GLOBAL WARMING

PREFACE
The focus of this book is the global scale climate change due to human activity and electrical pollution, Carbon dioxide, greenhouse gases. This book is divided in to the causes, effect and solution of global warming. One of the main goals of this book is to dispel this misconception. Global warming is in our backyard. The reality reason is that aggregate action of millions of individuals primary engine behind our present climate crisis. We shall share some personal responsibility to modify the way we live to reduce our use of fossil fuel, based energy, products & services that produces green house gasses that are warming our world This book provides information on working of the climate system, on natural causes of climate system. Global warming is affecting many parts of the world. Global warming makes the sea rise, and when the sea rises, the water covers many low land islands. People are doing many things to try to stop global warming. One thing people are doing is carpooling. Carpooling is driving with someone to a place that you are both going to. This minimizes the amount of greenhouse gases put into the air by a car.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank prof: t.j.matthew for giving an opportunity to write this book.I would also like to thank who have supporting me in completing this book.

Contents
WHAT IS GLOBAL WARMING? 1 WHAT IS THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT? 1 WHAT ARE GREENHOUSE GASSES? 3 WHAT IS GLOBAL WARMING DOING TO THE ENVIRONMENT? 3 WHAT CAUSES GLOBAL WARMING? 4 WHAT ARE PEOPLE DOING TO STOP GLOBAL WARMING? 6 WHAT IS THE GOVERNMENT DOING TO STOP GLOBAL WARMING? 6 Contents............................................................................................................................5 ATTRIBUTION AND EXPECTED EFFECTS.........................................................8 Natural systems........................................................................................................8 Ecological systems...................................................................................................9 Species migration.....................................................................................................9 Social systems..........................................................................................................9 THE REASON: HUMANS ARE CAUSING THE PROBLEM..............................11 IS HUMAN-CAUSED WARMING DANGEROUS?.............................................12 GLOBAL WARMING CONTRIBUTES TO BOTH FLOODS AND DROUGHTS ....................................................................................................................................12 Flooding.................................................................................................................12 Droughts.................................................................................................................12 THE EFFECT ON HURRICANES...........................................................................12

HOW DO YOU CONTRIBUTE?.............................................................................13 THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CAUSE.......................................................................13 METHANES HUGE IMPACT................................................................................14 A GROWING PROBLEM........................................................................................15 The Few But Strong...................................................................................................15 HOW TO STOP GLOBAL WARMING......................................................................23 WAYS TO HELP PREVENT GLOBAL WARMING ON YOUR VACATIONS.....30 Travel Tip #1:.............................................................................................................30 Find Ecotourism Opportunities..................................................................................30 Travel Tip #2:.............................................................................................................31 Reduce Travel Emissions...........................................................................................31 Travel Tip #3:.............................................................................................................31 Decrease Your Tourist Impact...................................................................................31 Travel Tip #4:.............................................................................................................32 The Best Solution.......................................................................................................32

WHAT IS GLOBAL WARMING? Global warming is when the earth heats up (the temperature rises). It happens when greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, water vapor, nitrous oxide, and methane) trap heat and light from the sun in the earths atmosphere, which increases the temperature. This hurts many people, animals, and plants. Many cannot take the change, so they die. While some would call global warming a theory, others would call it a proven set of facts. Opinions differ vehemently. Let us consider global warming to be both a premise that the environment of the world as we know it is slowly, but very surely increasing in overall air and water temperature, and a promise that if whatever is causing this trend is not interrupted or challenged life on earth will dynamically be affected. The prevailing counter opinion is that all that is presently perceived to be global warming is simply the result of a normal climactic swing in the direction of increased temperature. Many proponents of this global warming ideology have definitive social and financial interests in these claims. Global warming and climate change are aspects of our environment that cannot be easily or quickly discounted. Many factions still strongly feel that the changes our Earth is seeing are the result of a natural climatic adjustment. Regardless of ones perspective the effects of global warming are a quantifiable set of environmental results that are in addition to any normal changes in climate. That is why the effects of global warming have catastrophic potential. Global warming may well be the straw that breaks the camels back. It could turn out to be the difference between a category three hurricane and a category four. Global warming as caused by greenhouse gas emissions can lead us to a definite imbalance of nature. The premise of global warming as an issue of debate is that industrial growth coupled with non-structured methods we as humans use to sustain ourselves has created a situation where our planet is getting progressively hotter. We have seemingly negatively effected our environment by a cycle of harmful processes that now seem to be feeding upon themselves to exponentially increase the damage to our ecosystem

WHAT IS THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT?

The greenhouse effect is when the temperature rises because the suns heat and light is trapped in the earths atmosphere. This is like when heat is trapped in a car. On a very hot day, the car gets hotter when it is out in the parking lot. This is because the heat and light from the sun can get into the car, by going through the windows, but it cant

get back out. This is what the greenhouse effect does to the earth. The heat and light can get through the atmosphere, but it cant get out. As a result, the temperature rises.

The squiggle lines coming from the sun are visible light and the lines and arrows inside the car are infrared light. The suns heat can get into the car through the windows but is then trapped. This makes what ever the place might be, a greenhouse, a car, a building, or the earths atmosphere, hotter. This diagram shows the heat coming into a car as visible light (light you can see) and infrared light (heat). Once the light is inside the car, it is trapped and the heat builds up, just like it does in the earths atmosphere. Sometimes the temperature can change in a way that helps us. The greenhouse effect makes the earth appropriate for people to live on. Without it, the earth would be freezing, or on the other hand it would be burning hot. It would be freezing at night because the sun would be down. We would not get the suns heat and light to make the night somewhat warm. During the day, especially during the summer, it would be burning because the sun would be up with no atmosphere to filter it, so people, plants, and animals would be exposed to all the light and heat. Although the greenhouse effect makes the earth able to have people living on it, if there gets to be too many gases, the earth can get unusually warmer, and many plants, animals, and people will die. They would die because there would be less food (plants like corn, wheat, and other vegetables and fruits). This would happen because the plants would not be able to take the heat. This would cause us to have less food to eat, but it would also limit the food that animals have. With less food, like grass, for the animals that we need to survive (like cows) we would even have less food. Gradually, people, plants, and animals would all die of hunger.

Arent temperature changes natural? The average global temperature and concentrations of carbon dioxide (one of the major greenhouse gases) have fluctuated on a cycle of hundreds of thousands of years as the Earths position relative to the sun has varied. As a result, ice ages have come and gone. However, for thousands of years now, emissions of GHGs to the atmosphere have been balanced out by GHGs that are naturally absorbed. As a result, GHG concentrations and temperature have been fairly stable. This stability has allowed human civilization to develop within a consistent climate. 2

Occasionally, other factors briefly influence global temperatures. Volcanic eruptions, for example, emit particles that temporarily cool the Earths surface. But these have no lasting effect beyond a few years. Other cycles, such as El Nio, also work on fairly short and predictable cycles. Now, humans have increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by more than a third since the industrial revolution. Changes this large have historically taken thousands of years, but are now happening over the course of decades. Why is this a concern? The rapid rise in greenhouse gases is a problem because it is changing the climate faster than some living things may be able to adapt. Also, a new and more unpredictable climate poses unique challenges to all life. Historically, Earths climate has regularly shifted back and forth between temperatures like those we see today and temperatures cold enough that large sheets of ice covered much of North America and Europe. The difference between average global temperatures today and during those ice ages is only about 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit), and these swings happen slowly, over hundreds of thousands of years. Now, with concentrations of greenhouse gases rising, Earths remaining ice sheets (such as Greenland and Antarctica) are starting to melt too. The extra water could potentially raise sea levels significantly. As the mercury rises, the climate can change in unexpected ways. In addition to sea levels rising, weather can become more extreme. This means more intense major storms, more rain followed by longer and drier droughts (a challenge for growing crops), changes in the ranges in which plants and animals can live, and loss of water supplies that have historically come from glaciers. Scientists are already seeing some of these changes occurring more quickly than they had expected. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, eleven of the twelve hottest years since thermometer readings became available occurred between 1995 and 2006.

WHAT ARE GREENHOUSE GASSES?

Greenhouse gasses are gasses are in the earths atmosphere that collect heat and light from the sun. With too many greenhouse gasses in the air, the earths atmosphere will 3

trap too much heat and the earth will get too hot. As a result people, animals, and plants would die because the heat would be too strong.

WHAT IS GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT?

WARMING

DOING

TO

THE

Global warming is affecting many parts of the world. Global warming makes the sea rise, and when the sea rises, the water covers many low land islands. This is a big problem for many of the plants, animals, and people on islands. The water covers the plants and causes some of them to die. When they die, the animals lose a source of food, along with their habitat. Although animals have a better ability to adapt to what happens than plants do, they may die also. When the plants and animals die, people lose two sources of food, plant food and animal food. They may also lose their homes. As a result, they would also have to leave the area or die. This would be called a break in the food chain, or a chain reaction, one thing happening that leads to another and so on. The oceans are affected by global warming in other ways, as well. Many things that are happening to the ocean are linked to global warming. One thing that is happening is warm water, caused from global warming, is harming and killing algae in the ocean. Algae is a producer that you can see floating on the top of the water. (A producer is something that makes food for other animals through photosynthesis, like grass.) This floating green algae is food to many consumers in the ocean. (A consumer is something that eats the producers.) One kind of a consumer is small fish. There are many others like crabs, some whales, and many other animals. Fewer algae is a problem because there is less food for us and many animals in the sea. Global warming is doing many things to people as well as animals and plants. It is killing algae, but it is also destroying many huge forests. The pollution that causes global warming is linked to acid rain. Acid rain gradually destroys almost everything it touches. Global warming is also causing many more fires that wipe out whole forests. This happens because global warming can make the earth very hot. In forests, some plants and trees leaves can be so dry that they catch on fire.

WHAT CAUSES GLOBAL WARMING?

Many things cause global warming. One thing that causes global warming is electrical pollution. Electricity causes pollution in many ways, some worse than others. In most cases, fossil fuels are burned to create electricity. Fossil fuels are made of dead plants and animals. Some examples of fossil fuels are oil and petroleum. Many pollutants (chemicals that pollute the air, water, and land) are sent 4

into the air when fossil fuels are burned. greenhouse gasses.

Some of these chemicals are called

We use these sources of energy much more than the sources that give off less pollution. Petroleum, one of the sources of energy, is used a lot. It is used for transportation, making electricity, and making many other things. Although this source of energy gives off a lot of pollution, it is used for 38% of the United States energy. Some other examples of using energy and polluting the air are: Turning on a light Watching T.V. Listening to a stereo Washing or drying clothes Using a hair dryer Riding in a car Heating a meal in the microwave Using an air conditioner Playing a video game Using a dish washer

When you do these things, you are causing more greenhouse gasses to be sent into the air. Greenhouse gasses are sent into the air because creating the electricity you use to do these things causes pollution. If you think of how many times a day you do these things, its a lot. You even have to add in how many other people do these things! That turns out to be a lot of pollutants going into the air a day because of people like us using electricity. The least amount of electricity you use, the better. When we throw our garbage away, the garbage goes to landfills. Landfills are those big hills that you go by on an expressway that stink. They are full of garbage. The garbage is then sometimes burned. This sends an enormous amount of greenhouse gasses into the air and makes global warming worse. 5

Another thing that makes global warming worse is when people cut down trees. Trees and other plants collect carbon dioxide (CO2), which is a greenhouse gas. Carbon dioxide is the air that our body lets out when we breathe. With fewer trees, it is harder for people to breathe because there is more CO2 in the air, and we dont breathe CO2, we breathe oxygen. Plants collect the CO2 that we breathe out, and they give back oxygen that we breathe in. With less trees and other plants, such as algae, there is less air for us, and more greenhouse gases are sent into the air. This means that it is very important to protect our trees to stop the greenhouse effect, and also so we can breathe and live. This gas, CO2, collects light and heat (radiant energy), produced by the sun, and this makes the earth warmer. The heat and light from the sun is produced in the center of the sun. (The sun has layers just like the earth.) The dirty yellow color on outside is the surface. The light and dark yellow colored area is the convection zone. The orange colored area is the radiative zone, and the red colored area is the core. The squiggle lines represent radiant energy. This layer is called the core. Just like a core of an apple, it is in the middle. Here there is a very high temperature, about 27,000,000F. This heat escapes out of this layer to the next layer, the radiative zone. This layer is cooler, about 4,500,000F. Gradually, the heat and light will pass through the convection zone at a temperature of around 2,000,000F. When it gets to the surface, the temperature is about 10,000F. Finally, the heat and light is sent into space. This is called radiant energy (heat and light). The radiant energy reaches the earths atmosphere. As a result of this process we get light and heat. When you pollute, you send chemicals into the air that destroy our atmosphere, so more heat and light cannot escape from the earths atmosphere.

WHAT ARE PEOPLE DOING TO STOP GLOBAL WARMING?

People are doing many things to try to stop global warming. One thing people are doing is carpooling. Carpooling is driving with someone to a place that you are both going to. This minimizes the amount of greenhouse gases put into the air by a car. Another thing that people are doing is being more careful about leaving things turned on like the television, computer, and the lights. A lot of people are taking time away from the television, and instead, they are spending more time outdoors. This helps our planet out a lot. Now, more people are even riding busses, walking to school, and riding their bikes to lower the amount of greenhouse gases in the air. Planting trees

and recycling also helps. If you recycle, less trash goes to the dump, and less trash gets burned. As a result, there are fewer greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere. Watch what you buy. Many things, such as hairspray and deodorant, now are made to have less of an impact on the atmosphere. Less greenhouse gasses will rise into the air, and global warming will slow down.

WHAT IS THE GOVERNMENT DOING TO STOP GLOBAL WARMING?

The government is doing many things to help stop global warming. The government made a law called The Clean Air Act so there is less air pollution. Global warming is making people get very bad illnesses that could make them disabled, very sick, and sometimes even die. The Clean Air Act is making many companies change their products to decrease these problems. Part of the law says that you may not put a certain amount of pollutants in the air. Hairspray and some other products, like foam cups, had this problem. Making and using these products let out too much volatile organic compounds (VOCs), ozone-destroying chemicals (chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and related chemicals (such as CO2) into the air. Now, almost all of these products have a label on them telling people what this product can do to the environment and many people. By 2015 all products listed on the Clean Air Act will have this label on them: WARNING: contains or manufactured with (the chemical would go here. For example chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), a substance which harms public health and the environment by destroying ozone in the upper atmosphere. Almost all of the other chemicals that could be harmful will have this label on them hopefully by this time (2015) as well. The Clean Air Act has also made car companies change some of the things inside of the cars. Cars pollute a lot. While cars make more than half of the worlds smog (visible pollution in the air), many things that cars need to move and heat up make even more pollution. Some things that are inside of cars, buses, trucks, and motorcycles, like gasoline, pollute the air when the fuel is burned. It comes out as a chemical and when mixed in the air, forms smog. Smog is a kind of pollution that you see in the form of a cloud. If you have ever been to California you can see a lot of smog in some places. Sometimes the smog gets so bad that you cannot see at all! Smog forms when car exhaust, pollution from homes, and pollution from factories mixes in the air and has a chemical reaction. The suns heat and light add to the reaction.

Cars, buses, and trucks are also responsible for over 50% of dangerous chemicals let into the air. Some of these chemicals can cause cancer, birth defects, trouble breathing, brain and nerve damage, lung injures, and burning eyes. Some of the pollutants are so harmful that they can even cause death.

ATTRIBUTION AND EXPECTED EFFECTS

Main articles: Effects of global warming and Regional effects of global warming Global warming may be detected in natural, ecological or social systems as a change having statistical significance. Attribution of these changes e.g., to natural or human activities, is the next step following detection Sparse records indicate that glaciers have been retreating since the early 1800s. In the 1950s measurements began that allow the monitoring of glacial mass balance, reported to the WGMS and the NSIDC.

Natural systems
Global warming has been detected in a number of systems. Some of these changes, e.g., based on the instrumental temperature record, have been described in the section on temperature changes. Rising sea levels and observed decreases in snow and ice extent are consistent with warming.Most of the increase in global average temperature since the mid-20th century is, with high probability, attributable to human-induced changes in greenhouse gas concentrations Even with current policies to reduce emissions, global emissions are still expected to continue to grow over the coming decades. Over the course of the 21st century, increases in emissions at or above their current rate would very likely induce changes in the climate system larger than those observed in the 20th century. In the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, across a range of future emission scenarios, model-based estimates of sea level rise for the end of the 21st century (the year 2090 2099, relative to 19801999) range from 0.18 to 0.59 m. These estimates, however, were not given a likelihood due to a lack of scientific understanding, nor was an upper bound given for sea level rise. On the timescale of centuries to millennia, the melting of ice sheets could result in even higher sea level rise. Partial deglaciation of the Greenland ice sheet, and possibly the West Antarctic ice sheet, could contribute 4 6 metres (13 to 20 ft) or more to sea level rise. Changes in regional climate are expected to include greater warming over land, with most warming at high northern latitudes, and least warming over the Southern Ocean and parts of the North Atlantic Ocean. Snow cover area and sea ice extent are expected to decrease, with the Arctic expected to be largely ice-free in September by 8

2037. The frequency of hot extremes, heat waves, and heavy precipitation will very likely increase.

Ecological systems
In terrestrial ecosystems, the earlier timing of spring events, and poleward and upward shifts in plant and animal ranges, have been linked with high confidence to recent warming .Future climate change is expected to particularly affect certain ecosystems, including tundra, mangroves, and coral reefs. It is expected that most ecosystems will be affected by higher atmospheric CO2 levels, combined with higher global temperatures. Overall, it is expected that climate change will result in the extinction of many species and reduced diversity of ecosystems.

Species migration
In 2010, a gray whale was found in the Mediterranean Sea, even though the species had not been seen in the North Atlantic Ocean since the 18th century. The whale is thought to have migrated from the Pacific Ocean via the Arctic. Climate Change & European Marine Ecosystem Research (CLAMER) has also reported that the Neodenticula seminae alga has been found in the North Atlantic, where it had gone extinct nearly 800,000 years ago. The alga has drifted from the Pacific Ocean through the Arctic, following the reduction in polar ice. In the Siberian sub-arctic, species migration is contributing to another warming albedo-feedback, as needle-shedding larch trees are being replaced with dark-foliage evergreen conifers which can absorb some of the solar radiation that previously reflected off the snowpack beneath the forest canopy.

Social systems
Vulnerability of human societies to climate change mainly lies in the effects of extreme weather events rather than gradual climate change. Impacts of climate change so far include adverse effects on small islands, adverse effects on indigenous populations in high-latitude areas, and small but discernable effects on human health. Over the 21st century, climate change is likely to adversely affect hundreds of millions of people through increased coastal flooding, reductions in water supplies, increased malnutrition and increased health impacts. Future warming of around 3 C (by 2100, relative to 19902000) could result in increased crop yields in mid- and high-latitude areas, but in low-latitude areas, yields could decline, increasing the risk of malnutrition. A similar regional pattern of net benefits and costs could occur for economic (market-sector) effects. Warming above 3 C could result in crop yields falling in temperate regions, leading to a reduction in

global food production Most economic studies suggest losses of world gross domestic product (GDP) for this magnitude of warming. Some areas of the world would start to surpass the wet-bulb temperature limit of human survivability with global warming of about 6.7 C (12 F) while a warming of 11.7 C (21 F) would put half of the world's population in an uninhabitable environment. In practice the survivable limit of global warming in these areas is probably lower and in practice some areas may experience lethal wet bulb tempatures even earlier, because this study conservatively projected the survival limit for persons who are out of the sun, in gale-force winds, doused with water, wearing no clothing, and not working.

WHAT ARE CHEMICALS?

SOME

OF

THE

OTHER

DANGEROUS

Some other chemicals that cause air pollution and are bad for the environment and people are: Ozone- Ozone is produced when other pollution chemicals combine. It is the basic element of smog. It causes many different kinds of health issues dealing with the lungs. It can damage plants and limit sight. It can also cause a lot of property damage. VOCs (volatile organic compounds, smog formers)- VOCs are let into the air when fuel is burned. This chemical can cause cancer. It can also harm plants. NOx (nitrogen dioxide)- This chemical forms smog. It is also formed by burning sources of energy, like gas, coal, and oil, and by cars. This chemical causes problems in the respiratory system (including the lungs). It causes acid rain, and it can damage trees. This chemical can eat away buildings and statues. CO (carbon monoxide)- The source of this chemical is burning sources of energy. It causes blood vessel problems and respiratory failures. PM-10 (particulate matter)- The source of this chemical is plowing and burning down fields. It can cause death and lung damage. It can make it hard for people to breathe. The smoke, soot, ash, and dust formed by this chemical can make many cities dirty. Sulfur Dioxide- This chemical is produced by making paper and metals. This chemical can cause permanent lung damage. It can cause acid rain which kills trees and damages building and statues. 10

Lead- This chemical is in paint, leaded gasoline, smelters, and in lead storage batteries. It can cause many brain and nerve damages and digestive problems.

Test yourself on global warming by figuring out a word search at the website below. When you enter this website, you will have to click on Global Warming Word Search to enter the page.

KID CAN HELP STOP GLOBAL WARMING, TOO!!

Although adults do many things to help stop global warming, kids can do just as much. Kids cant do hard things like making a law, but we can do easier things like not watching as much TV. You can listen to your parents when they say, turn off your lights or go play outside. Listening to them and actually trying to help can help you, your environment, and the world.

THE REASON: HUMANS ARE CAUSING THE PROBLEM

While there are many natural causes of global warming, these causes do not account for the extra warming we are currently seeing on our planet. The current warming is anthropogenic, created by humans. How do humans cause global warming? We are accelerating the natural climatological cycles with our human-created emissions of greenhouse gases. The primary gas, carbon dioxide, is released every time you use fossil fuels- currently our main energy source. Unless you help stop those emissions, there is little hope of a secure future for humans. Youll see that dangerous shifts in the Earths climate are happening as we speak due to human induced global warming, and as it continues the consequences will worsen. Furthermore, such changes may be self-reinforcing. From an objective perspective, it looks like we are playing Russian roulette with all of life on Earth!

Driving your car which requires the combustion of tremendous amounts of fossil fuels. These fuels have been storing carbon for thousands, possibly millions of years. When your car burns them, that carbon is instantly released as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Buying your suburban home whose lot was cleared of existing trees and plants that were actively storing carbon. When those plants were killed to build your home, they stopped storing carbon and released all the carbon they had accumulated over tens or even hundreds of years.

11

Eating supermarket meat which requires both the clearing of land for growing animal feed and the use of enormous fossil fuel-powered machines in the production, processing and transportation of this feed (as well as the meat). If you eat beef, lamb or goat meat, you should know that those animals digestive tracts produce methane, a major greenhouse gas. It may surprise you that animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions, but that was the finding of a recent study by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

IS HUMAN-CAUSED WARMING DANGEROUS?

The short answer is yes. Much concern exists within the scientific community about global warming, the main cause of which is an accumulation of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere. Harmful changes were predicted in the IPCCs Fourth Assessment Report some of which include:

Increased flooding in wet areas and coastal regions Increased droughts in dry areas, as well as the growth of drought-affected areas Death and displacement of coastal populations as a result of sea level rise Increased famine due to the loss of fresh water currently stored in glaciers and snow

GLOBAL WARMING CONTRIBUTES TO BOTH FLOODS AND DROUGHTS

Flooding
The U.S. Climate Change Science Program issued a report predicting an increase in extreme weather in North America, including both floods and droughts, as a result of global warming. There is strong evidence that that heavy downpours will become more common and more severe along with the rise in global temperature.

Droughts
But what, you might ask, does this have to do with droughts? As director of the National Climatic Data Center Thomas Karl explains, When it rains, it rains harder and when its not raining, its warmer there is more evaporation, and droughts can last longer. [1]

THE EFFECT ON HURRICANES

12

The evidence on hurricanes is more mixed. Some scientists have hypothesized that warmer ocean surface temperatures will lead to an increase in hurricanes and tropical storms, but this may not actually be the case. Hurricanes may become less frequent as the temperature of the Atlantic Ocean rises, suggests a recent study in Nature Geoscience. However, the study, which relies on historical weather data and computer simulations, does suggest that heavy rainfall may increase from storms that do not reach tropical storm status.

HOW DO YOU CONTRIBUTE?

If you want to help stop global warming, you have to understand how your actions are causing it. The main causes of global warming, in order of the magnitude of their impact, are: Carbon Dioxide from: 1. Fossil Fuel 2. Deforestation 3. Failing Sinks Methane from: 4. Cattle and Rice Paddies 5. the Artic Tundra 6. Clathrates Nitrogen Oxides from Farming Other Gases

THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CAUSE

The buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, mainly from your fossil fuel emissions, is the most significant human cause of global warming. Carbon dioxide is released every you burn something, be it a car, airplane or coal plant. This means you must burn less fossil fuel if you want the Earths climate to remain stable! And unfortunately, we are currently destroying some of the best known mechanisms for storing that carbon plants. Deforestation increases the severity of global warming as well. Carbon dioxide is released from the human conversion of forests and grasslands into farmland and cities. All living plants store carbon. When those plants die and decay, carbon dioxide is 13

released back into the atmosphere. As forests and grasslands are cleared for your use, enormous amounts of stored carbon enter the atmosphere. An unstoppable feedback loop may happen if you let this continue. If the activities mentioned above warm the Earth just enough, it could cause natural carbon sinks to fail. A carbon sink is a natural system that stores carbon over thousands of years. Such sinks include peat bogs and the arctic tundra. But if these sinks destabilize, that carbon will be released, possibly causing an unstoppable and catastrophic warming of the Earth. The oceans are no longer able to store carbon as they have in the past. The ocean is a huge carbon sink, holding about 50 times as much carbon as the atmosphere. But now scientists are realizing that the increased thermal stratification of the oceans has caused substantial reductions in levels of phytoplankton, which store CO2. Increased atmospheric carbon is also causing an acidification of the ocean, since carbon dioxide forms carbonic acid when it reacts with water. The tiny plants of the ocean, the very bottom of that vast watery food chain, are suffering from the effects of global warming, which means they are becoming less able to store carbon, further contributing to climate change. As carbon sinks fail, the amount of carbon in the atmosphere climbs!

METHANES HUGE IMPACT

Per unit of volume, it is twenty times more potent than carbon dioxide when its impact is measured over the course of a century. When you consider its effects within a single decade, methane is 100 times as powerful as carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas! Carbon levels in the atmosphere are about 385 parts per million (ppm) currently, whereas methane is only about 1.8 ppm. But because methane is so powerful, it has the potential to have significant impacts on the future of global warming. Methane is created when bacteria break down organic matter under oxygen-starved conditions. This occurs when organic matter is trapped underwater, as in rice paddies. It also takes place in the intestines of herbivorous animals, such as cows, sheep, and goats. Because human agriculture has grown over time to engulf most of the arable land on the planet, it is now adding a lot of methane to the atmosphere. Landfills and leakage from natural gas fields (methane is a component of natural gas) are also significant sources of methane. Clathrates are a hidden source of Methane. Clathrates are frozen chunks of ice and methane that rest at the bottom of the worlds oceans. As the water warms, the ice melts, and the methane is released. If the current global warming, which is caused by humans, were to cause changes in the Earths ocean currents, then a rapid melting of clathrates would be possible. This too would create a positive feedback loop that 14

would cause further global warming. It is believed that some of the warming cycles in the Earths history have been caused by the sudden thawing of clathrates.

A GROWING PROBLEM
The green revolution of the twentieth century has allowed the farmers of the world to use chemical fertilizers and machines to produce far more food than they ever did before. One of the primary components of the green revolution has been the development of nitrogen fertilizers that dramatically accelerate the growth and productivity of plants in the field. Plants fix, or capture, nitrogen on their own as well, but green revolution technologies have become so popular that humans are now adding more nitrogen to the earth than all of the plants in the world combined! Nitrogen oxides have 300 times more heat-trapping capacity per unit of volume than does carbon dioxide, and we release them every time we apply fertilizer to soil. A recent United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization study found that modern farming is contributing more to global warming than all of the transportation sector combined! This is due partly to the fuel burned in modern farming, but more significantly, to the release of methane and nitrogen oxides.

The Few But Strong

CFCs and HCFCs (chlorofluorocarbons and hydrochlorofluorocarbons) used in refrigeration are also powerful greenhouse gases. These gases occur in lower concentrations in the atmosphere, but because they are so much more potent than carbon dioxide in some cases hundreds of times more potent per unit of volume they contribute to global warming as well.

GLOBAL WARMING FACTS

Global warming is caused by green house gases, which trap in the suns infrared rays in the earths atmosphere, which in turn heat up the earths atmosphere. These green house effect warming is called as global warming. The effects of green house effect are visible more prominently in the recent years, with number of natural calamities on the rise in the whole world. The global warming has happened in the past few years and is evident from the rise in mean temperature of the earths atmosphere. The main causes for the global warming are attributed to release of green house gases by human activities. The 15

main gases contributing to green house effect are carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane and nitrous oxide. The largest producers of these gases are the thermal power plants, which burn the fossil fuels and produce these gases in large quantities. The second biggest sources of these green house gases are the road vehicles and industries. The global warming has led to increase in mean earth surface temperature and thus melting of polar ice. There are frequent melt down of glaciers that result in floods and other natural calamities. The melting of ice at the poles had led the mean sea level. And further increase in temperature may further melt the ice and lead to further increase in mean sea level, which will engulf low lying countries. The effect of global warming is very evident on the animal kingdom also. Some animals have become extinct due to loss of their natural habitat or their inability to evolve to the rapid changes in the climate. Also there is a change in their life style because of the changes in the seasons. The migrating birds have changed their time of travel and also their place of migration. The effect of global warming can be felt on seasons too. There is shift in season cycle, as the summers are getting longer than the winters. This has affected the animals and made them to change their lifestyle accordingly, and those who failed to do so have perished or on the verge of extinction. The global warming is also responsible for the introduction of some new diseases. The bacteria are more effective and multiply much faster in warmer temperatures compared to cold temperatures. The increase in temperature has led to increase in the microbes that cause diseases. Global warming is also effecting the crop production, as the crops are getting destroyed by the sudden change in temperatures or sudden on set of rains. Also the flash floods and other natural calamities affect the crop. As a matter of fact, because of global warming, the earths atmosphere is getting more unpredictable with heavy rains in the areas, which have scanty rainfall or

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drought in the areas, which received good annual rainfall. The months of rainfall has also getting affected. But there are some people on the other side of the wall also, they believe that the global warming is a natural process and cannot disturb our ecosystem. The earths surface mean temperature was even higher a long time ago, and the ecosystem has evolved from that temperature to this. So it can evolve further. But the changes that are happening now are rather fast compared to earlier times.

GLOBAL WARMING IS AN INTERNATIONAL ISSUE

The average facade temperature of the globe has augmented more than 1 degree Fahrenheit since 1900 and the speed of warming has been almost three folds the century long average since 1970. This increase in earths average temperature is called Global warming. More or less all specialists studying the climate record of the earth have the same opinion now that human actions, mainly the discharge of green house gases from smokestacks, vehicles, and burning forests, are perhaps the leading power driving the fashion. The gases append to the planet's normal greenhouse effect, permitting sunlight in, but stopping some of the ensuing heat from radiating back to space. Based on the study on past climate shifts, notes of current situations, and computer simulations, many climate scientists say that lacking of big curbs in greenhouse gas discharges, the 21st century might see temperatures rise of about 3 to 8 degrees, climate patterns piercingly shift, ice sheets contract and seas rise several feet. With the probable exemption of one more world war, a huge asteroid, or a fatal plague, global warming may be the only most danger to our planet earth. Global Warming Causes As said, the major cause of global warming is the emission of green house gases like carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide etc into the atmosphere. The major source of 17

carbon dioxide is the power plants. These power plants emit large amounts of carbon dioxide produced from burning of fossil fuels for the purpose of electricity generation. About twenty percent of carbon dioxide emitted in the atmosphere comes from burning of gasoline in the engines of the vehicles. This is true for most of the developed countries. Buildings, both commercial and residential represent a larger source of global warming pollution than cars and trucks. Building of these structures require a lot of fuel to be burnt which emits a large amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Methane is more than 20 times as effectual as CO2 at entrapping heat in the atmosphere. Methane is obtained from resources such as rice paddies, bovine flatulence, bacteria in bogs and fossil fuel manufacture. When fields are flooded, anaerobic situation build up and the organic matter in the soil decays, releasing methane to the atmosphere. The main sources of nitrous oxide include nylon and nitric acid production, cars with catalytic converters, the use of fertilizers in agriculture and the burning of organic matter. Another cause of global warming is deforestation that is caused by cutting and burning of forests for the purpose of residence and industrialization. Global Warming is Inspiring Scientists to Fight for Awareness Scientists all over the world are making predictions about the ill effects of Global warming and connecting some of the events that have taken place in the pat few decades as an alarm of global warming. The effect of global warming is increasing the average temperature of the earth. A rise in earths temperatures can in turn root to other alterations in the ecology, including an increasing sea level and modifying the quantity and pattern of rainfall. These modifications may boost the occurrence and concentration of severe climate events, such as floods, famines, heat waves, tornados, and twisters. Other consequences may comprise of higher or lower agricultural outputs, glacier melting, lesser summer stream flows, genus extinctions and rise in the ranges of disease vectors. As an effect of global warming species like golden toad, harlequin frog of Costa Rica has already become extinct. There are number of species 18

that have a threat of disappearing soon as an effect of global warming. As an effect of global warming various new diseases have emerged lately. These diseases are occurring frequently due to the increase in earths average temperature since the bacteria can survive better in elevated temperatures and even multiplies faster when the conditions are favorable. The global warming is extending the distribution of mosquitoes due to the increase in humidity levels and their frequent growth in warmer atmosphere. Various diseases due to ebola, hanta and machupo virus are expected due to warmer climates. The marine life is also very sensitive to the increase in temperatures. The effect of global warming will definitely be seen on some species in the water. A survey was made in which the marine life reacted significantly to the changes in water temperatures. It is expected that many species will die off or become extinct due to the increase in the temperatures of the water, whereas various other species, which prefer warmer waters, will increase tremendously. Perhaps the most disturbing changes are expected in the coral reefs that are expected to die off as an effect of global warming. The global warming is expected to cause irreversible changes in the ecosystem and the behavior of animals. A group of scientists have recently reported on the surprisingly speedy rise in the discharge of carbon and methane release from frozen tundra in Siberia, now starting to melt because of human cause increases in earths temperature. The scientists tell us that the tundra is in danger of melting holds an amount of extra global warming pollution that is equivalent to the net amount that is previously in the earth's atmosphere. Likewise, earlier one more team of scientists reported that the in a single year Greenland witnessed 32 glacial earthquakes between 4.6 and 5.1 on the Richter scale. This is a disturbing sign and points that a huge destabilization that may now be in progress deep within the second biggest accretion of ice on the planet. This ice would be enough to raise sea level 20 feet worldwide if it broke up and slipped into the sea. Each day passing brings yet new proof that we are now in front of a global emergency, a climate emergency that needs instant action to piercingly decrease 19

carbon dioxide emissions worldwide in order to turn down the earth's rising temperatures and avoid any catastrophe. It is not easy to attach any particular events to global warming, but studies prove the fact that human activities are increasing the earths temperature. Even though most predictions focus on the epoch up to 2100, even if no further greenhouse gases were discharged after this date, global warming and sea level would be likely to go on to rise for more than a millennium, since carbon dioxide has a long average atmospheric life span. You Can Help Fight Global Warming Many efforts are being made by various nations to cut down the rate of global warming. One such effort is the Kyoto agreement that has been made between various nations to reduce the emissions of various green house gases. Also many non profit organizations are working for the cause. Al Gore was one of the foremost U.S. politicians to heave an alarm about the hazards of global warming. He has produced a significantly acclaimed documentary movie called "An Inconvenient Truth," and written a book that archives his advice that Earth is dashing toward an immensely warmer future. Al Gore, the former vice president of United States has given various speeches to raise an awareness of global warming. He has warned people about the ill effects of Global warming and its remedies. But an interesting side of the global warming episode is that there are people who do not consider global warming as something that is creating a problem. Skeptics of global warming think that global warming is not an ecological trouble. According to the global warming skeptics, the recent enhancement in the earth's average temperature is no reason for alarm. According to them earth's coastlines and polar ice caps are not at a risk of vanishing. Global warming skeptics consider that the weather models used to establish global warming and to forecast its impacts are distorted. According to the models, if calculations are made the last few decades must have been much worse as compared to actually happened to be. Most of the global warming 20

skeptics believe that the global warming is not actually occurring. They stress on the fact the climatic conditions vary because of volcanism, the obliquity cycle, changes in solar output, and internal variability. Also the warming can be due to the variation in cloud cover, which in turn is responsible for the temperatures on the earth. The variations are also a result of cosmic ray flux that is modulated by the solar magnetic cycles.

Global Warming Skeptics The global warming skeptics are of the view that the global warming is a good phenomenon and should not be stopped. There are various benefits of global warming according to them. According to the skeptics, the global warming will increase humidity in tropical deserts. Also the higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere trigger plant growth. As predicted, due to the global warming the sea levels will rise. But this can be readily adapted. Another argument of global warming skeptics is that earth has been warmer than today as seen in its history. The thought is that global warming is nothing to get afraid of because it just takes us back to a more natural set of environment of the past. Animals and plants appeared to do just fine in those eras of warm climate on the earth. According to few skeptics, the present chilly climate on the earth is an abnormality when judged over the geographical scale. Over geologic time, the earths mean temperature is 22 degrees C, as compared to today's 15.5 degrees C.

GLOBAL WARMING SOLUTIONS

What Can We Do? The evidence that humans are causing global warming is strong, but the question of what to do about it remains controversial. Economics, sociology, and politics are all important factors in planning for the future.

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Even if we stopped emitting greenhouse gases (GHGs) today, the Earth would still warm by another degree Fahrenheit or so. But what we do from today forward makes a big difference. Depending on our choices, scientists predict that the Earth could eventually warm by as little as 2.5 degrees or as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit. A commonly cited goal is to stabilize GHG concentrations around 450-550 parts per million (ppm), or about twice pre-industrial levels. This is the point at which many believe the most damaging impacts of climate change can be avoided. Current concentrations are about 380 ppm, which means there isnt much time to lose. According to the IPCC, wed have to reduce GHG emissions by 50% to 80% of what theyre on track to be in the next century to reach this level. Is this possible? Many people and governments are already working hard to cut greenhouse gases, and everyone can help. Researchers Stephen Pacala and Robert Socolow at Princeton University have suggested one approach that they call stabilization wedges. This means reducing GHG emissions from a variety of sources with technologies available in the next few decades, rather than relying on an enormous change in a single area. They suggest 7 wedges that could each reduce emissions, and all of them together could hold emissions at approximately current levels for the next 50 years, putting us on a potential path to stabilize around 500 ppm. There are many possible wedges, including improvements to energy efficiency and vehicle fuel economy (so less energy has to be produced), and increases in wind and solar power, hydrogen produced from renewable sources, biofuels (produced from crops), natural gas, and nuclear power. There is also the potential to capture the carbon dioxide emitted from fossil fuels and store it undergrounda process called carbon sequestration. In addition to reducing the gases we emit to the atmosphere, we can also increase the amount of gases we take out of the atmosphere. Plants and trees absorb CO2 as they grow, sequestering carbon naturally. Increasing forestlands and making changes to the way we farm could increase the amount of carbon were storing. Some of these technologies have drawbacks, and different communities will make different decisions about how to power their lives, but the good news is that there are a variety of options to put us on a path toward a stable climate.

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HOW TO STOP GLOBAL WARMING

1. Replace a regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb(cfl) CFLs use 60% less energy than a regular bulb. This simple switch will save about 300 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. We recommend you purchase your CFL bulbs at 1000bulbs.com, they have great deals on both screw-in and plugin light bulbs. 2. Install a programmable thermostat Programmable thermostats will automatically lower the heat or air conditioning at night and raise them again in the morning. They can save you $100 a year on your energy bill. 3. Move your thermostat down 2 in winter and up 2 in summer Almost half of the energy we use in our homes goes to heating and cooling. You could save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple adjustment. 4. Clean or replace filters on your furnace and air conditioner Cleaning a dirty air filter can save 350 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

5. Choose energy efficient appliances when making new purchases Look for the Energy Star label on new appliances to choose the most energy efficient products available. 6. Do not leave appliances on standby Use the "on/off" function on the machine itself. A TV set that's switched on for 3 hours a day (the average time Europeans spend watching TV) and in standby mode during the remaining 21 hours uses about 40% of its energy in standby mode. 7. Wrap your water heater in an insulation blanket Youll save 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple action. 23

You can save another 550 pounds per year by setting the thermostat no higher than 50C. 8. Move your fridge and freezer Placing them next to the cooker or boiler consumes much more energy than if they were standing on their own. For example, if you put them in a hot cellar room where the room temperature is 30-35C, energy use is almost double and causes an extra 160kg of CO2 emissions for fridges per year and 320kg for freezers. 9. Defrost old fridges and freezers regularly Even better is to replace them with newer models, which all have automatic defrost cycles and are generally up to two times more energy-efficient than their predecessors. 10. Don't let heat escape from your house over a long period When airing your house, open the windows for only a few minutes. If you leave a small opening all day long, the energy needed to keep it warm inside during six cold months (10C or less outside temperature) would result in almost 1 ton of CO2 emissions. 11. Replace your old single-glazed windows with double-glazing This requires a bit of upfront investment, but will halve the energy lost through windows and pay off in the long term. If you go for the best the market has to offer (wooden-framed double-glazed units with low-emission glass and filled with argon gas), you can even save more than 70% of the energy lost. 12. Get a home energy audit Many utilities offer free home energy audits to find where your home is poorly insulated or energy inefficient. You can save up to 30% off your energy bill and 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Energy Star can help you find an energy specialist. 13. Cover your pots while cooking Doing so can save a lot of the energy needed for preparing the dish. Even better are pressure cookers and steamers: they can save around 70%! 14. Use the washing machine or dishwasher only when they are full 24

If you need to use it when it is half full, then use the half-load or economy setting. There is also no need to set the temperatures high. Nowadays detergents are so efficient that they get your clothes and dishes clean at low temperatures. 15. Take a shower instead of a bath A shower takes up to four times less energy than a bath. To maximize the energy saving, avoid power showers and use low-flow showerheads, which are cheap and provide the same comfort. 16. Use less hot water It takes a lot of energy to heat water. You can use less hot water by installing a low flow showerhead (350 pounds of carbon dioxide saved per year) and washing your clothes in cold or warm water (500 pounds saved per year) instead of hot. 17. Use a clothesline instead of a dryer whenever possible You can save 700 pounds of carbon dioxide when you air dry your clothes for 6 months out of the year. 18. Insulate and weatherize your home Properly insulating your walls and ceilings can save 25% of your home heating bill and 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Caulking and weatherstripping can save another 1,700 pounds per year. Energy Efficient has more information on how to better insulate your home.

19. Be sure youre recycling at home You can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide a year by recycling half of the waste your household generates. 20. Recycle your organic waste Around 3% of the greenhouse gas emissions through the methane is released by decomposing bio-degradable waste. By recycling organic waste or composting it if you have a garden, you can help eliminate this problem! Just make sure that you compost it properly, so it decomposes with sufficient oxygen, otherwise your compost will cause methane emissions and smell foul. 25

21. Buy intelligently One bottle of 1.5l requires less energy and produces less waste than three bottles of 0.5l. As well, buy recycled paper products: it takes less 70 to 90% less energy to make recycled paper and it prevents the loss of forests worldwide. 22. Choose products that come with little packaging and buy refills when you can You will also cut down on waste production and energy use... another help against global warming. 23. Reuse your shopping bag When shopping, it saves energy and waste to use a reusable bag instead of accepting a disposable one in each shop. Waste not only discharges CO2 and methane into the atmosphere, it can also pollute the air, groundwater and soil. 24. Reduce waste Most products we buy cause greenhouse gas emissions in one or another way, e.g. during production and distribution. By taking your lunch in a reusable lunch box instead of a disposable one, you save the energy needed to produce new lunch boxes. 25. Plant a tree A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. Shade provided by trees can also reduce your air conditioning bill by 10 to 15%. The Arbor Day Foundation has information on planting and provides trees you can plant with membership.

26. Switch to green power In many areas, you can switch to energy generated by clean, renewable sources such as wind and solar. In some of these, you can even get refunds by government if you choose to switch to a clean energy producer, and you can also earn money by selling the energy you produce and don't use for yourself. 27. Buy locally grown and produced foods

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The average meal in the United States travels 1,200 miles from the farm to your plate. Buying locally will save fuel and keep money in your community. 28. Buy fresh foods instead of frozen Frozen food uses 10 times more energy to produce. 29. Seek out and support local farmers markets They reduce the amount of energy required to grow and transport the food to you by one fifth. Seek farmers markets in your area, and go for them. 30. Buy organic foods as much as possible Organic soils capture and store carbon dioxide at much higher levels than soils from conventional farms. If we grew all of our corn and soybeans organically, wed remove 580 billion pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere! 31. Eat less meat Methane is the second most significant greenhouse gas and cows are one of the greatest methane emitters. Their grassy diet and multiple stomachs cause them to produce methane, which they exhale with every breath. 32. Reduce the number of miles you drive by walking, biking, carpooling or taking mass transit wherever possible Avoiding just 10 miles of driving every week would eliminate about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year! Look for transit options in your area. 33. Start a carpool with your coworkers or classmates Sharing a ride with someone just 2 days a week will reduce your carbon dioxide emissions by 1,590 pounds a year. eRideShare.com runs a free service connecting north american commuters and travelers. 34. Don't leave an empty roof rack on your car This can increase fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by up to 10% due to wind resistance and the extra weight - removing it is a better idea. 35. Keep your car tuned up 27

Regular maintenance helps improve fuel efficiency and reduces emissions. When just 1% of car owners properly maintain their cars, nearly a billion pounds of carbon dioxide are kept out of the atmosphere. 36. Drive carefully and do not waste fuel You can reduce CO2 emissions by readjusting your driving style. Choose proper gears, do not abuse the gas pedal, use the engine brake instead of the pedal brake when possible and turn off your engine when your vehicle is motionless for more than one minute. By readjusting your driving style you can save money on both fuel and car mantainance. 37. Check your tires weekly to make sure theyre properly inflated Proper tire inflation can improve gas mileage by more than 3%. Since every gallon of gasoline saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, every increase in fuel efficiency makes a difference! 38. When it is time for a new car, choose a more fuel efficient vehicle You can save 3,000 pounds of carbon dioxide every year if your new car gets only 3 miles per gallon more than your current one. You can get up to 60 miles per gallon with a hybrid! You can find information on fuel efficiency on Fuel Economy and on Green Cars websites. 39. Try car sharing Need a car but dont want to buy one? Community car sharing organizations provide access to a car and your membership fee covers gas, maintenance and insurance. Many companies such as Flex car - offer low emission or hybrid cars too! Also, see Zip Car. 40. Try telecommuting from home Telecommuting can help you drastically reduce the number of miles you drive every week. For more information, check out the Telework Coalition. 41. Fly less Air travel produces large amounts of emissions so reducing how much you fly by even one or two trips a year can reduce your emissions significantly. You can also offset your air travel carbon emissions by investing in renewable energy projects. 42. Encourage your school or business to reduce emissions 28

You can extend your positive influence on global warming well beyond your home by actively encouraging other to take action. 43. Join the virtual march The Stop Global Warming Virtual March is a non-political effort to bring people concerned about global warming together in one place. Add your voice to the hundreds of thousands of other people urging action on this issue. 44. Encourage the switch to renewable energy Successfully combating global warming requires a national transition to renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and biomass. These technologies are ready to be deployed more widely but there are regulatory barriers impeding them. U.S. citizens, take action to break down those barriers with Vote Solar. 45. Protect and conserve forest worldwide Forests play a critical role in global warming: they store carbon. When forests are burned or cut down, their stored carbon is release into the atmosphere deforestation now accounts for about 20% of carbon dioxide emissions each year. Conservation International has more information on saving forests from global warming. 46. Consider the impact of your investments If you invest your money, you should consider the impact that your investments and savings will have on global warming. Check out Social Invest and Ceres to can learn more about how to ensure your money is being invested in companies, products and projects that address issues related to climate change. 47. Make your city cool Cities and states around the country have taken action to stop global warming by passing innovative transportation and energy saving legislation. If you're in the U.S., join the cool cities list. 48. Tell Congress to act The McCain Lieberman Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act would set a firm limit on carbon dioxide emissions and then use free market incentives to 29

lower costs, promote efficiency and spur innovation. Tell your representative to support it. 49. Make sure your voice is heard! Americans must have a stronger commitment from their government in order to stop global warming and implement solutions and such a commitment wont come without a dramatic increase in citizen lobbying for new laws with teeth. Get the facts about U.S. politicians and candidates at Project Vote Smart and The League of Conservation Voters. Make sure your voice is heard by voting

WAYS TO HELP PREVENT GLOBAL WARMING ON YOUR VACATIONS

Travel Tip #1: Find Ecotourism Opportunities According to The International Ecotourism Society, ecotourism is defined as responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people. This concept is based on the intersection of conservation, communities, and sustainable travel. By seeking out ecotourism options, you can reduce your impact, preserving the special qualities of the places to which you were drawn in the first place. When planning your trip, look for lodging that has a responsible environmental policy. Unfortunately, there is no uniform certification standard from which to judge and green washing can be a problem, but there are some ways you can decipher industry leaders from wannabes. First, you can start by searching the web for hotels that advertise responsible environmental practices, then either follow up with a phone call or check with a knowledgeable travel agency. Unless you verify a business is truly ecological by looking for some kind of thirdparty awarded certification, you could be unknowingly converting your money into carbon emissions. Some of the more well-known certifications are: Energy Star (with a rating of at least 75/100), LEED certified building design, EU Eco-label, Green Globe (Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and expanding to the Caribbean), Green Leaf (Canada), and Sustainable Tourism Certification Network of the Americas (a joint effort of the Rainforest Alliance and The International Ecotourism Society). You can also look for any environmentally related rewards the establishment has earned. 30

Travel Tip #2: Reduce Travel Emissions As the journey to your destination will probably be the most emissions intense portion of your vacation, there are several ways to lower your impact. Do not underestimate the value of doing this. Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions from your travel is probably the most important way to help prevent global warming on your vacation! The most destructive way to travel is flying. Flying is by far the most polluting option. Especially if you are traveling in a group, it is far more cost effective (both in dollars and emissions) to go by car. If you travel by car, be sure that your tires are properly inflated to ensure a smoother ride; with fewer emissions and less gas waste youll be saving money as you save fuel! The most eco-friendly option is to travel by train. While often overlooked in the United States, trains are the best way to help prevent global warming on your journey, if you can afford the time. By going on a train, travel becomes part of the vacation as you get to relax, enjoy the scenery, and avoid the stresses of traffic, fatigue, and filling up at the pump. You will still emit carbon, unless you choose to offset your carbon emissions by purchasing a carbon neutralization package. This is a great way to actively prevent global warming and support companies that are working towards curbing emissions. They will neutralize your carbon emissions by supporting a variety of projects that will offset the amount of carbon your travel produces. Terrapass is one great example. Travel Tip #3: Decrease Your Tourist Impact Once you arrive at your destination, no matter where you go, there are a number of ways you can reduce your negative tourist impact and your global warming contributions, while maximizing your positive influence. To save money and reduce emissions, use the public transportation system rather than renting a car or relying on taxis. This will give you a taste of the true flavor of the city while saving you the hassle of navigating traffic and finding parking on foreign streets, not to mention the substantial monetary savings. Many public transit systems even offer weeklong and weekend packages for unlimited travel, a true bargain for the mobile tourist. Be cautious about where you eat, because a huge amount of carbon emissions result from the shipment of food. An important way to prevent global warming while traveling is to eat locally, which you can do by finding the local farmers market. Not 31

only will this give you the experience of interacting with the locals, but it will give you a clearer picture of your environment, answering questions like, What grows here in July? Why is this town famous for its specialty cheese or its rhubarb pie? When you support the farmers markets, you will get to experience fresh, delicious foods that are specific to the given region. A side benefit, of course, is the tons of greenhouse gases you will save from the atmosphere as you buy your food locally. Also, instead of the comfortable but boring chains, try to seek out local restaurants, bars, hotels, and other recreational attractions after all, you came this far for a reason! Be especially careful if you are traveling to a natural setting, and be extra aware of the fragility of your location. Traveling to forests, beaches, etc. is a privilege and should be treated as such to ensure that you and others can return for a special experience in the years to come. When venturing into the great outdoors, remember to pack out what you brought in, making sure to leave all places in the same condition you found them. Choose low impact recreation like hiking, biking, or horseback riding instead of 4wheeling or snowmobiling, and swimming, canoeing, or kayaking instead of motor boating and jet skiing. Remember, if it has a motor, there is a good chance it is spewing emissions into the atmosphere! Travel Tip #4: The Best Solution Is your hometown a tourism destination? There is a good chance that great attractions exist in your own backyard. The best way to curb your global warming impact is to discover special places nearby, visiting them as if you were a tourist, not a native. Check out a guidebook from your library and spend a weekend biking to all of the recommended places and events. You may be surprised by what you find.

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