| A serious threat to the world's forest cannot be seen or heard. This silent killer is our changing climate. Recently, due to pollution, the Earth's climate has been warming up. This happens when an excess of carbon dioxide (CO2), and other "greenhouse gases", like methane, nitrous oxide and chlorofluorocarbons (CFC's) are released into the atmosphere. |
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The climate has changed drastically over thousands of years in the past, but now with the production of greenhouse
gases it is happening much more quickly. It isn't completely understood what the exact effects will be, but weather that is more unpredictable
and extreme will probably be one result. Photo by Maya Walters.
These gases are called "greenhouse gases" because, like a greenhouse, they soak up the sun's heat and trap it. This action forms sort of an insulating blanket around the earth, causing the temperature to rise, and creating what is called "global warming". |
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