5.

4
Why are global temperatures
changing?

Objectives

Today we will be learning about.

What greenhouse gases are
How methane is produced
How to reduce methane levels
The link between CO2 and climate change
Controversy surrounding the evidence
Ethical arguments

The greenhouse effect

The sun radiates energy and the earth absorbs
some of it.
The earth warms up and in turn radiates
energy back into space as infrared radiation.
Some of the IR is absorbed by gases in the
atmosphere, warming it.
These gases are called greenhouse gases.

Which gases are greenhouse gases?

Not all gases are greenhouse gases.
Gas

Abundance in atmosphere/ Global warming potential

% by volume

Carbon dioxide

3.8 x 10-2

Methane

1.8 x 10-4

25

Nitrous oxide

3.2 x 10-5

298

Chlorofluorocarbon CCl3F

2.5 x 10-6

4750

Please complete Q5.30 on pg.38

14%

Methane
Methane is produced by
the anaerobic decay of organic materials in
water logged areas for example bogs and rice
fields
decay of animal waste and domestic waste
the digestive systems of some animals e.g..
cows
Incomplete combustion of fossil fuels

 A molecule of methane absorbs more infrared

radiation than a molecule of carbon dioxide
Unlike carbon dioxide the gas does not stay in
the atmosphere very long
In less than 12 years a methane molecule will
have reacted with oxygen to form carbon
dioxide and water

Reducing methane levels

Waste recycling
Using it as a bio fuel

Does increased carbon dioxide cause global

warming

Controversy
Scientific results can only disprove a
hypothesis, if the results support the idea they
are not considered PROOF.
There is inconclusive knowledge of how
earths climate systems work
The data has limitations: There is no way of
measuring how much carbon dioxide is
released by fossil fuel combustion.

Ethics
We all have he right to choose for ourselves
whether we use fossil fuels to achieve good
standard of living.
We have a duty to allow others to improve
their standard of living (industrialization)
We have a duty to preserve the environment
for the next generation