The+Greenhouse+Effect

= THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT =

== The Greenhouse Effect is the way the Earth is heated. The sun shines light and energy through radiation into the Earth’s atmosphere. Some of this energy is bounced into space off the atmosphere, but most is trapped inside. Then, the ground absorbs the heat and the heat rises off it. Some heat is bounced back in and some rises up and away from Earth. The atmosphere, which is made up of many kinds of gases traps a majority of the heat. I say only “a majority” because some heat escapes because our atmosphere is clean. The atmosphere is 55% water vapor, harmless, 17% clouds, harmless, and 28% other gases, where the problem is. The Greenhouse Effect is good for all organisms on Earth because if the Earth wasn’t heated we’d be living on a completely arctic planet. But, too much of this heat will eventually melt away all of the arctic parts of Earth and make the oceans rise. ==

** GLOBAL WARMING: THE BIG PICTURE **
== Global Warming is how the temperature of the Earth is rising due to too many trapped unclean gases in the Earth’s atmosphere. Back in the early 1900’s there was almost no technology that used an excessive amount of oil to power it. There were basically 100 cars on the road compared to what there is today and that was a big difference. The big difference was that since there were limited amounts of cars, there was way less gas emissions. Therefore there was way less harmful gases in the atmosphere, limiting the heat trapped inside to an average and healthy amount. But, now pretty much all of the things we use to day emit harmful gases into the air. Some of these things are cars, boats, electricity, waste treatment, and more. And what these gases do is get trap more heat in the atmosphere. This cause the “globe” to “heat,” and back in the early 1900’s when there was limited global warming there was more ice and glaciers. Now, though, since we keep heating up the Earth, the glaciers and ice melts causing sea levels to rise. And, if you didn’t know already, a lot of the world’s population is on a coast and if the oceans rise there goes a whole lot of cities and homes. ==

== Like I said earlier, the problem with greenhouse gases is in the 28% of the mixed gases. In this category there are gases such as, Carbon Dioxide, Methane, Nitrous Oxide, Carbon Monoxide, etc. The most harmful, though, is Carbon Dioxide a.k.a. CO2, which comes from everything from car emissions to coal burning electrical stations. Methane, though, is a close second because although there may be less of it, it’s way more harmful. Anyway what these gases are doing is making the atmosphere less clean and clear. Therefore more heat is trapped in and that’s bad news for us. As you can see in the chart above, you’re listed in there too. You’re probably under transportation fuels, residential, and waste treatment. Let me explain. You’re under transportation fuels because, obviously, you drive a car. And that car emits Carbon Dioxide out of the exhaust pipe every time you drive the car. And also if you take the trains, they use electricity from a power station that burns coal in order to make electricity. Which in turn release Carbon Dioxide too. And residential is just the electricity, heat, and more. The electricity, like I’ve already stated, comes from a coal-burning power station. And the heat is from oil, which is listed under fossil fuel retrieval, and Carbon dioxide is emitted just getting that. ==

** GLOBAL WARMING: LOCAL EFFECTS ** == There will be many effects around the world if global warming continues. But the local effects include the decline in professional wooden baseball bats, tons of Christmas trees will die out, fly fishing will end, ski competitions will decline and decline along with ski vacations, lobsters will move north, lawns will become full of weeds, MORE mosquitoes will breed, more poison ivy will infest forests, frogs will die out, more stray cats, no more cod from Cape Cod, birds living in your backyard will die out, oceans will turn to acid, more death in the population of humans, more heat strokes, more heart attacks, more allergies, more droughts, and you will lose money. Just think, New England is a big time ski location and if the world keeps heating up that snow will be gone. And of course everyone loves to watch the Red Sox hit a home run on a warm summer day. Well, the bats made from ash tree are going to die out due to global warming. And, you know you love going out to KingFish Hall in Boston for some lobster and cod. Too bad global warming is heating up the waters around New England and those two species love the cold water. But, most of all, Boston, also my favorite city in the world, will be under water in 100 years. ==

** WHAT YOUR AUDIENCE CAN DO DIFFERENTLY: One specific area of focus **
== You probably have a car, right? And if you’re a mom, you probably have a minivan or an SUV, right? Well let me just tell you that the average miles per gallon, MPG, for the average mini van is around 18 to 25. And an SUV is an only 18! This is absolutely ridiculous because you’re using so much gasoline, a fossil fuel and big time gas emitter, for what? For a couple more seats in the back and some excess space. The new “Hybrid” idea is such a good and green car. A hybrid runs by starting out on electricity until they hit around 30 miles per hour. At this point they switch over to a gasoline engine which still gets good gas mileage. So, you use less than half the gas you would use in a regular gas engine and that’s half the pollution. And of course, you’re using half the money. Now I know hybrids may be small and sort of strange looking, but they’re the same price as all other normal cars. With your car now, if you have a regular gas guzzler, you spend around $1,350 to drive 15,000 miles and have 25 MPG per year. With say a Toyota Prius, one of the hottest hybrids on the market, you’d save $736 a year. That’s a pretty good chunk of change. ==

** A SUMMARY OF YOUR RESEARCH **
==** The Greenhouse Effect is absolutely necessary for your survival, but it’s continually getting worse rather than better. Global Warming is the heating of the Earth with unclean gases, also known as the Greenhouse Effect turning bad. The worst part about this that we are creating these harmful gases. Cars, power stations, industrial processing, agricultural byproducts, residential energy uses, and more all emit gases into the atmosphere and trap more and more with each day. Some of the local effects of Global Warming are the disappearance of lobsters and cod in along the coast of New England, less and less snow fall for skiing, and more mosquitoes will start to breed. We can stop all this though. There are many ways in which you can improve the environment including using a hybrid car. A hybrid car is a car that runs on electrical power until it reaches around 35 mile per hour where it switches to a gas powered engine. This will emit half the gases and save you twice the money. ** ==