Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change

Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane and water vapour act like an insulating layer in the Earth’s atmosphere
All particles absorb certain frequencies of radiation
They don’t absorb the incoming short wavelength radiation from the sun, but they do absorb the long wavelength radiation that gets reflected back off the Earth
Some forms of human activity affect the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
- Deforestation: fewer trees means less CO2 is removed from the atmosphere via photosynthesis
- Burning fossil fuels: carbon that was locked up in these fuels is released
- Agriculture: more farm animals produce more methane through their digestive processes
- Creating waste: more landfill sites and more waste from agriculture means more CO2 and methane released by decomposition of waste

The Earth’s temperature varies naturally, but recently the average temperature of the Earth’s surface has been increasing
Most scientists agree that the extra carbon dioxide from human activity is causing this increase and that this will lead to climate change
Evidence for this has been peer-reviewed so you known that the information out there is reliable
Unfortunately, it’s hard to fully understand the Earth’s climate, this is because it’s so complex and there are so many variables, that it’s very hard to make a model that isn’t oversimplified
This had led to speculation, particularly in the media, where stories may be biased or only some of the information given