So what is global warming?
Global warming is the rising of temperature due to the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas etc. Which are dead animal and plant matter from millions of years ago) which releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and cause what is called ‘green house gases’. These greenhouse gases rise up into the atmosphere, which create a kind of blanket around the earth - trapping heat. Also from all the pollution and other chemicals such as CFC’s and methane gas are being released into the atmosphere has caused a hole in the ozone layer. The ozone layer is sort of a protective screen on the Earth to stop the sun from over-heating the Earth and if we didn’t have it everything will be pretty much burnt to a crisp and I don’t think we want that, so getting a hole in it is pretty bad.
Cars use petrol- which emmits greenhouse gas emmisons. They are a huge contributor to the co2 levels in the atomsphere
Why is global warming a concern?
It is of concern because if the temperatures continue to increase it could be a disaster on the environment. Many species won’t be able to survive with the change to the environment; most are already struggling. The polar bear as an example; the polar icecaps are melting and they won’t have any ice around so they can’t hunt for food. Most drown or become stranded and the need the ice to survive, so this is a pretty huge issue if we don’t do anything about it. Its not just animals that will suffer it will be the many other things; the coral reefs will bleach and die because of the temperature increase to the sea. There will be more droughts, floods and increased intensity of storms. There will also be longer summers and shorter winters; which can be a disaster on many wildlife species. The sea levels will increase because of the melting of the icecaps and many small islands and other coastal cities like; New York, London and Melbourne, just to name a few will eventually be under water. So this is something serious to be concerned about.
