Which term describes human-caused climate change?

Which term describes human-caused climate change?

• A. Natural climate change
• B. Cosmic climate change
• C. Anthropogenic climate change
• D. Volcanic climate change

Answer: (C)

The term describes climate change driven by human activities. Activities such as burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and industrial processes release greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, which trap heat in the atmosphere and lead to warming. This pattern aligns with a wide range of evidence: atmospheric CO2 levels rise in step with fossil-fuel use, the isotopic signatures point to fossil fuels as the source, and climate models that include human greenhouse gas forcing reproduce the observed warming better than models with natural factors alone. Other options don’t fit as well because natural climate change refers to changes from natural processes, volcanic climate change describes effects from volcanic eruptions (often short-term), and cosmic climate change isn’t a recognized driver of the long-term warming trend.

The term describes climate change driven by human activities. Activities such as burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and industrial processes release greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, which trap heat in the atmosphere and lead to warming. This pattern aligns with a wide range of evidence: atmospheric CO2 levels rise in step with fossil-fuel use, the isotopic signatures point to fossil fuels as the source, and climate models that include human greenhouse gas forcing reproduce the observed warming better than models with natural factors alone. Other options don’t fit as well because natural climate change refers to changes from natural processes, volcanic climate change describes effects from volcanic eruptions (often short-term), and cosmic climate change isn’t a recognized driver of the long-term warming trend.