Washington
Post: Black carbon soot has surpassed methane as a major
contributor to human-caused climate change, according to a
recent
study published in the
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. Soot is
created by diesel engines, wood-fired stoves, the burning of
coal, and the like. Whether suspended in Earth's atmosphere or
coating snow and ice, black carbon particles absorb heat and
thus can alter regional weather patterns. Reducing the amount
of soot in the atmosphere would not only have an immediate
cooling effect on the climate but also be beneficial to human
health because soot particles cause heart and respiratory
problems. The biggest contributor to climate change is still
carbon dioxide emissions, however, which also must be reduced
to "really solve the long-term climate problem," said one of
the paper's lead authors, Tami Bond of the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
