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Section 2 of 6

The title of section 2

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

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Take a look out the window, or step outside and look up. What can you see?

This is the atmosphere

The atmosphere is a shield that keeps the planet safe from space. Space is very, very cold; if Earth didn’t have enough atmosphere (like the moon), or too much atmosphere (like Venus, which has a runaway greenhouse effect), life could not exist.

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.

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This thin slice of atmosphere is full of gases that help trap the sun’s heat. When the sun’s heat hits the Earth’s crust, it bounces back toward space. Some of this heat gets trapped by what we call ‘Greenhouse Gases.’ The rest goes back into space.

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Now, imagine a glass half full of water.

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

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

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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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