Gardeners love greenhouses. A greenhouse is used to grow plants. A greenhouse keeps the temperature inside warm so that plants can grow.
In a greenhouse, heat gets in, but it does not escape. This is great for growing plants like tomatoes. But this is not great when the whole Earth is the greenhouse.
Scientists know that the Earth is getting warmer. Heat from the sun comes to the Earth. We need heat from the sun in order to survive.
Normally, the Earth absorbs some of the sun's heat and reflects some of it back out. But now, the Earth is keeping too much warmth. The Earth is becoming like a greenhouse. This is called the greenhouse effect.
The greenhouse effect is called lots of different things. Sometimes it is called climate change. Sometimes it is called global warming.
The greenhouse effect happens because of greenhouse gases. These are gases like carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapour. Humans emit these gases on Earth.
Airplanes create greenhouse gases. The energy we use creates greenhouse gases. Farms full of animals create greenhouse gases. There are many sources of greenhouse gases. But they all come from things that humans do.
The greenhouse gases sit around the Earth's atmosphere and create a barrier. The barrier keeps in heat. It is making everything warmer.
Because of global warming, polar ice caps are melting. Animals that live in polar regions are in big trouble because the ice that is their home is vanishing.
Because of global warming, weather patterns are becoming more extreme. Countries around the world are in big trouble because of dangerous storms and natural disasters.
Global warming is causing many animals and plants to die. We rely on these plants and animals in order to live. Without these plants and animals, we would have no food to eat or land to live on.
So what can we do to have a minimal impact on the environment? We can reduce our carbon footprint by driving less and cycling more. We can curb our meat consumption. We can use less single-use plastic.
We need to be responsible and stop global warming. We need to be careful about creating more greenhouse gases. If we all do our part, we can make things better. Global warming is a problem that affects everyone in the world.