Читать книгу Climate Change For Dummies - Elizabeth May - Страница 39

IN THIS CHAPTER

Understanding the greenhouse all humanity lives in

Probing deeper into carbon dioxide

Perusing the other greenhouse gases

What you’ve read or seen may make you think that the greenhouse effect and greenhouse gases (GHGs) are all bad. Actually, GHGs have long been the good guys.

Planet Earth is a tiny warm dot in vast frigid space. The atmosphere keeps the Earth warm because the atmospheric gases trap the heat of the sun, just as greenhouse glass does. Inside greenhouse Earth life is comfortable. Anywhere without a nice balance of GHGs, like say Venus (hot, hot, hot) or Mars (really cold), not so much.

When it comes to the survival of all living things on Earth including us humans, the home planet needs to be like the porridge in Goldilocks and the Three Bears: not too hot or too cold, but just right.

GHGs become a problem only when the atmosphere contains too much of them, which is happening today. Industries and farms, cities, and garbage dumps are pumping out an array of gases — carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and a host of other substances. Humanity has knocked off kilter the life-preserving cycle that makes sure the Earth’s atmosphere has just enough carbon dioxide, the star GHG.

This chapter is the A-B-Cs of climate science. This is basic science, and it’s less complicated than you think! You know (from third grade) how plants use energy from the sun to soak up carbon dioxide and release oxygen. You probably remember the big word — photosynthesis. This chapter gives you the basics.