By: Brittany Shannahan & Dillon Jones

*Global Warming*

• Definition: The rise in global temperature due to increase in green house effect.

*Greenhouse effect*

• Definition: Natural heating caused by atmosphere gases trapping heat at earths surface.

*The cause of global warming*

• Climate change, more commonly known as global warming is caused by the emission of heat trapping gases produced by vehicles, power plants, industrial processes and deforestation.

*Causes of greenhouse effect*

• The greenhouse effect is the rise in temperature that the Earth experiences because certain gases in the atmosphere (water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane, for example) trap energy from the sun. Without these gases, heat would escape back into space and Earth’s average temperature would be about 60ºF colder. Because of how they warm our world, these gases are referred to as greenhouse gases.

*The effects of global warming*• Global warming is having a significant impact on hundreds of plant

and animal species around the world -- although the most dramatic effects may not be felt for decades, according to a new study in the journal nature.

• "Birds are laying eggs earlier than usual, plants are flowering earlier and mammals are breaking hibernation sooner," said Terry L. Root, a senior fellow with Stanford's Institute for International Studies (IIS) and lead author of the Jan. 2 Nature study.

• "Clearly, if such ecological changes are now being detected when the globe has warmed by an estimated average of only 1 degree F (0.6 C) over the past 100 years, then many more far-reaching effects on species and ecosystems will probably occur by 2100, when temperatures could increase as much as 11 F (6 C)," Root concluded.

*The effects of greenhouse effect*

• If the greenhouse effect becomes stronger, it could make the Earth warmer than usual. Even a little extra warming may cause problems for humans, plants, and animals.

• Ice caps are beginning to break apart and sea level is rising in certain areas.

*The efforts that are being taken to reduce global warming*

• Conserving electricity is one way, by conserving we reduce the amount of fossil fuel that must be burned.

• Another way to reduce Co2 is to plant vegetation.

1. www.nature.org/initiative/climatechange

2. www.epa.gov/climatechange/kids/greenhouse.html

3. www.stanford.edu/dept/news/pr/03/root18.html

4. www.globalwarming.org

5. www.climatehotmap.org

6. www.nrdc.org/globalWarming/fcons.asp

7. www.epa.gov/globalwarming/kids/greenhouse.html

8. www.greenhouse.gov.au

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