Zoe Caron

Global warming is already changing the environment, the economy, and people’s ways of living. The changes aren’t over, either, and the more that changes around the world, the more critical it is to understand this complex and important issue. The following describes how and why greenhouse gases are formed, investigates some important global warming terms, uncovers the negative impacts of climate change, and offers solutions you can implement in your everyday life to alleviate rising greenhouse gas emissions.

The impact of global warming will increase in the coming years, but the degree of change will vary greatly, depending on where you live and depending on how rapidly nations around the world reduce greenhouse emissions. No matter where you live, though, the unchecked impacts of climate change are potentially catastrophic in the long-term.

What you can do to help reduce your carbon footprint depends on where you live, the resources you have, and how much time you can give. If you want to do something about global warming, however, then simple changes can have a big impact. Here are some straightforward solutions that you can implement right away: Eat less (or no) meat.

The phrase “global warming” hasn’t been around long, but climate change, as it’s also known, is nothing new. In fact, it has been a constant throughout history. Earth’s climate today is very different from what it was 2 million years ago, let alone 10,000 years ago. Here are the key terms that are crucial to understanding global warming: Carbon cycle: The natural system that, ideally, creates a balance between carbon emitters (such as humans) and carbon absorbers (such as trees), so the atmosphere doesn’t contain an increasing concentration of carbon dioxide.

Planet Earth is warm enough to sustain life thanks to gases in the planet’s atmosphere that hold heat. These gases are called greenhouse gases because they act just like a greenhouse — trapping the heat inside the planet’s atmosphere, making the average temperature on Earth 59 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius).