What is Global Warming?

Global warming is the average increase in temperature near surface air of the Earth, over a period of time.

The average temperature rose 0.5°C over the last 100 years and in some parts this figure is double. It is estimated that during the 21st century the surface temperature will increase between 1.1 to 6.4°C.

What causes Global warming?

The Earth is surrounded by Greenhouse gases, the way we live today increases the release of Greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases are water, vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, CFC’s and ozone. Any increase in these gases works as a blanket and traps the sun’s heat and therefore increases the temperature.

What is the Greenhouse effect?

The suns radiation reaches the earth’s atmosphere, some of the radiation is reflected back into space and some passes through the atmosphere and this increases the earth’s temperature. Heat from the earth is then radiated back towards space, the greenhouse gases prevents some of the heat from disappearing and therefore keeps the earth warmer.

It has been estimated that without Greenhouse gases the earth would lose up to 30-35°C.

Why is Global warming a problem?

The earth’s temperature is rising, which causes several knock on effects. In Greenland and Antarctica the ice is melting, which will increase the sea levels. The rising sea levels will become flood threat to towns and cities.

Some animals will become extinct because they can not survive in higher temperatures. This includes polar bears, Coral reefs, marine life and forest wildlife.

In some countries it has been reported that disease spreads further due to the rise in temperature one example of this is malaria. Malaria is carried by mosquitoes and cases have now been found in new areas, which used to be too cold for the mosquitoes.

How do we produce more Greenhouse gases?

The way we live has changed a lot over the last 100 years. Countries are developing further and technologies are moving on. In most developing countries the use of cars and planes has increased dramatically. For each journey carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere.

Houses and businesses are run using high tech equipment, most of these use electric or gas. Most electric is produced by burning fosil fuels which are coal, oil or natural gas.Burning fosil fuels release more gases into the atmosphere.

Will fossil fuels run out?

Fossil fuels are non-renewable energy source and cannot be replaced once they have been used up. It will also become harder and more expensive to extract the fossil fuels from the earth.

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