The rise in temperature around the Earth over the last fifty years is only around on-degree on average. If we are just raising the temperature a little bit why does it matter? Surely a person in Maine for the winter doesn’t mind if it is 40 degrees out instead of 39. And a person in Florida won’t notice the difference between 89 and 90. That is true, but Nature seems to be more bothered by this extra heat than the plants and animals nature supports. Global warming is melting the North and South poles; it is creating floods in some areas and deserts in others. While people can move from one location to another if it becomes too hot or cold, most animals cannot. So creatures such as Polar Bears are threatened with extinction. There are thousands of animal and plant species put at risk by global warming.

Global warming is also believed to be responsible for recent changes in our weather. There are more hurricanes in the northern hemisphere every year than ever before. And these hurricanes are more powerful than the ones from 50 years ago. Rising oceans, increased rainfall, loss of fresh water and dozens of other problems are on the rise and the cause is global warming.

First consider what we have written so far. Greenhouse gases like CO2, Methane, and water vapor are released into the atmosphere by man-made causes. And these increase the power of the greenhouse effect. And then, this releases even more greenhouse gases. So the problem is more than just the harmful gases we are currently pouring into the air. The bigger problem is that we have created a machine that keeps making even more greenhouse emissions. And these keep making the Earth hotter. Right now, we are only affected by the secondary effects of global warming such as storms and damage to the environment. But if the damage keeps growing and adding to itself we could soon see temperature increases that are direct threats to human life.

Stop polluting the planet. Our Oceans and the plant life on earth absorb 95% of the Carbon Dioxide created by both man and nature. Unfortunately it is the remaining 5% that is getting us in trouble. That overflow of the amount of CO2 the Earth can digest is the CO2 that is causing too much heat. The same thing applies to Methane; the Earth is capable of absorbing almost all of the methane produced…but not all of it.

As to water vapor, If we lower the CO2 and Methane content in our air and start to cool things down, then the atmosphere will not allow as much water vapor to evaporate into gas.
We need to cut down the amount of CO2 and Methane released into our air. The first thing we want to do is reduce these greenhouse gas emissions by around 10%. This will pretty much put our release and absorption levels at an equal basis… sort of break-even.

Next if we could cut these emissions even further the Earth would start to naturally clean itself up. Our planet was very well designed and is more than capable of repairing the damage we have caused. But first we must stop harming it.

Some of the easiest things we can do to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions is to make cars that use less gas and expel fewer pollutants. If a car or truck only gets 25 miles per gallon of gasoline used and we double the mileage we will cut in half the amount of Carbon dioxide that is released to the air.

But, remember almost half of the CO2 we are trying to get rid of comes from power plants. Can we make power plants that in their own way get more miles to the gallon? Yes, this actually can be done but not by making the plants more fuel-efficient. We can reduce the overall amount of fuel used and hence burned to make electricity by producing power from non-polluting sources. Hydroelectric power generated by dams and rivers has been used to make power for over 100 years. New wind turbines could virtually eliminate our need for coal fired power plants over the next twenty years. While solar energy has not yet shown its feasibility on a large scale, solar technology does exist for such personal use as home lighting and recharging of small batteries.
There is another thing we can do that will cut down on power usage and as a result of that reduce CO2 released as we burn fuel to make electricity. Fully 30%, almost a third, of our Carbon dioxide excess is the result of needing electricity to cool and heat our homes. This plus the power needed for appliances, hot water and things like televisions creates a never-ending need for power. And that power means more greenhouse gas. Houses and buildings and the things we use inside of them require the consumption of as much power as do cars and trucks. But we can quickly cut that power usage in half by building energy efficient “green” homes and buildings. We can build appliances that use less electricity. And we can develop heating and lighting sources that use one fourth of the power we now use to warm cool and light our buildings.

Another simple way to help the cause of global warming is to plan our towns and cities to be a little more eco-friendly. When we knock down a stand of trees so as to pave a parking lot we manage to simultaneously kill off some of nature’s CO2 absorption while trading light green and brown heat reflective trees and earth for dark, almost black asphalt that absorbs gobs of solar heat.

Global warming can be placed under control very quickly if people everywhere make an effort to change the way we build in the future of our society. Unfortunately many governments around the world refuse to make laws that control things like greenhouse emissions and energy efficiency. That is why young people must understand the danger of global warming. The children of today are in charge of the future. They must grow up aware of their environment and as they grow develop a desire and willingness to make things better. Tomorrow’s adults will agree together to protect our world.