Climate Change Causes Human Activities and Climate Change

Many human activities contribute to climate change. This is done through the emission of greenhouse gases and the harvesting of plants (IPCC 2007). Environmental sociologists view these activities as largely determined by social norms or rules for how we expect others to behave.  For instance, do you expect most of the people you know to drive a car to go to the beach or take a bus or ride a bike to get there?  In much of the United States it is most "normal" to get to important places using a car, but in many large cities most people take public buses or subways to travel somewhere. 

We can divide the human activities that cause climate change into three categories:

• Mobile sources:  Burning fossil fuels to power machines that move, such as cars, buses, trucks, and airplaces.

• Stationary sources: Burning fossil fuels to power machines that do not move, like fridges and computers, and also to heat buildings like houses and schools.

• Plant harvesting:  We can release the carbon stored in plants when we harvest forests and agricultural crops, like corn and wheat, for food or construction.