Climate Change

The sun rises, and the sun sets. The seasons come and go. Around the world, across the earth’s diverse biomes, temperatures rise and fall, clouds pass over and sometimes release rain, sleet, or snow. Sometimes, snow accumulates on top of the mountains, freezes into glaciers as it melts, and makes its way down into valleys, rivers, lakes, and streams, winding its way to the lowest altitude, seeking sea level in the oceans. The breeze strengthens into winds and sometimes thunderstorms fueled by ocean currents, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Seeds blown and carried by the wind and migrating birds and animals hibernate in the ground, waiting for the right temperature and moisture to sprout. There is a time for every season. With the right warmth and moisture, seeds grow into plants, plants, shrubs, and trees, breathing in carbon dioxide and giving us oxygen. Watch the Carbon Sequestration by Seasons in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Draw your biome in the four seasons and label which ones give off the most CO2. Upload your picture to the gallery. Consider what you can do in the high carbon seasons to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Global warming is the rise of temperature that creates long-term shifts in weather patterns and temperatures. Such shifts occur naturally due to changes due to the sun’s solar flares, forest fires, or large volcanic eruptions. Are humans impacting the atmosphere? Check out NOAA’s Paleo Perspective on Global Warming. Take a look into Paleoclimatology.

Human activities since the 1800s are the driver of climate change. Burning fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas creates greenhouse gas emissions contributing to rising temperatures. Greenhouse gas emissions are made by the cars we drive, the airplane trips we take, the imported food we buy and eat, the way we heat and cool our houses, and so much more. Human lifestyle and expectations have radically changed from one hundred years ago and demand higher comfort and service. When carbon dioxide increases, the temperature increases. Across the world groups have called to reduce the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Make a list of ways that you can live to use less energy, consume fewer products, and help prevent global warming.

Green House Gas Emissions are human-produced environmental contributors to the rising temperature on Earth. Watch the Black Balloon Movie filling our atmosphere like a blanket, trapping the sun’s heat from reflecting out of the atmosphere.

Humans generate greenhouse gas emissions by appliance use in houses and apartments, by heating and cooling buildings with fossil fuel generated energy. In addition, humans have impacted the world’s air quality with the invention of cars, trucks, airplanes, industrial factories, coal mining, landfills, ocean debris, and overconsumption of carbon-sequestering forests, grasslands, and wetlands. In fact, if everyone lived like people in the United States (one of the wealthiest most comsumptive countries in the world) it would take more than four planet Earths!
How could you lessen your ecological footprint? Take this ecological footprint quiz and make a list of ways that you and your family can live more lightly on the land. Upload them to the gallery!

Temperature Rise causes intense weather- hurricanes, tornados, droughts, forest fires, and floods. These catastrophes not only harm human life, but they affect all plants and animals, too. E.O. Wilson and others warn that ¼ of all plants and animals may be extinct by 2050! We now know that seafood stocks are diminishing due to population growth and demand, and hotter temperatures warm not only our air but the waters in our oceans. Think about where you live. What if you had to provide all of your own food, energy, and water? How long would you live? Indigenous peoples and people who live in the southern hemisphere are often more directly connected with the land and its resources than urban dwellers in large cities. Make a poster sharing the effects of rising temperatures. Upload it to the gallery.

Climate Change and a rise of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius will seriously change the Earth’s health. The rising temperature will include Biodiversity Loss, melting of the Antarctic Shelf and glaciers causing a rise in coastal flooding, Coral Reef loss, increase in ocean acidity affecting maritime life, loss of freshwater sources in resources, and damage to air quality and food production. Scientists have been studying these changes and know that the consequences will result in the loss of human and non human biodiversity of life.