5/9/2023 0 Comments Green houseDecaying plant material, including trees, releases tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Another way people release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is by cutting down forests. Many electric power plants also burn fossil fuels. Cars, trucks, trains, and planes all burn fossil fuels. Most of the carbon dioxide that people put into the atmosphere comes from burning fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today far exceeds the natural range seen over the last 650,000 years. Emissions of carbon dioxide, the most important greenhouse gas, rose by about 80 percent during that time. Greenhouse gas emissions increased 70 percent between 19. That amount has skyrocketed in the past century. Since the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700s and early 1800s, people have been releasing large quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Without it, surface temperatures would be cooler by about 33 degrees Celsius (60 degrees Fahrenheit), and many life forms would freeze. The greenhouse effect keeps Earth’s climate comfortable. In this way, they act like the insulating glass walls of a greenhouse. Greenhouse gases let the sun’s light shine onto the Earth’s surface, but they trap the heat that reflects back up into the atmosphere. These gases, which occur naturally in the atmosphere, include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxide, and fluorinated gases sometimes known as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). The greenhouse effect happens when certain gases-known as greenhouse gases-collect in Earth’s atmosphere. The Greenhouse Effect Human activities contribute to global warming by increasing the greenhouse effect. The IPCC states that most of the temperature increase since the mid-20th century is likely due to human activities. The IPCC also found that land regions are warming faster than oceans. The increase is greater in northern latitudes. According to the IPCC’s most recent report (in 2007), Earth’s average surface temperatures have risen about 0.74 degrees Celsius (1.33 degrees Fahrenheit) during the past 100 years. The IPCC evaluates the risk of climate change caused by human activities. This Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) includes thousands of scientists who review the most up-to-date research available related to global warming and climate change. In 1988, the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme established a committee of climatologists, meteorologists, geographers, and other scientists from around the world. Scientists worry that the climate is changing faster than some living things can adapt to it. Natural cycles of warming and cooling are not enough to explain the amount of warming we have experienced in such a short time-only human activities can account for it. However, the recent warming trend is happening much faster than it ever has. Past changes in Earth’s temperature happened very slowly, over hundreds of thousands of years. It has also gone through warm periods when temperatures were higher than they are today. Our planet has gone through multiple ice ages, in which ice sheets and glaciers covered large portions of the Earth. Global warming is often described as the most recent example of climate change. Warmer waters are a main cause of coral bleaching.Global warming describes the current rise in the average temperature of Earth’s air and oceans. Warming oceans - from too many greenhouse gases in the atmosphere - can also be harmful to these organisms. More acidic water can be harmful to many ocean creatures, such as certain shellfish and coral. Unfortunately, the increased carbon dioxide in the ocean changes the water, making it more acidic. The ocean also absorbs a lot of excess carbon dioxide in the air. All plants - from giant trees to tiny phytoplankton in the ocean - take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. Just like a glass greenhouse, Earth's greenhouse is also full of plants! Plants can help to balance the greenhouse effect on Earth. What reduces the greenhouse effect on Earth? Too much of these greenhouse gases can cause Earth's atmosphere to trap more and more heat. NASA has observed increases in the amount of carbon dioxide and some other greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. Burning fossil fuels like coal and oil puts more carbon dioxide into our atmosphere. Human activities are changing Earth's natural greenhouse effect. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech How are humans impacting the greenhouse effect? Earth's atmosphere traps some of the Sun's heat, preventing it from escaping back into space at night.
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