The planet and human cultures are facing an immediate and permanent threat from climate change. Human activities have been the primary driver of the observed warming since the mid-20th century. The global temperature has warmed by around 1.0°C due to anthropogenic activities; if present emission rates continue, this warming will probably exceed 1.5°C. Global resource usage and growing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are caused mainly by the development of material consumption based on fossil fuels and changing lifestyles. Since mankind has been using fossil fuels for the past century, the earth’s average surface temperature has increased exceptionally quickly, a phenomenon known as global warming. A negative feedback loop between the climate of the earth and ocean ecosystems was hypothesized by the CLAW (Charlson,Lovelock,Andreae, and Warren) theory in 1987. The CLAW is a feedback loop in which cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) are formed as a result of the oxidation of dimethyl sulphide (DMS) generated by marine phytoplankton in the atmosphere, resulting in sulphate aerosols, which act as a precursor to CCN. It has been proposed that the generation of DMS may play a part in regulating climate as cloud albedo, and consequently earth’s radiation budget, is sensitive to CCN density.
Climate change, Global warming, Greenhouse gases, Mitigation, CLAW, DMS
