Human activities that cause climate change on the earth include:
2018
Human activities that cause climate change on the earth include:
- A.
burning of forests
- B.
agricultural activities
- C.
use of aerosol cans
- D.
All of the above
Attempted by 5 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Human-driven (anthropogenic) climate change happens when human activities add extra greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases — into the atmosphere. These gases trap outgoing heat and intensify the natural greenhouse effect, raising global temperatures; this enhanced trapping of heat is the core mechanism behind present-day climate change.
Applying this to the three listed activities:
Burning of forests releases the carbon long stored in tree biomass into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide through combustion, while also destroying the forest's capacity to keep absorbing future emissions (a carbon sink).
Agricultural activities — livestock digestion, paddy cultivation, and fertiliser use — release large amounts of methane and nitrous oxide, both far more potent heat-trapping gases than carbon dioxide.
Use of aerosol cans has historically involved chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) propellants, and many aerosol products even today — including some personal-care sprays and asthma inhalers — use hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) propellants, which are themselves powerful greenhouse gases even though they do not deplete the ozone layer.
Cross-check: each of these three activities is independently documented by international climate bodies (e.g., the IPCC) as a distinct, verified contributor to anthropogenic climate change — one via carbon dioxide, one via methane and nitrous oxide, one via fluorinated gases. Since all three genuinely qualify, the option that captures the complete set — all three together — is correct.