For decades, the human race has had an incredibly detrimental effect on the world's environmental situation. One of the largest areas of environmental concern is human-induced climate change. Through technological advancements, human beings have accelerated earth on its course towards destruction. As terrible as this sounds it is a wonder that people seem to display such a lack of interest in the ecological downfall of their planet. Two of the better known contributing factors to earth's accelerated change in climate is the burning of fossil fuels. and forest fires; both of which are leading causes of the greenhouse effect, and both of which can be reduced to acceptable levels. The future of planet earth lies in the hands of humanity: hands that currently push the world towards destruction.
             The leading cause of climate change, human-induced or otherwise, is the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect occurs when solar radiation which has been absorbed by the earth's surface is re-released into the air but is prevented from leaving the earth's atmosphere due to various gases which deflect it downwards. This results in an overall warming of the earth's atmosphere. If the average temperature of the earth were to rise or fall even a few degrees annually mass flooding or another ice age could easily occur. It was estimated in 1994 by the United Nations Environment Programme that the world's average temperature will rise one and a half degrees Celsius by the year 2025, and that ocean levels will rise twenty centimeters in the same given time. As little as these changes sound, they possess the potential of creating international chaos.
             The main human-induced contributions to the greenhouse effect are the previously mentioned burning of fossil fuels and forest fires. Occurrences such as these release carbon emissions into the air. Researchers have found that the current amount of carbon in the earth's atmosphere is more than double wha...