Climate change is real and anthropogenic. How do I know this? Let me explain the science to you in the most basic of terms because it is complex:

Scientists say that greenhouse gases are making our atmosphere, the air envelope surrounding our Earth, much warmer. Most greenhouse gases are natural, absorb heat, and include

• water vapor (H₂O)
• carbon dioxide (CO₂)
• Ozone (O₃)
• methane (CH₃)
• nitrous oxide (N₂O)
• chlorofluorocarbons
• hydrofluorocarbons

They are being generated at an alarming rate by human activity to the point that our atmosphere is getting a little steamy.

How does this work? When more greenhouse gases are trapped in our atmosphere, they absorb the heat from the sun (solar radiation). Basic math tells us that the more molecules of greenhouse gases mean that more heat will be trapped in our atmosphere. Hence the name "global warming."

Because of the warming air around the Earth, the oceans are also slowly being heated by these gases. Since water can become water vapor when heated (also called evaporation), this increases the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere, which is coincidentally another greenhouse gas. Water expands as it warms making ice caps melt, the sea level rise, and the ocean temperature increase to the point that species of aquatic life are dying out.

The good news is that water vapor can turn into low clouds that reflect solar energy back into space, which cools our atmosphere. However, high clouds only absorb more heat. Overall, clouds tend to have more of a cooling effect the majority of the time. You don’t have to hate or blame clouds.

One greenhouse gas that is generated by human activity is carbon dioxide, and this occurs through the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. Plants convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, so cutting down enormous amounts of trees is not helping. How do we know that fossil fuels contain the carbon that is contributing to global warming? There are three “isotopes” of carbon, and one of them (carbon-12) is most abundant in fossil fuels like coal and oil. The other two isotopes are almost non-existent within fossil fuels but are in other sources. Carbon-12, the isotope most common in fossil fuels, just happens to be the isotope of carbon that is contributing to global warming.

Although some people have tried to blame volcanic eruptions for the increase in carbon dioxide, volcanoes do not have this isotope and therefore cannot be blamed.

Methane is brought into the atmosphere by rice cultivation, livestock release, industrial sources, and landfill sources. How? Methane is produced by bacteria that reside in rice paddies, guts of cattle, termites, and black mud of ponds. The air molecules in the atmosphere sometimes interact with methane to produce carbon dioxide, another greenhouse gas!

Although some people may say we should blame the bacteria, it is the human activity that allows the bacteria to thrive in environments.

Nitrogen fertilizer, bacteria, deforestation, burning of fossil fuels also produce nitrous oxide. Some of our agriculture techniques actually contribute to this greenhouse gas increase. Although sunlight breaks down nitrous oxide molecules, it does it much too slowly for this rapid increase to be balanced.

So how do we know that humans have been contributing to climate change and global warming? Well, who else has been involved in deforestation, burning of the fossil fuels, and agriculture? Aliens? Bigfoot? Nessie?

According to scientists, carbon dioxide has increased by 40%, methane by 150%, and nitrous oxide by 20% in our atmosphere alone in the past 2 centuries. When did the industrial revolution begin again? OH, between 1760—1840, around the time that these greenhouse gases began increasing, the time when we also began partaking in deforestation and burning fossil fuels. What a strange coincidence.

Except it is not. It is not a coincidence. It is a real phenomenon that should not be shrouded by lies from companies who want to keep it a secret.