The Link Between Fossil Fuel Burning & Global Climate Change

Burning fossil fuels--coal, oil and gas--is believed to contribute to global climate change by warming the atmosphere, which not only raises the average temperature but also can change weather patterns.

Fossil Fuels

• Fossil fuels are reserves of hydrocarbons that are the remains of living things that were laid down and buried many millions of years ago. The carbon trapped in the fossil fuels has been removed from the circulation of carbon (carbon cycle) between the air, soil and living things for all that time.

Greenhouse Effect

• When fossil fuels burn, one of the main products is carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is known as a "greenhouse gas." Because of its molecular structure, it allows energy from the sun to pass through it. This energy heats up the land or the sea, which in turn re-radiates the heat back to the atmosphere. This heat energy is of a different wavelength from that which originally came from the sun, and the carbon dioxide molecules can trap it.

Natural Greenhouse Effect

• The atmosphere creates this kind of greenhouse effect even without the extra carbon dioxide added by burning fossil fuels. However it is believed the extra we add increases the strength of the effect.