The Big Issue of Climate Change and Global Warming

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Climate Change and Global Warming

Climate change and Global warming is a big issue in the world today. One big thing is the Greenhouse Effect. The Greenhouse Effect is the capturing of the sun's warmth in the planet's lower atmosphere due to the greater transparency of the atmosphere to visible radiation from the sun than to infrared radiation given off from the planet's surface. Greenhouse gases affect the temperature here on Earth by sunlight hitting the Earth. Then, carbon dioxide reflects the heat from the sun and traps the heat, keeping it on the Earth causing a rise in temperature.

Global climate change means that there is a rise in temperatures on Earth. Statists say that the average temperatures around the world have climbed 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degrees Celsius) around the world since the early 1900s. Precipitation has gone up about 5 percent, and many extreme weather conditions have been recorded recently. A lot of this temperature change has been more within the last 50 years. The melting polar ice caps support the climate change theory.

Yes, we should care if Earth is getting warmer. There are a lot of effects that global warming has on citizens in our world. Global warming affects agriculture, infrastructure, how we consume energy, cropping yields, food processing, transportation, storage, and the list goes on! Statistics say that within the next several hundred years the yield to just about every crop will decrease by up to 30%.

Global warming doesn't just affect plant life- it also effects animals all around the world. Terry L. Root is involved with Stanford's institute for International Studies and says, "Birds are laying eggs earlier than usual, plants are flowering earlier and mammals are bre...

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...which would prevent human induced climate change. The IPCC doesn't conduct it's own research, scientists contribute to it. Some of the sources are peer-reviewed and some are not.

Based on the research I have done, my opinion on climate change is much more educated than it was before. Before I didn't really think that global warming is as important to my life as well as everyone else's in this world. Global warming is and will effect everyone and everything on our planet for the rest of Earth's existence. I believe that it will effect my life here in Maine. There are many things that I myself could do to reduce the rate at which climate change is occurring. I could start recycling more often, use less heat and air conditioning, use less hot water, turning off lights, drive less, plant trees, and most importantly, inform people about human induced climate changes.

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