Science Behind
Climate Change
Climate Change
What is photosynthesis?
The chemical reaction that lets Trees and plants create their own source of food.
This massive, bright object in the center of our solar system provides Earth with light and heat, but changes in its energy are not the cause of modern global warming.
What is the Sun?
What is a heatwave?
A type of extreme weather event—marked by dangerously hot days in a row—is becoming more common and severe due to global warming.
These vehicles use large lithium-ion battery packs instead of internal combustion engines, eliminating tailpipe emissions.
Electric vehicles
In the 1820s, a French mathematician first compared the Earth's atmosphere to a glass greenhouse. What is this concept called today?
The greenhouse effect
What is the atmosphere?
A layer of gases that surrounds a planet
What is Deforestation?
The widespread clearing and removal of trees, which accelerates global warming by eliminating the plants that naturally remove carbon dioxide from the air?
As glaciers and ice sheets melt, this is rising worldwide, threatening coastal towns and beaches with flooding. What is the name of this effect?
Rising sea level
Planting trees to restore a forest that was previously cut down is known by this scientific term.
Reforestation
In 1958, a scientist began tracking atmospheric carbon dioxide levels at an observatory in Hawaii, creating a famous jagged graph known as the...
Keeling Curve
Why is carbon dioxide (CO2) called a greenhouse gas?
Carbon dioxide is called a greenhouse gas because it is highly transparent to incoming sunlight but strongly absorbs the heat that the Earth radiates back outward
What type of energy sources—including coal, oil, and natural gas—are burned to generate electricity and power transportation, releasing massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere?
Fossil Fuels
This devastating environmental event happens more frequently and spreads faster when droughts leave forests dry and hot.
A wildfire
Unlike fossil fuels, these energy options—such as geothermal, solar, and hydro—will never run out.
Renewable energy?
The rapid increase in global temperatures traces back to the 1800s, when humans began burning large amounts of this energy source to power trains and factories.
Fossil fuels
How does the atmosphere trap heat
Heat is trapped in the atmosphere through the greenhouse effect, where atmospheric gases act like a thermal blanket.
While the greenhouse effect is causing global warming today, it is also a natural process that prevents Earth from becoming a frozen planet of ice. This is the temperature, in degrees Fahrenheit, of what Earth's average temperature would be without any greenhouse gases.
Between 0°F and -4°F
Warmer ocean water acts like fuel for these powerful, spinning tropical storms, making them stronger and more destructive. What is the name of the natural disasters?
Hurricanes
Setting your home's system to this lower temperature in the winter saves massive amounts of energy and reduces heating emissions.
A thermostat
To study the history of Earth's climate hundreds of thousands of years ago, scientists drill deep into glaciers and ice sheets to extract these.
Ice cores
What are the 3 most impactful greenhouse gases?
Carbon dioxide, Methane and Nitrous oxide
Besides burning fossil fuels, which specific human industry—largely driven by livestock digestion and agricultural practices—is a major source of methane gas emissions?
Agriculture
Many animals are forced to move toward these cold geographical regions or up high mountains to escape rising temperatures. What is the location(s)?
The North and South Poles
This energy source uses the gravitational pull of the moon and the rise and fall of ocean waters to spin electricity-generating turbines.
Tidal energy
In 2015, nearly 200 countries met to adopt this landmark treaty, aiming to limit global warming and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Paris Agreement