Page 100 - UPthEM_Program_Final_December 2020

UPthEM – Upskilling Pathways for Employability
№ 2019-1-BG01-KA204-062299

our earth began to change rapidly. The earth is becoming increasingly warm, which may seem
like a good thing at first, but really it will severely impact our ecosystem.

With the enhanced greenhouse gas effect, the equilibrium of temperatures is disrupted,
according to the Environmental Protection Agency. There is a lot more carbon dioxide being
trapped in the atmosphere than there is being released back into space, resulting in climate
change. Human activities like deforestation and industrial practices are releasing a lot more
carbon dioxide than before.

The Greenhouse Effect

A T M O S P H E R E

3. Some solar radiation 6. Some of the infrared radiation
S U N is reflected by the passes through the atmosphere
atmosphere and earth’s and is lost in space
1. Solar radiation surface Net outgoing infrared radiation:
2
passes through the Outgoing solar radiation: 240 W/m
2
103 W/m
clear atmosphere
Incoming solar
2
radiation: 343 W/m
GREENHOUSE
GASES

5. Some of the infrared radiation is absorbed
and re-emitted by the greenhouse molecules.
2. Net incoming solar The direct effect is the warming of the earth’s
radiation 240 W/m surface and atmosphere.
2
Surface gains more heat and
infrared radiation is emitted again

4. Solar energy is absorbed by … and is converted into heat causing
the earth’s surface and warms it … the emission of longwave (infrared)
2
168 W/m radiation back to the atmosphere

Source: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, UNEP and WMO – 1995

Climate change is one of the most complex issues facing us today. It involves many dimensions
– science, economics, society, politics and moral and ethical questions – and is a global
problem, felt on local scales, that will be around for decades and centuries to come. Carbon
dioxide, the heat-trapping greenhouse gas that has driven recent global warming, lingers in the
atmosphere for hundreds of years, and the planet (especially the oceans) takes a while to respond
to warming. The scale of the climate change will be determined by how our emissions continue
and also exactly how our climate system responds to those emissions.

Responding to climate change involves a two-pronged approach:

98
The European Commission support for the production of this publication [document] does not constitute an endorsement of the contents
which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the
information contained therein.