CAUSES OF CLIMATE CHANGE
GENERATING ELECTRICITY AND HEAT
Generating electricity and heat by burning fossil fuels causes a large chunk of emissions in the USA. Around 61% of electricity and heat are produced by burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, or natural gas. These fossil fuels produce carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, which are powerful greenhouse gases that trap the sun’s heat in our atmosphere and raise temperatures. Furthermore, the rise in energy demand for powering buildings around the country has caused an additional uptick in emissions from the electricity, commercial, and residential sectors, which contribute to 38% of all emissions combined in the USA.
MANUFACTURING EMISSIONS
Manufacturing emissions are mostly produced by powering the manufacturing machines. These machines, often used to make things like clothes or toys, mainly run on fossil fuels and some materials are made from fossil fuel-based chemicals. Transporting these goods, mining, and other industries, such as the construction industry, have further contributed to the growing role companies play in carbon emissions, as the manufacturing industry accounts for 24% of all emissions in the USA.
DEFORESTATION
Deforestation plays a key role in emissions for 2 reasons. First, removing forests for non-forest uses causes emissions because trees release the carbon they're storing when they get cut. Furthermore, since forests absorb carbon dioxide, destroying them also limits our ability to naturally stop emissions from reaching the atmosphere. Since 2001, United States lost around 44.3 million hectares of trees, equivalent to a 16% decrease in tree coverage since 2000, and a loss of 17.4 gigatonnes of CO₂e emissions.
TRANSPORTATION EMISSIONS
Most cars, trucks, ships, and planes run on fossil fuels. Cars play the largest part in transportation emissions, with 91% of household owning at least 1 car, most of which have gas-powered engines. With light-duty vehicles and trucks constituting 57% and 26% of transportation emissions in 2020 respectively, both play key role in transportation emissions, which made up more than 1/4 of all emissions in the US.
FOOD PRODUCTION
Finally, food production, while often overlooked, has a substantial role in climate change as well. Cutting down forests for agricultural purposes, digestive emissions by livestock, using of chemically-abundant fertilizers, and using tons of energy to run farm equipment all make food production, which produces 11% of all emissions in the USA, a major contributor to climate change.