1. Watch the video
What's the message? This video tells that the Earth is the only planet where we can live, but we are destroying it. We are using more oil, coal, gas than the Earth is producing. As a result the glaciers are melting, the sea levels are rising, Barcelona is going to diasappear because the CO2 that we are releasing in the atmosphere is producing the greenhouse warming. But we can save the world. We can use renewable energies as such as the wind, the sunlight...
2. Treasure hunt: Global warming
1. What is global warming?
Global warming is the increment in the average temperature of the atmosphere of the Earth. Global warming is happening because the humans are releasing a lot of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere because we are deforestation, burning fossil fuels... Those gases causes the greenhouse effect. That effect is the absorvetion of the thermal radiations by the atmospheric greenhouse gases.
2. What is the process involved in the greenhouse effect?
The "greenhouse effect" is the warming that happens when greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere trap heat. These gases let in light but keep heat from escaping. That heat returns to the surface of the Earth, then are reflected, but they can escape of the Earth's atmosphere because there are greenhouse gases that trap them.
Different greenhouse gases have very different heat-trapping abilities. Some of them can even trap more heat than CO2. A molecule of methane produces more than 20 times the warming of a molecule of CO2. Nitrous oxide is 300 times more powerful than CO2. Other gases, such as chlorofluorocarbons have heat-trapping potential thousands of times greater than CO2. But because their concentrations are much lower than CO2, none of these gases adds as much warmth to the atmosphere as CO2 does.
In order to understand the effects of all the gases together, scientists tend to talk about all greenhouse gases in terms of the equivalent amount of CO2. Since 1990, yearly emissions have gone up by about 6 billion metric tons of "carbon dioxide equivalent" worldwide, more than a 20 percent increase.
3. What signs warn us about global warming?
Ice is melting worldwide, especially at the Earth’s poles. This includes mountain glaciers, ice sheets covering West
Antarctica and Greenland, and Arctic sea ice.
Researcher Bill Fraser has tracked the decline of the Adélie penguins on Antarctica, where their numbers have fallen from 32,000 breeding pairs to 11,000 in 30 years.
Sea level rise became faster over the last century .
Some butterflies, foxes, and alpine plants have moved farther north or to higher, cooler areas.
Precipitation (rain and snowfall) has increased across the globe, on average.
Spruce bark beetles have boomed in Alaska thanks to 20 years of warm summers. The insects have chewed up 4 million acres of spruce trees.
Other effects could happen later this century, if warming continues.
Sea levels are expected to rise between 7 and 23 inches (18 and 59 centimeters) by the end of the century, and continued melting at the poles could add between 4 and 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters).
Hurricanes and other storms are likely to become stronger.
Species that depend on one another may become out of sync. For example, plants could bloom earlier than their pollinating insects become active.
Floods and droughts will become more common. Rainfall in Ethiopia, where droughts are already common, could decline by 10 percent over the next 50 years.Less fresh water will be available. If the Quelccaya ice cap in Peru continues to melt at its current rate, it will be gone by 2100, leaving thousands of people who rely on it for drinking water and electricity without a source of either.Some diseases will spread, such as malaria carried by mosquitoes.
Ecosystems will change—some species will move farther north or become more successful; others won’t be able to move and could become extinct. Wildlife research scientist Martyn Obbard has found that since the mid-1980s, with less ice on which to live and fish for food, polar bears have gotten considerably skinnier. Polar bear biologist Ian Stirling has found a similar pattern in Hudson Bay. He fears that if sea ice disappears, the polar bears will as well.
4. Can you quote another term for global warming?
Climate Change
Greenhouse effect
THE BIG QUESTION:
What can we do to stop global warming? Suggest five ideas.
We can use renewable energies.
We can use less the car and use more bycicle, bus...
We can plant some trees.
We can consume less.
We can recycle.
1. What is global warming?
2. What is the process involved in the greenhouse effect?
The "greenhouse effect" is the warming that happens when greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere trap heat. These gases let in light but keep heat from escaping. That heat returns to the surface of the Earth, then are reflected, but they can escape of the Earth's atmosphere because there are greenhouse gases that trap them.
Different greenhouse gases have very different heat-trapping abilities. Some of them can even trap more heat than CO2. A molecule of methane produces more than 20 times the warming of a molecule of CO2. Nitrous oxide is 300 times more powerful than CO2. Other gases, such as chlorofluorocarbons have heat-trapping potential thousands of times greater than CO2. But because their concentrations are much lower than CO2, none of these gases adds as much warmth to the atmosphere as CO2 does.
In order to understand the effects of all the gases together, scientists tend to talk about all greenhouse gases in terms of the equivalent amount of CO2. Since 1990, yearly emissions have gone up by about 6 billion metric tons of "carbon dioxide equivalent" worldwide, more than a 20 percent increase.
Ice is melting worldwide, especially at the Earth’s poles. This includes mountain glaciers, ice sheets covering West
Antarctica and Greenland, and Arctic sea ice.
Researcher Bill Fraser has tracked the decline of the Adélie penguins on Antarctica, where their numbers have fallen from 32,000 breeding pairs to 11,000 in 30 years.
Sea level rise became faster over the last century .
Some butterflies, foxes, and alpine plants have moved farther north or to higher, cooler areas.
Precipitation (rain and snowfall) has increased across the globe, on average.
Spruce bark beetles have boomed in Alaska thanks to 20 years of warm summers. The insects have chewed up 4 million acres of spruce trees.
Other effects could happen later this century, if warming continues.
Sea levels are expected to rise between 7 and 23 inches (18 and 59 centimeters) by the end of the century, and continued melting at the poles could add between 4 and 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters).
Hurricanes and other storms are likely to become stronger.
Species that depend on one another may become out of sync. For example, plants could bloom earlier than their pollinating insects become active.
Floods and droughts will become more common. Rainfall in Ethiopia, where droughts are already common, could decline by 10 percent over the next 50 years.Less fresh water will be available. If the Quelccaya ice cap in Peru continues to melt at its current rate, it will be gone by 2100, leaving thousands of people who rely on it for drinking water and electricity without a source of either.Some diseases will spread, such as malaria carried by mosquitoes.
Ecosystems will change—some species will move farther north or become more successful; others won’t be able to move and could become extinct. Wildlife research scientist Martyn Obbard has found that since the mid-1980s, with less ice on which to live and fish for food, polar bears have gotten considerably skinnier. Polar bear biologist Ian Stirling has found a similar pattern in Hudson Bay. He fears that if sea ice disappears, the polar bears will as well.
Climate Change
Greenhouse effect
We can use less the car and use more bycicle, bus...
We can plant some trees.
We can consume less.
We can recycle.
Vocabulary:
Livelihoods: mitjans de vida
Greenhouse warming: escalfament per efecte hivernacle
Rising: creixent
Spruce trees: avets
Spruce trees: avets
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