What is
Global Warming?
"Global warming is a gradual increase in the earth's temperature generally due to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, CFCs, and other pollutants", according to BYJU's. In other words, it is the increase in the Earth's general temperature caused by humans rather than nature.
Natural vs Human
The globe's average temperature increases and decreases over periods of time naturally due to "changes in the sun, emissions from volcanoes, variations in Earth's orbit," according to the BGS (British Geological Survey). Although the global temperature over the last 2019 years has been somewhat steady, it has skyrocketed over the last century, with the rate of temperature increase accelerating. This pattern is not normal; it is not caused by nature but rather by fossil fuels and greenhouse gases produced by human creations.
This button will redirect you to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. This website contains scientific evidence and deeper research strategies that prove global warming is caused by humans.
This is a graph provided by Ed Hawkins at Climate Lab Book. It highlights how irregular the warming patterns are in the last 100 years; global warming is real and global warming is caused by humans.
Greenhouse Effect
The reason behind global warming is the greenhouse effect. "The greenhouse effect is when the sun’s rays penetrate the atmosphere, but when that heat is reflected off the surface, [it] cannot escape back into space," according to National Geographic. Although the greenhouse effect is natural and keeps the Earth's atmosphere at a certain temperature, irregularly increased levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere cause the greenhouse effect to be stronger, with more heat trapped in the Earth's atmosphere. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, and they are produced daily from different places such as factories and agricultural farms at irregularly high levels the planet has not seen before. When there is more heat trapped in the Earth's atmosphere, the Earth becomes warmer, causing global warming and its devastating outcomes.
This button will redirect you to the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This website contains more details regarding how the greenhouse effect causes global warming.
This is a graph provided by NASA Science. It highlights how although carbon dioxide levels change over time, the carbon dioxide levels over the last century were extremely high; an irregular and unnatural pattern.
