Erica Towe
English 11
March 9, 2015
The Greenhouse Effect
Without the greenhouse effect the temperature of this planet would decrease by at least
30 degrees celsius, and it would be too cold for us to survive. The light we receive from the sun keeps our atmosphere warm. The earth only absorbs 30% of the sunlight because the other 70% is reflected back into space, and is absorbed by greenhouse gases. These gases act like a mirror, and reflect heat back to earth. The major greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, ozone, methane, and water vapor. The increase in greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere causes the earth’s temperature to continue rising. The greenhouse effect is caused by burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and an increase in population.
With an increase demand for gasoline we have become dependant on fossil fuels which causes an increase in the greenhouse effect. Fossil fuels are any combustible organic material such as coal, oil, or natural gas made from the remains of former life (DictionaryReference.com).
We burn fossil fuels to produce electricity for many things including transportation.. Pollution which is emitted from vehicles when they burn gasoline contains carbon dioxide, which is one of the main gases responsible for the increase in the greenhouse effect
(ConserveEnergyFuture.com). The burning of fossil fuels produces approximately 21.3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. Burning natural gas, coal, and oil including gasoline for car engines raises the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (Wikipedia.com). The increase of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere due to burning fossil fuels increases the greenhouse effect, and causes the planet to heat up.
Deforestation destroys plants and trees that otherwise would be filtering the carbon dioxide in the environment, and causes an increase in the greenhouse effect. Through photosynthesis plants and trees intake carbon dioxide and
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