A PROBLEM THAT IS BIGGER THAN

IT SEEMS: GLOBAL WARMING

It can also cause heat waves, heavy

downpours and sea level rises

By Kevin Constantineau

"Northeast. Heat waves, heavy downpours,

and sea level rise pose growing challenges to
many aspects of life in the Northeast.
Infrastructure, agriculture, fisheries, and
ecosystems
will
be
increasingly
compromised. Many states and cities are
beginning to incorporate climate change into
their planning.

Antarctica's Ice shelves are thinning fast

Snow melting 16 days earlier in Wyoming
mountains
2011 Japan Tsunami unleashed Ozonedestroying chemicals
Western Canada's glaciers could
disappear by 2100

Above: Starving polar bear

What is global warming?
"A gradual increase in the overall
temperature of the earth's atmosphere
generally attributed to the greenhouse effect
caused by increased levels of carbon
dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and other
pollutants."
Why is it so important?
It's important because all of the warming
will cause the polar ice sheets to melt,
releasing tons of water that will raise the sea
level enough to flood a large amount of
coastal towns/cities.

Northwest. Changes in the timing of stream

flow reduce water supplies for competing
demands. Sea level rise, erosion, inundation,
risks to infrastructure, and increasing ocean
acidity pose major threats. Increasing
wildfire, insect outbreaks, and tree diseases
are causing widespread tree die-off.
Southeast. Sea level rise poses widespread
and continuing threats to the regions
economy and environment. Extreme heat
will affect health, energy, agriculture, and
more. Decreased water availability will have
economic and environmental impacts.
Midwest. Extreme heat, heavy downpours,
and flooding will affect infrastructure,
health, agriculture, forestry, transportation,
air and water quality, and more. Climate
change will also exacerbate a range of risks
to the Great Lakes.
Southwest. Increased heat, drought, and
insect outbreaks, all linked to climate
change, have increased wildfires. Declining
water supplies, reduced agricultural yields,
health impacts in cities due to heat, and
flooding and erosion in coastal areas are
additional concerns."
How can we stop all of this?
Well there are two easy ways for you to
contribute to stop global warming; using
clean energy sources and reducing your
carbon emissions. Clean energy would be

using electric cars, solar panels, water power

or even wind turbines, all of these are great
but the one thing you must NOT use is fossil
fuels because they cause lots of C02 and
aren't renewable. Another way of lowering
your C02 emissions by reducing the amount
of times you take the plane to go to places.
Why does the ozone break down?
The ozone layer is being
because of manufactured
contain chlorine and/or
elements are called
substances (ODS).

destroyed mostly
chemicals which
bromine. These
Ozone-depleting

Why is the ozone layer important?

It is important because it protects the earth
from the suns UV rays, without that layer of
ozone it would be almost impossible for
anything to survive on the surface of the
earth. These UV rays damage the DNA of
plants and animals (including humans) and
will give skin cancer. The only way we
could live is if we were to build
underground structures before the entire
ozone is depleted. Considering there is
already a "hole" over Antarctica. Scientists
use the term hole but it is only metaphorical,

they refer to the place where the ozone

concentration drops below 220 Dobson
units; units used in the study of ozone(1
Dobson unit is equal to 0.1mm at standard
temperature and pressure). This causes more
UV rays to be able to pass through which in
turn warm up the surface of earth. Sea ice is
melting at the poles and the polar bears are
losing their hunting territory, more and more
they have to swim longer and longer
distances which means that they get more
tired and more of them and up drowning in
the open sea. The change in temperature is
also making thaw the permafrost, which is a
thick subsurface layer of soil that remains
frozen throughout the year. The fact that
they are thawing is a problem because first
of all the ground in the polar regions is
getting much less solid and the carbon that
was trapped in the frozen soil in now able to
escape and bond with the oxygen to either
create CO2, carbon dioxide (most well
known greenhouse gas) or CO, carbon
monoxide (which is gas produced by motor
cars that use gasoline, most of the cars on
the road). So basically, it is like a continuous
loop. 1. Greenhouse gases are released. 2.
Ozone is depleting. 3. Earth is getting
warmer. 4. Permafrost is thawing.