Global Warming
School Homework Article
This has been one long, hot summer, don't you think? I mean really-really-hot-I'd-give-anything-for-an-ice-cream-and-a-dip-in-the-pool hot. So hot that you felt your brain was being boiledinside a cooker.That, my friends, is a gentle introduction to global warming.What is it, you may ask? Why is it happening, you may wonder? And can we do anything aboutit?Global warming is exactly what it sounds like - the heating up of the earth. Scientists have foundthat the temperature during the summer on various places in earth has been increasing in thepast few years. And while we may think that this only means that our summers are getting hotter(You may be thinking "yay, more ice-creams and jumping into the pool"), this is only thebeginning . Global warming is something that can cause havoc across the world. It is thebiggest problem that we human beings have ever faced in recent times. Unless we humans dosomething about it soon, we will be facing one of the biggest catastrophes on this planet for life -we will see millions and millions of animals die out, and unimaginable suffering for humans,especially those in developing countries like India.We have to do something about it right now. The good news is - we can still fix this problem. Weall have to work together for it, that's all.Why do scientists feel there is a global warming? As we can see from the daily predictions ofmonsoon in newspapers ("late by one week" they say one day, and "early by 3 days" they willsay the next day), it is very hard to predict the weather. However, scientists have found thatbecause of the activities by us human beings, the earth has heated up by 1 degree in the lasthundred years. But if we don't do something about it, in another hundred years the earth willheat up by another 3-5 degrees. And once that happens, we will have big trouble. And we willbe left with no way to do anything about it at that time. So we have to act now.You may think that 3-5 degrees is not too bad. But do you know what would happen. The seaswould rise because of the heat and we would have big floods in all our coastal areas. Scientiststhink that in a hundred years from now, the sea could rise by 1 meter every 10 years if we globalwarming continues like this. Some of the islands in our oceans may completely disappear. It isalso thought that by 2100, the ice in the north pole may almost disappear. But more than thetragedy for human beings, it will also cause the death of millions of animals who cannot adjustto such a big change in the weather. The poles would become too warm for the animals andplants that survive there. Just taking the example of Polar bears, who depend on ice in the seasof the north to hunt and to move from place to place - if the ice melts because of globalwarming, the bears would not be able to survive. Imagine, such magnificent animals dying outbecause of us."Because of us" - you may wonder. But it's true. Global warming is caused by the action of ushuman beings.Global warming is caused by something called the "Greenhouse effect". Have you ever been toa greenhouse - it's a glass or plastic building where plants are grown. If you go inside one, you'll
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