Lesson 1 Climate Change

What is Climate Change? Climate change results from gases in the atmosphere trapping heat and causing the planet to warm up

Effects of Climate Change Climate change causes extreme weather patterns such as rising sea levels, floods, and droughts

Carbon Emissions Carbon emissions are the major cause of climate change Carbon monoxide is the gas that comes out of a car’s tailpipe, and all of that gas gathers in the atmosphere to trap heat and warm up our planet

Things Are Heating Up The global average temperature has increased by 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit in the last 130 years That might not seem like a lot over the span of 130 years, but more than half of the temperature increase happened in the past 35 years Rising temperatures melt the polar ice caps Imagine if we continued this pattern; in 35 more years, houses by the beach could be swallowed up by the ocean!

Climate Change Affects Everyone Animals in the Arctic are in trouble, because their homes are melting away It’s our job to protect the polar bears and penguins! Pollution runoff also makes its way to the ocean and harms the sea life

A Vicious Cycle Since some people leave their cars on all the time, the earth’s temperature gets warmer and warmer Ironically, as the earth heats, people keep their cars on even more for their air conditioning If this cycle continues, we could get to the point where we can’t even go outside anymore because it’ll be too hot! So we need to be aware of how our actions affect the planet and make the right choices for us all

Conclusion Climate change is the result of gases trapping heat inside the atmosphere and therefore warming up our planet Climate change is caused by air pollution – a significant portion of which comes from car emissions Climate change causes hotter weather, rising sea levels, and severe floods and droughts Climate change affects everyone! It’s our job as a community to help prevent climate change!