What Is Causing Global Warming?
Carbon dioxide and certain other gases in the atmosphere trap heat that radiates from Earth. The more of these gases there are in the atmosphere, the more heat is trapped.
Since the Industrial Revolution of the late 1800s, human activities—such as burning fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal) to generate energy and burning forests to clear land—have produced ever-higher quantities of carbon dioxide emissions. This has dramatically increased the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. As carbon dioxide concentrations have increased, so, too, has the average global temperature.
Enlarging an Image
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Analyze the following graph, which plots changes in global temperature and carbon dioxide concentrations from 1880–2017. Then use Arrange It to predict how warming temperatures affect different parts of Earth’s systems.
