Carbon dioxide
There is increasing evidence that the level of carbon dioxide in the Earth鈥檚 atmosphere is rising. There is also evidence that humans are responsible for this rise.
There is more carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere because:
- The increased combustion of fossil fuels has released more carbon dioxide.
- Increased The cutting down of trees. has reduced the amount of carbon dioxide being removed from the atmosphere by A chemical process used by plants to make glucose and oxygen from carbon dioxide and water, using light energy. Oxygen is produced as a by-product of photosynthesis. Algae subsumed within plants and some bacteria are also photosynthetic..
The greenhouse effect
Greenhouse gases (like carbon dioxide) form a blanket around the Earth鈥檚 atmosphere.
This 鈥榞reenhouse blanket鈥 allows heat from the Sun to enter the atmosphere but then traps it.
This is causing the Earth鈥檚 temperature to increase and is known as global warming.
Many politicians and members of the public have only recently accepted that the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide is to blame for global warming.
Effects of global warming
Image caption, Melting polar ice caps
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How to reduce the effects of global warming
- Planting more trees and reducing deforestation to absorb more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
- Burning fewer fossil fuels by using A fuel that is not a fossil fuel. in order to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere.
- Being more energy efficient to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere.