Nowadays, our life is very different from what it used to be 200, 100 or even 50 years ago. All the achievements of modern society make people’s days much easier and give us plenty of choices and possibilities. However, they have a negative side as well. We produce too much carbon dioxide (CO2) which remains in the atmosphere, does not allow heat to escape and little by little warms up the Earth. The average temperature on the planet is rising and unfortunately, this leads to disastrous and sometimes even irreversible consequences.
There are a lot of causes for the global warming. The main one is burning coal and oil as energy supplies. During this process carbon dioxide is emitted and acts as a blanket, slowly raising the temperature on Earth. Another factor contributing to climate change is all the industries that we rely on today. Not only the factories but also all means of transportation – cars, trucks and planes – produce greenhouse gases like CO2. To make matters worse, we cut down entire forests because we need the trees to make paper of; and the land to build on. Bur trees can absorb CO2 from the air which can really help reducing the pollution.
What are the global warming effects? Temperature of not only the air but also the oceans, rivers and lakes rises. This causes ice to melt, ocean levels to rise and at the same time, less fresh water to drink in some parts of the world. Another effect is the large number of natural disasters, occurring all over the planet – forest fires, hurricanes and heat waves. Also very disturbing is the fact that the natural habitat of a lot of species is altered or disappears completely. For example, animals have to migrate to another place because they can not find enough food, the polar bears and penguins can lose their habitat altogether, the coral reef and sea life change as well.
So what can we do? It comes without saying that we need to find a way to reduce CO2 emissions produced by the industries, commercial farmers and cars. Fortunately, nowadays there are cars that use less gasoline or cars powered by hybrid or even electric engines! A very good source of energy is the sun. This is why the use of solar panels has become very common. There are a lot of little things we all can do – from taking shorter showers to save water, walking or riding a bike instead of driving, planting trees; to recycling or using recycled things – they can all add up to help us reduce global warming!!!
GALLERY
CHANGING HABITAT
ICE CAP MELTING
HURRICANE
FOREST FIRE
EARTHQUAKE
GLOSSARY
atmosphere – a mixture of gases, mostly nitrogen and oxygen, that surrounds the Earth
CO2 – carbon dioxide, a gas without colour or smell, one of the components of the atmosphere of the Earth
irreversible – that can not be changed back; permanent
to emit – to send out, let out, discharge
industry – the process of making products by using machinery and factories
to absorb – to take in something, to use up
pollution – the process of making land, water, air dirty
habitat – the place where a plant or animal naturally lives or grows
to migrate – to move from one area to another at different times of the year
hybrid car – a car that uses two or even more different sources of power
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