The Earth is wrapped in a blanket of air called the 'atmosphere', which is made up of several layers of gases. The sun is much hotter than the Earth and it gives off rays of heat (radiation) that travel through the atmosphere and reach the Earth

The natural process between the sun, the atmosphere and the Earth is called the 'Greenhouse Effect',

The GREENHOUSE GASES are very important and are mainly:

The GREENHOUSE GASES are very important and are mainly:

water vapouroccurs naturally in the atmosphere.

carbon dioxideproduced naturally when people and animals breathe. Plants and trees absorb carbon dioxide to live. Volcanoes also produce this gas. Carbon dioxide is not the same as carbon monoxide

methanecomes from cattle as they digest their food. The gas also comes from fields where rice is grown in paddy fields.

nitrous oxidewhen plants die and rot, nitrous oxide is produced.

· ozoneoccurs naturally in the atmosphere.

Some of the activities of man also produce greenhouse Burning fossil fuels - coal, oil and natural gas -releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Cutting down and burning trees also produces a lot of carbon dioxide.

The Weather

Sea Levels

Farming

Water

Plants

Animals

People

Global climate change has already had observable effects on the environment. Glaciers have shrunk, ice on rivers and lakes is breaking up earlier, plant and animal ranges have shifted and trees are flowering sooner.

Effects that scientists had predicted in the past would result from global climate change are now occurring: loss of sea ice, accelerated sea level rise and longer, more intense heat waves.

Scientists have high confidence that global temperatures will continue to rise for decades to come, largely due to greenhouse gasses produced by human activities. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which includes more than 1,300 scientists from the United States and other countries, forecasts a temperature rise of 2.5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit over the next century.