Query: A generous estimate of the energy generated by satellites is around 1 million times too small to cause global warming.

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Deforestation <=SEP=> Deforestation , clearance or clearing is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a non-forest use . Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms , ranches , or urban use . The most concentrated deforestation occurs in tropical rainforests . About 30 % of Earth 's land surface is covered by forests .   Deforestation occurs for multiple reasons : trees are cut down to be used for building or sold as fuel , ( sometimes in the form of charcoal or timber ) , while cleared land is used as pasture for livestock and plantation . The removal of trees without sufficient reforestation has resulted in damage to habitat , biodiversity loss and aridity . It has adverse impacts on biosequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide . Deforestation has also been used in war to deprive the enemy of vital resources and cover for its forces . Modern examples of this were the use of Agent Orange by the British military in Malaya during the Malayan Emergency and the United States military in Vietnam during the Vietnam War . As of 2005 , net deforestation rates have ceased to increase in countries with a per capita GDP of at least US$ 4,600 . Deforested regions typically incur significant adverse soil erosion and frequently degrade into wasteland .   Disregard of ascribed value , lax forest management and deficient environmental laws are some of the factors that allow deforestation to occur on a large scale . In many countries , deforestation , both naturally occurring and human-induced , is an ongoing issue . Deforestation causes extinction , changes to climatic conditions , desertification , and displacement of populations as observed by current conditions and in the past through the fossil record . More than half of all plant and land animal species in the world live in tropical forests .   Between 2000 and 2012 , 2.3 e6sqkm of forests around the world were cut down . As a result of deforestation , only 6.2 e6km2 remain of the original 16 e6km2 of forest that formerly covered the Earth .

Global warming potential <=SEP=> Global warming potential ( GWP ) is a relative measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas traps in the atmosphere . It compares the amount of heat trapped by a certain mass of the gas in question to the amount of heat trapped by a similar mass of carbon dioxide . A GWP is calculated over a specific time interval , commonly 20 , 100 , or 500 years . GWP is expressed as a factor of carbon dioxide ( whose GWP is standardized to 1 ) . In the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , methane has a lifetime of 12.4 years and with climate-carbon feedbacks a global warming potential of 86 over 20 years and 34 over 100 years in response to emissions . User related choices such as the time horizon can greatly affect the numerical values obtained for carbon dioxide equivalents . For a change in time horizon from 20 to 100 years , the GWP for methane decreases by a factor of approximately 2.5 .  The substances subject to restrictions under the Kyoto protocol either are rapidly increasing their concentrations in Earth 's atmosphere or have a large GWP .   The GWP depends on the following factors :  the absorption of infrared radiation by a given species  the spectral location of its absorbing wavelengths  the atmospheric lifetime of the species  Thus , a high GWP correlates with a large infrared absorption and a long atmospheric lifetime . The dependence of GWP on the wavelength of absorption is more complicated . Even if a gas absorbs radiation efficiently at a certain wavelength , this may not affect its GWP much if the atmosphere already absorbs most radiation at that wavelength . A gas has the most effect if it absorbs in a `` window '' of wavelengths where the atmosphere is fairly transparent . The dependence of GWP as a function of wavelength has been found empirically and published as a graph .   Because the GWP of a greenhouse gas depends directly on its infrared spectrum , the use of infrared spectroscopy to study greenhouse gases is centrally important in the effort to understand the impact of human activities on global climate change .

Global warming <=SEP=> Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years .   In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing .   Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years .   Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) ,  whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change .   Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned .