Fossil fuels are a significant source of energy both for domestic and industrial use. Companies and households prefer these fuels because of the low cost they attract and their ease of use. Fossil fuels are naturally occurring beneath the earth surface and contain high proportions of carbon which is a significant contributor to global warming. The climate change experienced in the world today emanates from the depletion of the ozone layer as a result of increased deposits of carbon. In this regard, fossil fuels are a critical contributor to climate change owing to its global use for fuel and other forms of energy generation.
Fossil fuels resulted out of plant materials that were buried into the earth surface about 360 million years back. Scientists believe that vegetative materials out of dead plants descended into the earth surface where they formed wet substances called peat. Fossil fuel came out of peat through enormous pressure from the rocks after periods of a sustained pile-up ( Gustavsson et al., 2017) . Natural gas, coal, and oil form the three components of this fuel. Fossil fuels are highly combustible, and they burn in the presence of oxygen and heat; it is for this reason that human beings have widely adopted them since their discovery. These fuels are also cheap in comparison to alternative energy sources. The ease of transportation of the fuels especially oil and natural gas makes it superior to other energy forms.
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Fossil fuels subject the environment to wide-ranging environmental challenges from extraction to utilization. Drilling and mining are the conventional methods of extracting fossil fuels; these techniques affect the immediate environment by exposing the surface to toxic substances and altering the landscape respectively ( Villoria-Saez et al., 2016) . The combustion of fossil fuels releases several pollutants into the atmosphere that cause damage to both plant and animal life. Burning coal produces sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) that leads to acid rain that adversely affects plant-life. Power plants in the US were responsible for 64 percent the total SO 2 discharges ( Hall, 2017) . The transport sector accounts for the bulk of climate change emissions into the atmosphere. The US transport sector, for example, accounted for a third of the climate change gases mainly coming from cars, ships, trucks, and airplanes. The effects of these gases have not escaped the attention of the highest administration, and in 2009 President Obama's government initiated a plan for greenhouse gases for vehicles using the road.
Human activity is solely responsible for greenhouse gases that lead to climate change; carbon-dioxide leads among these pollutants and composes of 65 percent of all greenhouse emissions. In the economic sector, electricity and heat production constitutes 25 percent of all discharges followed by Industry at 21 percent, Agriculture, forestry and other uses at 24 percent and transportation at 24 percent. Fossil fuels are the chief forms of energy in these sectors, and it adversely affects the ozone layer leading to global warming (( Villoria-Saez et al., 2016) . The world's leading industrialists heavily rely on fossil fuels for their manufacturing activities. Consequently, these nations top the charts on global greenhouse gas emissions ( Hall, 2017) . According to statistics captured in 2014, China leads in Carbon dioxide emissions at 30 percent followed by the US at 15 percent. Other significant polluters include India (7%), Russian Federation (5%) and Japan (4%). The economic activities in these countries release ozone-layer depleting substances through the combustion of fossil fuels which ultimately affects plant and animal lives adversely. Fossil oils and associated products affect forest cover through direct emissions and from acid rain; this significantly compromises nature’s capacity as carbon sinks ( Gustavsson et al., 2017) . The domino effect of this diminished ability to absorb carbon results in dangerous substances as carbon reacts with other gases in the atmosphere.
Climate change results from changes in the energy of the sun towards the Earth, the reflectivity phenomenon, and the earth surface and the greenhouse effect. However, the greenhouse effect is the most significant driver of global climatic changes. Man has adopted fossil fuels in the industry as well as at the household level since the industrial revolution. Evidence from highly industrialized countries gives credence to the fact that fossil fuels are widely used in manufacture today. Although alternative energy sources are available for use at both the factory and domestically, these fuels are priced high compared to fossil fuels. It is for this reason that human activity is the leading cause of climate change through the use of fossil fuels.
References
Gustavsson, L., Haus, S., Lundblad, M., Lundström, A., Ortiz, C. A., Sathre, R., ... & Wikberg, P. E. (2017). Climate change effects of forestry and substitution of carbon-intensive materials and fossil fuels. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews , 67 , 612-624.
Hall, C. A. (2017). Fossil Fuels. In Energy Return on Investment (pp. 95-105). New York: Springer International Publishing.
Villoria-Saez, P., Tam, V. W., del Río Merino, M., Arrebola, C. V., & Wang, X. (2016). The effectiveness of greenhouse-gas Emission Trading Schemes implementation: a review of legislation . Journal of Cleaner Production , 127 , 49-58.
