What Causes Global Warming?

Did You Know?

For every pound of gasoline your car burns, about three pounds of CO₂ come out the tailpipe. So if your car gets 20 miles per gallon, you are emitting about a pound of CO₂ per mile.

(For every kilo of petrol your car burns, about three kilos of CO₂ come out the tailpipe. So if your car gets 8.5 km per liter, you are emitting about a quarter of a kilogram per kilometer.)

How can the amount of CO₂ that comes out be three times the amount of gas that goes in? It's because of the oxygen. Your car uses a lot of O₂ to burn that pound of gasoline, and some of that oxygen becomes part of the CO₂ emitted. You can review the math here.

So that trip to the store to buy a loaf of bread, bag of dog food, quart of milk or bottle of wine probably put a pound or more of CO₂ into the atmosphere. That is likely as much as all the CO₂ emitted by all the processes involved in growing, manufacturing and packaging that product, and transporting it to your local store.

That is what causes global warming.

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These posts are thoughts that have occurred to us here at GCF Associates and Global Climate Fund. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or ideas for future posts.

environment energy climate change global warming