You probably know what a greenhouse is. Heat comes through the plastic/ glass roof and is trapped it, making the inside warmer than the outside air.
Now, think of our planet as a greenhouse. In most planets, the sun’s light goes through the atmosphere, reflects off the earth, and then get sent back into space. But on Earth, it’s different.
The sun’s light still does reflect off the earth, but some of the light is then trapped in the atmosphere by greenhouse gases( carbon, methane, water vapor, ect.), therefore warming the planet. This is known as the greenhouse effect.
Now, this process is positive as in it creates life as we know it. But, with increased carbon and methane levels in the atmosphere due to industrialization (carbon), cows (who produce methane), deforestation (releasing carbon), and other harmful environmental events, greenhouse gases are gathering at the atmosphere at an alarming rate.
With more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, it is harder for the sun’s heat to be released back into space, therefore causing more of it to be trapped in the atmosphere, warming the planet. This is what many attribute to the biggest issue of climate change.
Global warming has many impacts including melting glaciers which leads to rising sea levels, crop failure, more severe weather patterns, and species loss.
So how can we help reduce warming temperatures? In another blog, I will cover the topic of albedo, of the sun’s reflectivity, but simply putting it, we need to reduce greenhouse gases.
Eat less red meat. Cows produce alarming rates of methane, so cutting down on eating cow meat can reduce methane.
Use less carbon emissions. In my last blog, I talked about how to reduce your carbon footprint, so go check that out for more info!
For more information, check out this link from Washington’s Department of Ecology. https://ecology.wa.gov/Air-Climate/Reducing-Greenhouse-Gas-Emissions/What-you-can-do
The Current Environmental Crisis 