As the Earth continues to warm, so does the debate over global warming. One of the subarguments for global warming concerns whether humans are at least partly responsible for the gradual increase in Earth's temperature. In this essay, I will present statistics and other information to demonstrate that human involvement played a key role in causing such surface temperature increases. To effectively argue this point of view, this essay will cover the effects of global warming on land, water and the atmosphere. To begin, it is crucial to understand the greenhouse effect and how human activity influences its effectiveness. S. George Philander defines the greenhouse effect as "a term used when the atmosphere and surface of a planet are warmed by the absorption and emission of infrared radiation from atmospheric gases" (96-100). Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide trap heat in the atmosphere. As humans pollute the air, for example by burning fossil fuels and clearing land, greenhouse gases increase. The greenhouse effect maintains the Earth's temperature at a level suitable for sustaining life. Humans influence the greenhouse effect by allowing too many greenhouse gases to trap heat in the atmosphere. With the overabundance of greenhouse gases, the Earth is warming at an abnormal rate and potentially dangerous for the environment and all those who inhabit it. As noted in the Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change, Velma I. Grover provides a statistic indicating that there has been a thirty-one percent increase in carbon dioxide (CO2), an increase of 151 percent percent of methane (CH4) and an increase of seventeen percent. percentage increase in nitrous oxide (N2O) since 1750 (470-73). Such significant increases in these greenhouse gases provide much of the paper...hication of US freshwaters: analysis of potential economic damage. Environmental Science and Technology 43, 12-19 (2009). Internet. March 16, 2014. “Graph showing global surface temperature increase.” » ProCon.org. October 21, 2010. The web. March 16, 2014. “Human impact on global warming confirmed. » Nation's Health 31.2 (2001): 6. Academic Research Premier. Internet. March 15, 2014. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), "Climate Change 2007: Working Group I: The Physical Science Basis", 2007. Web. March 16, 2014. Root, Terry L., Jeff T. Price, Kimberly R. Hall, Stephen H. Schneider, Cynthia Rosenzweig, and J. Alan Pounds. “Fingerprints of global warming on wild animals and plants.” Nature.com. Nature Publishing Group, January 2, 2003. Web. March 15, 2014. Vitousek, Peter M. “Beyond global warming: ecology and global change.” Ecological Society of America, October 1994. Web. March 15. 2014.