What is global warming?
Global warming is the process of the earth's atmosphere heating up. (The atmosphere is the air that covers our planet like a blanket.) Over the last 100 years, the average temperature of earth's atmosphere has gone up 1° Fahrenheit. The weather has not changed exactly the same way in every area of the planet. But, scientists think that the rise in average temperature is already affecting the earth's climate.
What is the difference between climate and weather?
Weather is the word that describes conditions in the atmosphere (such as temperature, precipitation, wind and cloudiness) at a specific time for a specific place. For example, when someone asks, "What's the weather like outside?" he or she wants to know what is going on in a certain area at that moment.
Climate is what you get when you summarize the weather for a long period of time. Even though California might have rainy weather one day, its average weather over the entire year is still dry and mild. Scientists who study global warming look at the big picture. They look at how rising temperatures will affect the earth's climate.
What causes global warming?
Many scientists now believe that global warming is caused by human activities. Cutting down trees, producing more trash, and polluting the environment are some of the reasons that the temperature has gone up. Many scientists believe that the biggest causes of global warming are new human technologies that release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
What are greenhouse gases and what is the greenhouse effect?
Certain gases in the atmosphere prevent heat energy from escaping back into space. These gases - like carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane - are called greenhouse gases because they keep the earth warm like a greenhouse. The system of trapping the heat in our atmosphere is called the greenhouse effect.
Why are greenhouse gases a problem today?
The greenhouse effect is not new. Carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane have been keeping the earth warm for millions of years. In the past, nature produced just the right amount of greenhouse gases to keep earth at a balanced temperature.
Today, most scientists are pretty sure that the rising temperature can't be blamed on nature. Ever since the industrial revolution in the 1700s, humans have relied on machines for daily life. And many of those machines (like cars) give off, or emit, a lot of greenhouse gases. An increase in the release of greenhouse gases from human activities is throwing nature off balance.
How is global warming affecting the world?
The climate is a very complicated thing, but many scientists agree that the rising atmospheric temperature has already damaged the environment. Sheets of ice, called glaciers, are melting in Antarctica and other parts of the globe. As glaciers break off and melt into the oceans, they are adding warm water to the oceans and causing the sea level to rise.
Over the last 100 years, the sea level has risen 6-8 inches around the world. That means that land along the coasts is beginning to disappear under water. Bigger and warmer oceans are also adding to other weather problems caused by pollution in the atmosphere. Some places have received more rain, others have had bigger storms and a few areas in the world have experienced unusual droughts.
What is the Kyoto Protocol?
The Kyoto Protocol is an energy agreement that was created in Kyoto, Japan in 1997. Countries who signed the agreement promised to decrease the amount of greenhouse gases they produced (or emitted) each year. These countries made laws or other rules to make sure that their businesses did have as much greenhouse gas emissions.
One hundred and forty countries signed the Kyoto Protocol and it went into action in February 2005. The U.S. did not agree to the Kyoto Protocol, even though America emits more greenhouse gases than any other country in the world. President Bush did not sign the Kyoto Protocol. He worried the agreement would hurt businesses and ruin the U.S. economy.
What is President Bush doing about global warming?
President Bush has taken action to support research into global warming. He recently entered the U.S. into a partnership with five other nations - China, India, Japan, South Korea and Australia. He hopes that the partnership will result in finding new technologies that do not emit greenhouse gases.
President Bush has also supported some of Congress's efforts to make laws about greenhouse gases. He has said that companies in America should voluntarily decide to limit the amount of carbon dioxide they produce. So far, these types of voluntary actions haven't been that successful in decreasing America's greenhouse gas emission.
