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Pathway sections
1
Introduction
2
Climate vs. Weather
3
The Carbon Cycle
4
A Changing Carbon Cycle
5
Our Changing Climate
6
What’s Next For Our Climate

Section 2 of 6

Global temperatures have been rising over the past 50 years. What is causing this to happen?

To understand this, we first need to understand how gases in the atmosphere have worked to keep the Earth at a safe climate.

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Go outside. Look up! • Go outside. Look up! • 

Take a look out the window, or better yet, go outside and look up.

That big blue thing? That’s the atmosphere.

Ok, sometimes it's gray.

But what exactly is the atmosphere? And how does it make our planet unique?

Average Temperatures
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Let’s explore how the atmosphere works.

Picture an apple

cut in half

The thickness of the apple’s skin would be roughly the same proportion as our atmosphere is to the rest of the planet.

greenhouse gas animation

Let’s have a look to see what gases trap heat, and how they do it.

Atmospheric Gases
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Now, imagine a glass half full of water.

What would happen to the water if we poured in some boiling water?

If we think about the atmosphere as the glass, what would happen if we added more trapping gases?

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What will happen to the temperature of the water? 

interactive

Our atmosphere exists in balance with us. What we do affects it, and the changes in the atmosphere affect us.

Climate Graph 1
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Now that we know that the atmosphere helps create the temperatures that we're used to, let's look at how these gases have stayed in balance over time.

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The Carbon Cycle

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