What Is The Sources Of Anthropogenic Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Agriculture contributes to global greenhouse gas emissions. The “agriculture connection” is any direct impacts agriculture has on climatic change. “Carbon dioxide is the

With the world’s fifth largest , both by geographical area and by population (now exceeding 190 million people), Brazil emitted 14.5 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2eq) per capita in 2004 (Climate Action Tracker Partners, 2015). Brazil has a large share in CO2 emission affecting climate change on a global scale. Brazil has also had its share of impacts due to climate changes.

Coal-burning power plants are the largest U.S. source of carbon dioxide pollution producing 2.5 billion tons of CO2 emissions every year (Natural Resources Defense Council 2005). Cars are the second largest source, creating nearly 1.5 billion tons of CO2 annually (Natural Resources Defense Council 2005). Approximately 50% of the greenhouse gasses causing global warming are coming from burning fossil fuels to power or create electricity and another 25% was coming out of our tail pipes from burning gasoline or diesel (Brunsaw 2015).

Attention getter: According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United States, animal agriculture is a leading source of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane emissions, the top three greenhouse gasses (FAO, 2006).

Germanwatch research Indicates that Canada is the eight largest carbon dioxide producer in the world. According to their recent data, Canada was one of the biggest emitters of carbon dioxide, which is around 1.67 percent of global Co2 emissions in 2015

Some of the major sources of energy in the United States are natural gas, coal, petroleum, renewable energy and nuclear electric power. These energy sources produce greenhouse gasses. The primary sources of greenhouse gas emissions come from six areas including electricity, transportation, industry, commercial/residential, and agriculture. Whereas, land use /forestry actually offset about 11 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. Land areas (plants, vegetation, harvested wood, and soil) can absorb as well as store CO2 from the atmosphere. Electricity is produced from burning fossil fuels, mostly coal and natural gas, therefore, generating approximately 30 percent greenhouse gas emissions in 2014. Transportation emitted 26 percent greenhouse gas in 2014 making it the

Although most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are either underdeveloped, or are politically unstable, this does not mean that they are exempt from damages of greenhouse emissions. Sub-Saharan Africa produces about 746,186 kilotons of CO2 emissions. Compared to China’s whooping 9,019,518 kilotons of emissions, it may not seem like a lot but Sub-Saharan Africa is still the producer of 2.15% of the world’s global emissions. The Middle East is a different story. Most countries are developed and have a strong economy based on oil, the biggest CO2 producer when burned. Still the Middle East only produces 1,704,418 kilotons of CO2 emissions, or 4.92% of the world’s emissions. One country in Sub-Saharan Africa produces 36% of the total; South Africa.

Natural sources account for 62% of total nitrous oxide emission globally. Apart from natural sources, nitrous oxide can also be emitted from anthropogenic activities include: agriculture, industrial, fuel and biomass combustion, and sewage treatment (Sutton et al., 2014; Scheehle and Kruger, 2006; Tsai and Chyan, 2006). Among all sources, agriculture contributes the largest proportion (60%) around the world in recent years (IPCC-Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2008).

As our world’s population continues to grow our insatiable appetite for energy grows as well. Our planet has very few energy sources that are renewable and the ones that are renewable are the ones that have little to no pollutant like emissions. The nonrenewable resources that I will discuss produce or emit CO2, carbon dioxide, which is in a sense killing our planet. The two countries that I will compare will be the United States of America (USA) and Brazil. Both are the leading consumers of energy in their respective continents as well as the leader in CO2 emissions. I will discuss their industrial and agricultural profiles along with their similarities and differences in fuel sources. Seeing that both countries are leaders in

“Methane has been identified as a significant contributor to global warming. It is second to carbon dioxide in contribution to global warming and is said to be 15-20% of all greenhouse gas emissions.” (Yusuf, Noor, Abba, A. Hassan, & Din., 2012, p. 1). The majority of the greenhouse gases emitted in the agricultural sector came from livestock (Yusuf et al., 2012, p. 2). Studies have shown that “cows produce more greenhouse gases than the entire

In this process about 5-15% of gross energy intake by the animals is wasted in the form of methane (Johnson and Johnson, 1995). Therefore, research efforts are needed to suppress methane emission for eco-friendly and economic livestock production. If this reducing power concentrated in the reduced cofactors is not utilized for reduction of an oxidized compound, further fermentation of carbohydrates will be stopped and no release of energy from feed will be possible. In the rumen of an adult cow/buffalo; more than 200 litres of methane is produced every day. Several laboratories in India have estimated methane emitted by livestock and their figures also vary greatly, depending upon the method used for calculation (Kamra et al., 2012; Patra, 2014). Swamy and Bhattacharya (2006) compared methane emission by Indian livestock. As per the latest calculation on the data of Deptt. of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India, the country is responsible for production of methane to the tune of 14.55 Tg/year (13.27 Tg from enteric fermentation and 1.28 Tg from livestock waste management), out of which cattle (6.73 Tg/year) and buffalo (6.56 Tg/year) collectively are responsible for 91.3% of total methane emitted by the livestock in India while the rest 8.7% is emitted by goats, sheep, yak, mithun and other herbivorous animals.

The impacts of livestock on global climate change are important to the health of the ecosystem because it causes the average global temperature to increase. Livestock contributes to the majority of methane emitted into the atmosphere because of the feces it produces. The growing population increase is not helpful to this matter because as a result, a demand of food arises. This demand for food also includes the demand for livestock because it is appropriate for the human diet. “Meat production is to double from 229 million tonnes in [2000] to 465 million tonnes in 2050” (McMichael et al. 1259). The methane emission rate is bound to increase because it is “dependent upon the population size of the [livestock], their productivity, and [handling system]” (Jose et al. 3).

Consequently, the greenhouse gasses that most affect the atmosphere include: carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, tropospheric ozone, and nitrous oxide (“Greenhouse Gases: Introduction”). The overall effect of the presence of certain gases depends on its abundance, concentration and the amount of time spent in the atmosphere. Water vapor is the most predominant gas in the atmosphere but it spends only about nine days there whereas carbon ioxide, another powerful gas, spends about five years (Schlesinger). The United States Environmental Protection Agency found that “In 2011, CO2 accounted for about 84% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from human activities” (“Carbon Dioxide Emissions”). Carbon dioxide is an organic gas which is naturally found in the earth’s Atmosphere but the level has drastically increased since the start of the industrial revolution. This is because carbon dioxide is released during the combustion fossil fuels (ie. oil, natural gas, and coal) which occurs when generating electricity, transporting people and goods, and producing products. Electricity accounts for thirty eight percent of emissions, transportation thirty one percent, Industry fourteen percent, and the last sixteen percent a combination of residential and commercial and other sources (Carbon Dioxide Emissions). Talks in 1997 brought about the Kyoto Protocol on February 16, 2005. The Kyoto Protocol included thirty six countries making individual goals for

What has changed in the last few hundred years is the additional release of carbon dioxide by human activities. Fossil fuels burned to run cars and trucks, heat homes and businesses, and power factories are responsible for about 98% of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, 24% of methane emissions, and 18% of nitrous oxide emissions. Increased agriculture, deforestation, landfills, industrial production, and mining also contribute a significant share of emissions. In 1997, the United States emitted about one-fifth of total global greenhouse gases.

Thailand’s recorded greenhouse gas emissions from the year 2011 were calculated to be 306 MtCO2 (Global Carbon Atlas, 2017). This amounted to just 0.84% of the global emissions for 2011, which ranked 23rd among all nations (Thailand, 2015). Broken down Thailand’s emissions were as follows, Energy 222.94 MtCO2, Industrial Processes 18.23 MtCO2, Agriculture 52.92 MtCO2, Land Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF) 43.19 MtCO2 and Waste 11.43 MtCO2 (Figure 3).