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C02 pollution causes climate warming and dangerous health impacts
The burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas over the last century has increased the concentration of carbon pollution in the atmosphere. The combustion of fossil fuels mixes with oxygen in the air to form carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases. This added CO2 has heated the earth, causing the climate disruption we are experiencing today.
Greenhouse gases, including CO2, have always trapped heat in our atmosphere like a blanket. Methane and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) also trap heat—and they contain carbon as well. But extra pollution from industrial and agricultural activities and the deforestation of large areas of land have altered the balance of greenhouse gases that has allowed human civilization to thrive for thousands of years. Because of this carbon pollution, the atmosphere now traps too much heat and our planet cannot properly cool off.
While the earth’s climate has gone through natural cycles of warming and cooling over millions of years, human civilization has only spanned the last 10,000 years. During this period, the climate was relatively stable until the Industrial Revolution. CO2 levels in the air are now higher than ever in the last 800,000 years. And each year that passes, human activities release more CO2 into the air than natural processes can remove.
Carbon dioxide and extreme weather
Increased concentrations of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere have caused the planet to warm by 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit since 1880. Even seemingly small changes in average temperature can have a big impact. Polar ice is melting at record rates. Much of our planet is now hotter and wetter, and we are now experiencing more severe heat waves, fiercer wildfires, wilder hurricanes, heavier floods, and drier droughts. This extreme weather presents many challenges.
Sources of CO2
Climate change driven by a marked increase of CO2 in our atmosphere is a direct result of human activities. In the United States, emissions of human-caused greenhouse gases come primarily from burning fossil fuels—coal, natural gas, and petroleum—for energy use. Electricity and transportation (cars, trucks, buses, and planes) are responsible for more than 50% of greenhouse gas emissions. Deforestation and agriculture are also primary sources of increased CO2 in the atmosphere.
CO2 and health
While CO2 is not harmful in and of itself, its unchecked release into the atmosphere causes climate heating, which worsens air quality, increases heat-related illnesses and death, and exacerbates all climate-related health concerns. These include asthma and other respiratory diseases, heart problems, preterm birth, and low birth weight, among others. Air pollution is especially dangerous for babies, children, and the elderly. Extreme weather disasters can displace families and spread disease. Flood-induced mold and contamination are health concerns in homes and schools. Drought can impact drinking water and agriculture, which are directly related to health. And all the above can also harm our mental health.
Carbon pollution and environmental justice
Low-income communities are often affected first and worst by climate disasters and bear an unjust burden of extreme weather induced by carbon pollution. Places across the United States with large Black populations experience higher temperatures on average; they are also more likely to experience high levels of air pollution, limited access to green spaces, and inadequate infrastructure for cooling.
The power plants that burn the fossil fuels responsible for carbon pollution are disproportionately located near low-income communities and communities of color. Hispanic children are 40% more likely to die from asthma than non-Hispanic white children. Black communities with greater exposure to air pollution have higher than average childhood asthma rates, and Black children have a 500% higher mortality rate from asthma than white kids.
Get involved
Cutting CO2 emissions is essential to fighting climate change and safeguarding the health and future of our children. There are many ways to reduce CO2, and strategies like adopting renewable energy are already widely in use as it becomes increasingly competitive with fossil fuel energy. Reducing plastic pollution is another important strategy as it’s estimated 19% of global greenhouse gases will come from plastic manufacturing by 2040. The Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act includes an unprecedented $369 billion investment to cut climate pollution. It puts the US on a path to cut all greenhouse gas emissions 40% by 2030.
Parents and caregivers interested in regulatory and legislative solutions to combat carbon pollution from fossil fuel power plants and the transportation sector can join Moms Clean Air Force in urging EPA to finalize new stronger pollution protections as soon as possible and Congress to allocate more funding to climate solutions. We can also all work locally to ensure state carbon reduction targets are reached.
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Released: February 2024