Global warming is a massive global heating event of the earth that is happening right now, and it is happening because of humans! It is human made, which means that us, humans, are destroying our own planet, and everything that comes with! But what is global warming exactly? How much CO2 do we emit? What are the causes and consequences of global warming? And what can we do to prevent it?
Photo by: Wesley Tingey
What is global warming?
Global warming is the general rising of global temperatures on earth.
In 2020 the total global emissions of CO2 was just over 35 billion tons(!), according to a chart shown by the United Nations that again was taken from the Global Carbon Project 2021. Every person in the world emits an average of 4.5 tons of CO2 annualy, written by the same source, but keep in mind that the average emittons per person varies a lot from country to country.
Global warming
Photo by: William Bossen
Causes and consequences:
Global warming is a phenomenon caused by unusal amounts of greenhouse gases ending up in the atmosphere. The unique thing about modern global warming, is that it is human made, which means that the emissions that causes the current warming of the earth, comes from stuff us humans do! Now, greenhouse gases are neccesarry for the earth to have life, because the greenhouse effect is what keeps the temperature on the earth habitable. But by overloading the atmosphere with greenhouse gases, we empower the heating effect of the greenhouse effect beyond the suitable temperature for life. The greenhouse effect is necessary for all life on earth, but when we strenghten the effect by emitting more greenhouse gases than the natural
Photo of ice floating in the ocean.
amount, it affects the natural state of the greenhouse effect which is neccessary and just in the sweetspot for enabling life to flourish here on earth. The greenhouse effect is what keeps a planet the temperature it is, and the gases in its atmosphere is determining what the temperature is like on every planet where the greenhouse effect exists. Anyhow, if the greenhouse effect strengthens, like its doing here on earth, it causes the temperatures to rise, which is what we call global warming. The greenhouse effect works by trapping some of the radiaton, which is basically the heat coming
Photo of dry, cracked up earth.
Greenhouse gases comes from a lot of things like factories, many different kinds of transportation that run on fossil fuels like cars, ships and planes. And production of electricity often uses fossil fuels like coal to produce it, and when we're burning fossil fuels, we emit greenhouse gases.
Global warming will have and currently do have massive consequences, both globally and locally. It will cause higher temperatures and extreme weather like ice melting and droughts. Beacause of this many people will get dehydrated and malnutritioned, and this can cause diseases and illnesses. This will aslo make animals lose their habitats, which can cause trouble in the food chain. Temperatures can rise too much and people will be overheated and exposed to dangerous temperatures, all this can also potentially lead to death, for both humans, and different species.
Questions answered on this page:
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What is global warming?​​
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What are greenhouse gases and how much of them do we emit?
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What causes global warming?
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What can you and I both do to prevent global warming from progressing?
Key words:
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Greenhouse effect
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Greenhouse gas
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Human made
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Consumption
from the light rays from the sun, so it stays here on earth for longer, while the rest gets reflected back into space. Altough this process is important, when more and more greenhouse gases stays in the atmosphere, it traps more and more radiation from the sun so it stays here on earth for longer, trapping more heat and essentially causing the global temperatures to rise.
What can we do?
Global warming is what causes climate change, and there are different drivers of global warming, some of which you can read about below. To prevent global temperatures from rising, there is a lot of things you can do to help! And it all involves lowering greenhouse gas emissions. You can make a massive difference, especially if you encourage others to make a change for the better as well! Together we can try and affect the decisions of the people with power as well, which can make for some really big and positive global changes for the earth and all humans!
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Here is a list of a few things you can do to help prevent greenhouse gas emissions:
Photo of four questionmarks.
Photo by: Buddha Elemental 3D
Drive less, and use more public transportation or walk!
This reduces your
carbon footprint a lot, because you either stop all emissions by walking, or use less energy to transport more people!
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Drive less!
Travel sustainably!
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Try travelling locally as much as you can and with busses or trains instead of driving or flying! This way, you get as much as possible out of the energy needed to travel, since the energy is more spread and there is more people taking advantage of it.
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Save electricity, especially if electrcity in your home comes from fossil fuels. You can do this by showering for a shorter amount of time, turning off electrical appliances like lights, fans and fausets when they're not in use, and also you can try lowering the temperature in your home and wearing more clothes instead(assuming you live in a place where your house needs heating).
Save energy!
Be wise about your food!
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Try to eat more local food and eat less meat. Many different kinds of food needs transportation from around the world, which causes a lot of greenhouse gas emissions. You can limit these greenhouse gas emissions by eating foods that haven't travelled for such a distance and comes from local producers. You can also to eat less meat, you reduce methane emissions by eating less meat, beacause producing meat often causes a lot of methane emissions, which is a really strong greenhouse gas, as well as CO2 emissions from transporting that meat.