GLOBALWARMIN

G

FIRST PICTURE OF EARTH TAKEN FROM MOON

HISTORY OF EARTH’S CLIMATE

• Life appeared ~3.8 billion years ago

• Photosynthesis began 3.5-2.5 billion years ago– Produced oxygen and removed carbon

dioxide and methane (greenhouse gases)

– Earth went through periods of cooling (“Snowball Earth”) and warming

• Earth began cycles of glacial and interglacial periods ~3 million years ago

ATMOSPHERE• Atmosphere is an insulating blanket protecting the earth.

• It protects the earth from many harmful rays, emitted by the sun.

• The infrared rays from the sun are falling on the earth’s surface

• Some are reflected back and some rays will remain in the surface and some are trapped inside the atmosphere

• The trapped rays will maintain the temperature of the earth.

BUT NOW OUR PLANET IS

WARMING UP,WHY?

GLOBAL WARMING

IT’S NOT GLOBAL

WARMING

IT’S GLOBAL WARNING

What is global warming?

Global warming is the warming of the earth through

carbon dioxide being pumped into the atmosphere from

tailpipes and smokestacks.

Then the gases trap heat like the glass in

a greenhouse. This is where the term

the “greenhouse effect” came from.

How Global Warming Works

Fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas)

Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

CAUSES OF GLOBAL WARMING

• Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel burning power plants.

• When fossil fuels are burned they give off a green house gas called CO2.

• Another major man-made cause of Global Warming is population.

• More people means more food, and more methods of transportation.

• That means more methane because there will be more burning of fossil fuels, and more agriculture.

Carbon dioxide emissions from burning gasoline for transportation.

Deforestation-Especially tropical forest for wood, pulp and farm land

Increase in usage of chemical fertilizers on croplands

EFFECTS OF GLOBAL WARMING

Rise in sea levelsScientists predict an increase in sea levels worldwide due to

the melting of two massive ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland, especially on the

East coast of the U.S.

More killer stormsScientists have come up with the firmest evidence so far that global warming will significantly increase the intensity of the most extreme storms worldwide.

The maximum wind speeds of the strongest tropical cyclones have increased significantly since 1981, according to research published in Nature this week.

Massive crop failures• Climate change is expected to have

the most severe impact on water supplies.

• “Shortages in future are likely to threaten food production, reduce sanitation, hinder economic development and damage ecosystems.

• It causes more violent swings between floods and droughts.”“

Widespread extinction of species

• Climate change now represents at least as great a threat to the number of species surviving on Earth as habitat-destruction and modification.”

Disappearance of coral reefs

• For reefs, warming waters and acidification are closing in like a pair of jaws that threaten to make them the first global ecosystem to disappear.”

What’s the difference between “global

warming” and “climate change”?

Difference

GLOBAL WARMING is the increase of

the Earth’s average surface temperature due to a build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

CLIMATE CHANGE is a broader term

that refers to long-term changes in climate, including average temperature and precipitation.

What’s the proof that global warming is taking place?

Portage Glacier

1914 2004

• Alaska

Colorado River• Arizona

June 2002 Dec 2003

Kilimanjaro-South Africa

Grinnel Glacier

Columbia Glacier-ALASKA

Where Has It Been Happening

This is where temperatures have risen in the world.

The yellow represents warming, melting glaciers, flooding and rising of sea level. The red represents the spread of disease, earlier springs, plant and animal shifts and population changes, coral reef bleaching, downpours, heavy snowfalls, and flooding, droughts and fires.

What’s being done now to reduce our emissions?

Solar Power Wind Power Fuel-Efficiency

Simple Things To Do

Turn off your computer or the TV when you’re not using it.

Take shorter showers. Heating water uses energy.

Keep rooms cool by closing the blinds, shades, or curtains.

Turn off the lights when you leave a room.

Use compact fluorescent bulbs.

Be Bulb Smart—Use CFLs

IncandescentCompact

Fluorescent

500 lbs. of coal

What’s the difference?

• 1,430 lbs. CO2 pollution avoided • $30 saved

Simple Things To Do

Dress lightly when it’s hot instead of turning up

the air conditioning. Or use a fan.

Dress warmly when it’s cold instead of turning up the heat.

Offer to help your parents keep the air filters on

your AC and furnace clean.

Walk short distances instead of asking for a ride in the car.

Plant a tree. Recycle.