You may think the reason the earth has warmed 1.4°F since 1880 is obvious, but climate change deniers continue to blame sunspots, volcanoes, and other natural factors. To put the drivers of global warming in stark visual perspective, Bloomberg science reporter Eric Roston and graphics producer Blacki Migliozzi compared the effects of various natural and human factors with the observed average land and sea surface temperature rise since 1880, using data from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

Together, natural factors—orbital changes as well as volcanic and solar activity—don't come close to explaining the increase in global temperature. Most human factors—changes in land use (such as deforestation), ozone pollution, and anthropogenic (human-created) aerosol pollution, which has dropped steadily over the past 75 years—don't either. But guess what? The rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels (which are 40 percent higher than they were in 1750) perfectly mirrors the observed increase in the earth's average global surface temperature.