Environmental impacts of: Unconventional natural gas production

The carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere have increased to over 400 ppm in the year 2014 compared to nearly 320 ppm over the last 50 years (NOAA, 2015). This rapid increase in carbon dioxide concentrations results in an overall warming of the earth that could prove harmful to the environment. Drastic reductions in carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have been called for to combat deleterious changes to climate (AGU, 2008). While conversion to renewable sources of energy can significantly reduce emissions, these technologies are not mature enough to be widely adopted on a large scale. Furthermore, solar and wind energies tend to be intermittent and as such, often have to be backed by more reliable fossil-fuel-based sources. As such, our reliance on fossil fuels will continue at least in the foreseeable future.