3. Global Warming is the increase of Earth's
average surface temperature due to effect of
greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide
emissions from burning fossil fuels or from
deforestation, which trap heat that would
otherwise escape from Earth. This is a type
of greenhouse effect.
Despite the oceans' dominant role in energy storage, the term "global
warming" is also used to refer to increases in average temperature of
the air and sea at Earth's surface..
4. Global warming is primarily a
problem of too much carbon dioxide
(CO2) in the atmosphere—which
acts as a blanket, trapping heat and
warming the planet. As we burn
fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural
gas for energy or cut down and burn
forests to create pastures and
plantations, carbon accumulates and
overloads our atmosphere. Certain
waste management and agricultural
practices aggravate the problem by
releasing other potent global
warming gases, such as methane
and nitrous oxide. See the pie chart
for a breakdown of heat-trapping
global warming emissions by
economic sector.
5. 1. Glaciers have melted back by about 2,000 miles.
Creatures that live along the edges of the ice pack
have migrated along with it.
2. Oceans have risen several hundred feet. People
(and woolly mammoths) could once walk from
England to France on dry land. No more. Human
habitations that were along shorelines are now
hundreds of feet underwater.
3. The receding glaciers have exposed billions of
acres of land for forests, farming and cities. Even
Greenland once had farms on it until it got colder
again about a thousand years ago.
4. The salinity of the oceans has decreased due to
all the fresh water added by melting ice.
