LEVEL 5J

GLOBAL
WARMING

KARLA MORA
 Glaciers are melting at a rate never seen before, sea levels are rising due to
melting, forests are drying up and fauna and flora are struggling to survive in a
scenario of vertiginous and complex changes that often seriously impact
INTRODUTION biodiversity. A general increase in temperatures, extreme weather events, heat
waves and floods, crop failures, climate migrants and a long list of consequences
that put climate change at the forefront of the global agenda due to its effects
worldwide. Scientific evidence declares that human industrial activity has caused
most of the global warming of the last century through the emission of greenhouse
gases, which trap heat and whose levels are increasing.

In fact, for the first time since records began, the conclusions of a recent study have
challenged estimates of climate evolution by revealing that the capacity of the
world's largest forest to absorb carbon from the atmosphere has been reduced to
such an extent. point that it could already be releasing more carbon than it stores.
But what exactly is global warming and how does it impact our planet and our daily
lives?

We call the consequences of these gases global warming, but

this phenomenon is actually causing a series of changes in the
Earth's long-term weather patterns that vary according to
location. As the Earth spins each day, this new heat spins in
turn, picking up moisture from the oceans, rising here and
settling there, ultimately changing the rhythm of weather that
all living things have grown accustomed to. What solutions are
on the table to slow down this warming? How are we going to
cope with the changes we have already put in place? While we
try to understand it, the face of the Earth as we know it, its
coasts, forests and snowy mountains are in suspense.
 THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT

The "greenhouse effect" is the warming that occurs when certain gases in the
Earth's atmosphere retain heat. These gases let in light but hold in heat like
the glass walls of a greenhouse.

Sunlight first shines on the Earth's surface, where it is absorbed, and then
returns to the atmosphere as heat. In the atmosphere, greenhouse gases retain
some of this heat and the rest escapes into space. The more greenhouse gases,
the more heat is retained.
Scientists have known about the greenhouse effect
since 1824, when Joseph Fourier calculated that
the Earth would be cooler if there were no
atmosphere. This greenhouse effect is what makes
the climate on Earth suitable for life. Without it,
the Earth's surface would be about 60 degrees
Fahrenheit cooler.

Greenhouse gas (GHG) levels have risen and fallen

during Earth's history but have been fairly
constant over the last few thousand years. Through
the burning of fossil fuels and other GHG
emissions, humans are increasing the greenhouse
effect and warming the Earth.

Scientists often use the term climate change

instead of global warming. This is because, as the
Earth's average temperature rises, winds and ocean
currents move heat around the globe, so they can
cool some areas, warm others, and change the
amount of rain and snow that falls. As a result, the
weather changes differently in different areas.
AREN'T TEMPERATURE
CHANGES NATURAL?

Global average temperatures and carbon dioxide concentrations have

fluctuated in a cycle of hundreds of thousands of years as the Earth's
position relative to the sun has changed. As a result, the different ice
ages have occurred.

However, for thousands of years, GHG emissions into the atmosphere

have been offset by naturally absorbed GHGs. Therefore, GHG
concentrations and temperature have been fairly stable. This stability
has allowed human civilization to develop in a consistent climate.

Other factors sometimes have a brief influence on global temperature.

Volcanic eruptions, for example, emit particles that temporarily cool the
Earth's surface. However, these do not have an effect that lasts more
than a few years. Other cycles, such as El Niño, also occur briefly and in
predictable cycles.
 WHY IS IT
WORRYING?

T H E R A P I D I N C R E A S E I N G R E E N H O U S E G A S E S I S A P R O B L E M B E C A U S E I T I S
C H A N G I N G T H E C L I M A T E S O F A S T T H A T S O M E L I V I N G T H I N G S C A N N O T
A D A P T . L I K E W I S E , A N E W A N D M O R E U N P R E D I C T A B L E C L I M A T E I M P O S E S
U N I Q U E C H A L L E N G E S F O R A L L T Y P E S O F L I F E A N D F R O M W H I C H S C I E N T I S T S
H A V E A L R E A D Y D E R I V E D S E V E R A L P O I N T S O F N O R E T U R N O N T H E P L A N E T .

H I S T O R I C A L L Y , E A R T H ' S C L I M A T E H A S O S C I L L A T E D B E T W E E N T E M P E R A T U R E S
L I K E W E H A V E T O D A Y A N D T E M P E R A T U R E S S O C O L D T H A T G R E A T I C E S H E E T S
C O V E R E D M O S T O F N O R T H A M E R I C A A N D E U R O P E . T H E D I F F E R E N C E B E T W E E N
M E A N G L O B A L T E M P E R A T U R E S A N D T E M P E R A T U R E S D U R I N G I C E A G E S I S O N L Y
9 D E G R E E S F A H R E N H E I T , A N D T H E S E O S C I L L A T I O N S O C C U R R E D S L O W L Y ,
O V E R H U N D R E D S O F T H O U S A N D S O F Y E A R S .
 WHY IS IT
WORRYING?

Now, with greenhouse gas concentrations rising, the remaining ice

sheets on Earth (such as Greenland and Antarctica) are also beginning to
melt. This extra water could cause the sea level to rise considerably.

As the mercury rises, the weather can change unexpectedly. In addition

to rising sea levels, weather conditions may become more extreme. This
means bigger and more intense storms, more rain followed by longer and
more intense droughts (a challenge for crops), changes in the ranges in
which animals can live, and loss of water supply that historically came
from glaciers. Most of the global warming has occurred in the last four
decades, coinciding with the increase in the emission of greenhouse
gases by man, according to NASA.
 CONCLUSION

Climate change is a
reality, that its cause Ensuring a secure
is human beings and Global warming may climate future is
that the dangerous still be below the possible and
consequences of its agreed threshold of economically viable if
impact are already 2°C above pre- action is taken
reflected in all the industrial levels. urgently and
world's continents and immediately.
oceans.
THANKS