Human Effects on Environment page 171

Deforestation clearing and removing forests or trees to use land for non-forest uses urban development farms and ranches use wood from trees for fuel

What is a Greenhouse Gas? (GHG) A gas in the atmosphere that absorbs and emits energy (heat) Cause the “greenhouse effect-” an increase in surface temperature. CO2 (Carbon dioxide) CH4 (methane) N2O (Nitrous oxide)

Burning Fossil Fuels What creates Greenhouse Gases? Breathing! Cows… drive cars, trains, planes, boats, etc. heat our homes create electricity Breathing! Cows…

Earth’s Atmosphere 78.09% Nitrogen 20.95% Oxygen 0.93% Argon 0.039% Carbon Dioxide

What if we didn’t have greenhouse gases? Earth’s average temperature- currently 15ᵒC- would drop about 33ᵒC… we’d freeze!

What if greenhouse gases increase? Venus’s atmosphere is about 96.5% CO2 and is approximately 462ᵒC

What if greenhouse gases increase? Polar ice caps melt, sea level rises, rainfall patterns change, animals start to die

Global Warming Not so much a debate of if it is real, but if humans are the cause…

Can we decrease greenhouse gases? Plants! Plants do photosynthesis in which they convert water and CO2 into sugar and oxygen

But what we do instead…

Invasive Species Non-native species (don’t occur there naturally) usually introduced/brought over by humans dangerous to native species