Global warming

Glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising, cloud forests are dying, and wildlife is scrambling to keep it’s pace. It's becoming clear that humans have caused most of the past century's warming by releasing heat-trapping gases as we power our modern lives.

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.

Climate change (or global warming), is the process of our planet heating up. The Earth has warmed by an average of 1°C in the last century. Although that might not sound like much, it means big things for people and wildlife around the globe.

Unfortunately, rising temperatures doesn’t just mean that we’ll get nicer weather – if only! The changing climate will actually make our weather more extreme and unpredictable. As temperatures rise, some areas will get wetter and lots of animals (and humans!) could find they’re not able to adapt to their changing climate.

GREENHOUSE EFFECT

What is the the greenhouse effect?

The greenhouse effect is a warming of the earth's surface and lower atmosphere caused by substances such as carbon dioxide and water vapour which let the sun’s energy go through to the ground but impede the passage of energy from the earth back into space.

A greenhouse is a house made of glass. It has glass walls and a glass roof. People grow tomatoes and flowers and other plants in them. A greenhouse stays warm inside, even during winter. Sunlight shines in and warms the plants and air inside. But the heat is trapped by the glass and can't escape. So during the daylight hours, it gets warmer and warmer inside a greenhouse, and stays pretty warm at night too.

How is Earth a greenhouse?

Earth's atmosphere does the same thing as the greenhouse. Gases in the atmosphere such as carbon dioxide do what the roof of a greenhouse does. During the day, the Sun shines through the atmosphere. Earth's surface warms up in the sunlight. At night, Earth's surface cools, releasing the heat back into the air. But some of the heat is trapped by the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. That's what keeps our Earth a warm and cosy 20-30 degrees Fahrenheit, on average (In summer that is.)

How to stop it

Drive Less or by Carpool. 

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Go Solar

Buy Energy-Efficient Appliances

Reduce Waste

Use Less Hot Water

Avoid Products With Lot of Packaging

Turn Off the Lights

Turn off Electronic Devices

Plant a Tree

Use Clean Fuel

Look for Renewable Fuel Options

Save Energy

 I hope you learned a thing or two about global warming and why we should stop it.