Here are some percentages which might help put human contributions into perspective:
- Humans contribute just 1 - 5.25% of all global annual CO2 emissions. (The range is due to the fact that it is difficult to measure the CO2 released in some processes, the 1% being the lowest estimate, and the 5.25% being the highest estimate).
- Humans contribute just 0.28% of all global annual green house gas emissions.
So basically humans contribute a tiny tiny drop to the tsunami of global warming. All the natural emissions include trees naturally dying, volcanoes erupting, and yes, cows releasing gas, amount other things.
What does this have to do with our everyday life then? Well it means that even if humans stopped all contributions towards green house gasses, then 99.72% of current emissions will still be produced. So global warming will still continue. Unfortunately there is no stopping it. The truth is if your grandchildren don't go through it, your other descendants will.
However I'm not telling you to leave your tellies and lights and heating on, or taking unnecessary journeys in the car. All these things cost money, so being green will still save you money even if it doesn't save the world.
What will happen after global warming eventually 'destroys' the Earth? Believe it or not, most life will survive the natural cycle of the Earth, just as most life forms have done in the last cycle, and the one before that, and the one before that, and so on. The Earth will not become a inhospitable ball of freezing cold or scorching heat - this will only happen in some parts. The freezing cold mostly being in the northern part of the northern hemisphere and the scorching heat mostly at the equator, which leaves plenty of land for humans and other beings to survive. Then after a few hundred years, the cycle will start over again. Maybe in 10,000 years humans will once again be obsessing over their contributions to an effect they have no control over.
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