While some scientists continue to believe that global warming could be due to changes in sun spots, natural cycles of warming and cooling, or other factors, most scientists who study this issue now agree that it’s extremely unlikely that these changes in temperature are wholly natural in origin. Instead, they believe the warming we are experiencing today is due to rising concentrations of heat-trapping gases that form a “blanket” around Earth. These gases are put into the atmosphere primarily by human activities—particularly the burning of fossil fuels.

Natural forces play no significant role in the current global warming.

The three most prominent natural factors are solar output, volcanic eruptions and out gassing, and vegetation.

For the past thirty years solar output has slightly declined, but not enough to detect any measurable climate effect. The particulate spewed by volcanoes tends to temporarily lower earth's albedo, reflecting more sunlight, and the hydrogen sulfide gas vented also lowers the temperature. CO2 emitted by volcanoes will, over extended periods of time, counteract this. Currently humans release more than 100 times as much CO2 as all earth's volcanoes combined.

Vegetation can sequester carbon, which is how the vast deposits of coal and oil formed, hundreds of millions of years ago. Fifty million years ago a plant called Azolla, which grew in warm Arctic regions pulled about 40% of the CO2 out of the atmosphere, causing earth's temperature to fall over a span of just a few million years.

None of these natural forces, of course, play a significant role in the current global warming trend, which is primarily driven by anthropogenic (human caused) oxidation of fossil carbon.

The three most prominent natural factors are solar output, volcanic eruptions and out gassing, and vegetation.

For the past thirty years solar output has slightly declined, but not enough to detect any measurable climate effect. The particulate spewed by volcanoes tends to temporarily lower earth's albedo, reflecting more sunlight, and the hydrogen sulfide gas vented also lowers the temperature. CO2 emitted by volcanoes will, over extended periods of time, counteract this. Currently humans release more than 100 times as much CO2 as all earth's volcanoes combined.

Vegetation can sequester carbon, which is how the vast deposits of coal and oil formed, hundreds of millions of years ago. Fifty million years ago a plant called Azolla, which grew in warm Arctic regions pulled about 40% of the CO2 out of the atmosphere, causing earth's temperature to fall over a span of just a few million years.

The three most prominent natural factors are solar output, volcanic eruptions and out gassing, and vegetation.

For the past thirty years solar output has slightly declined, but not enough to detect any measurable climate effect. The particulate spewed by volcanoes tends to temporarily lower earth's albedo, reflecting more sunlight, and the hydrogen sulfide gas vented also lowers the temperature. CO2 emitted by volcanoes will, over extended periods of time, counteract this. Currently humans release more than 100 times as much CO2 as all earth's volcanoes combined.

Vegetation can sequester carbon, which is how the vast deposits of coal and oil formed, hundreds of millions of years ago. Fifty million years ago a plant called Azolla, which grew in warm Arctic regions pulled about 40% of the CO2 out of the atmosphere, causing earth's temperature to fall over a span of just a few million years.