ACS Climate Science Toolkit | Greenhouse Gases
These data are from bubbles of atmospheric gases trapped in ice cores bored from Antarctic ice sheets. The black curve is a proxy for planetary temperature. A proxy is a stand-in for direct measurements that are impossible to make. Here, the isotopic composition of water vapor (deuterium to hydrogen ratio, 2H/1H), forming the surrounding ice, varies with temperature. The higher the ratio of deuterium to hydrogen, the higher the temperature.
This figure shows that the atmospheric concentrations of naturally occurring greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide (CO2, red), methane (CH4, blue), and nitrous oxide (N2O, green)—have varied over the past 650 millennia as the Earth has cooled (glacial periods, minima in the black curve) and warmed several times (interglacial periods denoted by the grey bars). Concentration units are parts per million (ppm) or parts per billion (ppb)—the number of molecules of the greenhouse gas per million or billion molecules, respectively, in a dry atmospheric sample. Until the past two centuries, the concentrations of CO2 and CH4 had never exceeded about 280 ppm and 790 ppb, respectively. Current concentrations of CO2 are about 390 ppm and CH4 levels exceed 1,770 ppb. Both numbers are much higher than at any time during the last 650,000 years.
Data for the past 2000 years show that the atmospheric concentrations of CO2, CH4, and N2O – three important long-lived greenhouse gases – have increased substantially since about 1750. Rates of increase in levels of these gases are dramatic. CO2, for instance, never increased more than 30 ppm during any previous 1,000-year period in this record but has already risen by 30 ppm in the past two decades.
Further ice-core analyses have extended this record back to 800,000 years with the same conclusion that the concentrations of these greenhouse gases were always lower before industrialization.
Values in the figure for the past several decades are direct measurements of atmospheric composition. Earlier values are from ice-core analyses.
These increases in greenhouse gas concentrations and their marked rate of change are largely attributable to human activities since the Industrial Revolution (1800). The increases and current atmospheric levels are the result of the competition between sources (the emissions of these gases from human activities and natural systems) and sinks (their removal from the atmosphere by conversion to different chemical compounds--for example, CO2 is removed by photosynthesis and conversion to carbonates). Brief summaries of these factors for several important greenhouse gases are given in Greenhouse Gas Sources and Sinks with graphics showing the human and natural contributions to their emissions (and sinks).
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Industrialization is the process of transforming the economy of a nation or region from a focus on agriculture to a reliance on manufacturing. Mechanized methods of mass production are an essential component of this transition.
The positive characteristics of industrialization include economic growth, a more efficient division of labor, and a growth spurt in technological innovation.
- Industrialization is a transformation away from an agricultural- or resource-based economy, toward an economy based on mechanized manufacturing.
- Industrialization is usually associated with a greater average income and improved living standards.
- Early industrialization occurred in Europe and North America during the 18th and 19th centuries, and later in other parts of the world.
- Numerous strategies for industrialization have been pursued over time, with varying levels of success.
Industrialization can be driven by a combination of factors including government policy, labor-saving inventions, entrepreneurial ambitions, and a demand for goods and services. It has profound implications for the population, causing a wave of migration from small farms to cities and towns where jobs can be found.
The most dramatic example in recent history is that of China, where government policy changes in the late 20th century led to the nation's transition from an economy based on subsistence farming to a global manufacturing powerhouse.
In the western world, Industrialization is most commonly associated with the Industrial Revolution in Europe that began in the late 18th century and the subsequent burst of industrialization in the U.S. through the 19th century.
In Europe, the era was characterized by a surge in local manufacturing of goods for export, made possible by a growing population of consumers. Great Britain played an outsized role in the process through technological innovations such as steam-powered machinery.
Industrialization quickly spread to the United States, the epicenter of laissez-faire capitalism. Inventions including the cotton mill and steam power made possible the establishment of mill towns such as Lowell, MA, and Pawtucket, RI.
World War II created an unprecedented demand for certain manufactured goods, leading to a buildup of production capacity. Post-war prosperity provided further catalysts that kept capacity utilization high and stimulated further growth.
Innovation, specialization, and wealth creation were the causes and effects of industrialization in this period.
The late 20th century was marked by rapid industrialization in other parts of the world, notably Asia. The Asian Tigers (Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore) all participated in economic growth based on manufacturing for global customers.
China experienced its own industrial revolution after moving away from a strict communist model.
The innovations of the 19th century allowed for the mass production of commercial goods. As manufacturing activities grew, transportation, finance, and communications industries all expanded to support the new production capacity.
It also led to increased labor specialization and allowed cities to support larger populations, motivating a rapid demographic shift. People left rural areas in large numbers, seeking jobs in budding industries.
The Industrial Revolution led to unprecedented expansion in wealth and financial well-being for some. A larger middle class emerged as consumer demand for more goods and services grew and business creation boomed to feed the demand.
Different strategies and methods of industrialization have been followed over time, with varying degrees of success.
The Industrial Revolution in Europe and the United States initially took place under mercantilist and protectionist government policies that fostered the early growth of industry. These later adopted a laissez-faire or free-market approach that encouraged foreign trade, providing new outlets for industrial output.
In the post-Second World War era, developing nations across Latin America and Africa adopted a strategy of import-substituting industrialization, which involved protectionist barriers to trade coupled with direct subsidization or nationalization of domestic industries.
Nearly at the same time, parts of Europe and several East Asian economies pursued an alternative strategy of export-led growth. This strategy emphasized the deliberate pursuit of foreign trade to build exporting industries and depended in part on maintaining a weak currency to make exports more attractive to foreign buyers.
In general, export-led growth has outperformed import-substituting industrialization.
The socialist nations of the 20th century repeatedly embarked on centrally planned programs of industrialization. These include the first and second five-year plans in the Soviet Union and the Great Leap Forward in China.
While these efforts did re-orient the respective economies toward a more industrial base and an increase in output of industrial commodities, they were also accompanied by harsh government repression, deteriorating living and working conditions for workers, and even widespread starvation.
Industrialization is dependent on growth and innovation in at least four industries.
Industrialization began with the invention of machines that greatly increased the manufacture of goods.
One such invention was the cotton gin, patented by Eli Whitney in 1794. Whether hand-cranked or steam-powered, the machine made it possible to greatly increase the speed with which cotton fluff could be separated from its seeds before being woven into cloth.
Another was the spinning jenny, a contraption that could multiply the number of spindles that a single spinner could handle at the same time to weave cotton or wool.
Perhaps the key invention of them all was the steam engine, an improved version of which was invented by Scottish engineer James Watt in 1763. Coal-powered steam engines drove the Industrial Revolution.
Many of the great inventions of the 19th century were developed to serve the mining industry.
- The first working steam engine was devised to help remove flood water from coal and tin mines, where they often disrupted production.
- The first use for the steam-powered locomotive was to transport ore from mines.
- Dynamite was patented in 1867 and was first used to blow up rocks that obstructed mining activities.
The 19th century was a period of unparalleled innovation in ways to transport goods from and to marketplaces. Among them:
- The steam locomotive. The prototype, known as Stephenson's Rocket and introduced in 1829, served for the next 150 years as a template for the production of vehicles to haul raw materials and finished products.
- The steamboat. The transport of goods and people was greatly expanded and speeded up with the introduction of the steamboat, which adapted steam technology to river craft.
Before contactless payments and self-service checkouts, there were innovations in retailing that were designed to appeal to 19th century shoppers.
- The department store. The first "store for everything" was John Wanamaker's, a six-story retail wonderland that rose in the heart of Philadelphia in 1887.
- The Sears catalog. It wasn't the first catalog but it was the first to reach practically every consumer in America with a vast range of goods, from children's clothing to prefabricated houses.
Industrialization creates jobs that draw people from farms and villages to cities where manufacturing takes place. However hard those jobs were, they were often preferable to the precarious existence of a small farming family.
The result is a new generation of urban consumers. Businesses of all kinds spring up to provide goods and services to these consumers. Over time, a larger middle class of artisans and shopkeepers emerges.
A large working class also emerges, and conditions were often much harsher for them. The evolution of labor unions is a direct result of the conditions faced by the powerless workers of the Industrial Revolution.
Industrial activity is any business process that is necessary to create a manufactured product. The activity may be related to the sourcing, processing, assembly, repair, or dismantling of a manufactured product.
Non-industrial may be most often seen in zoning regulations or discussions regarding zoning regulations.
This is a wide category that may include everything except manufacturing activities and manufacturing sourcing such as mining.
Non-industrial land use includes retail and services businesses, entertainment and recreation sites, parking lots, and residential neighborhoods.
For better or worse, industrialization created the modern world as we know it. You would have to search far and wide to find a place on Earth that has not been affected by industrialization, and those places probably will be soon.
The Industrial Revolution in Europe and the United States brought the world into the modern era. Other regions, particularly in Asia, made the transition later. The process continues into the 21st century.