxide, a naturally occurring greenhouse gas which is also emitted by the combustion of fossil fuels, is the suspected culprit.
On one hand, carbon dioxide is essential to our planet. Without this simple pairing of carbon and oxygen, the planet would be at least 33 degrees Celsius (60 degrees Fahrenheit) cooler than it is today. Carbon dioxide keeps the planet at comfortable temperatures by trapping radiated heat from the Earth's surface and re-radiating it back toward the surface.
However, it takes more and more energy to fuel the lives of the 7 billion people on this planet. We are emitting CO2 into the atmosphere whether we are eating, driving, working — or even standing still. CO2 levels in our atmosphere have steadily been on the rise since recording began in 1958, but scientists can go much further back in time by looking at the carbon dioxide concentration in Antarctic ice. The last 100 years have seen an unprecedented spike in CO2 levels, particularly since automobiles have become a staple in the developed world.
Carbon dioxide levels took center stage in Al Gore's 2006 documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," in which he notes, "there is one relationship that is far more powerful than all the others, and that is this: when there is more carbon dioxide, the temperature gets warmer because it traps more heat from the sun ... Ultimately, this is really not a political issue so much as a moral issue. If we allow [CO2 levels to increase without regulation] it is deeply unethical."
